![]() ![]() Plan Your Kerala Tour: A Step by Step Guide. If you are in the planning stage of a great holiday or honeymoon to Kerala, I suggest you to go through the details below. This is written from my own experience in planning Kerala tours for many guests like you. This article will definitely help you in deciding every aspect of your tour. Getting Ready For Your Dream Kerala Trip “A Practical Guide to Help You Plan Your Kerala Holidays”Before doing any research, finalize the number of days you can spend on your Kerala holiday. This is crucial as you can decide on places to visit as per your leave only. The Official Athletic Site of the University of Virginia Football, partner of CBS Sports Digital. The most comprehensive coverage of the UVA Cavaliers on the web. The original News Corporation or News Corp. was an American multinational mass media corporation headquartered in New York City. It was the world's fourth-largest. Newsletter with articles on current research finds, industry news, job listings and event schedules. Includes sign up form and information about the company. If you are having enough leave from office, go through different tourist spots in Kerala, and with the help of your tour organizer finalize the number of days. In both cases, freeze your arrival and departure dates. Once this is finalized, you can book your tickets to Kerala. While booking onward journey, it’s always advisable to book up to Cochin. Trivandrum is another option – book up to Trivandrum only if your first destination is Kovalam or Kanyakumari. Calicut is good only if your first destination is Wayanad. Cochin is also spelled as Kochi, and is also known as Ernakulam. While booking a bus you can make the booking to Ernakulam. While booking a train you may book to Ernakulam North or Ernakulam South as some trains stop only at one station. The station code for train booking is ERN or ERS. For flights, make the booking to Cochin or Kochi (location code is COK). By any means, try to reach Cochin as early as possible to cover maximum spots. Tourists from Coimbatore, Bangalore, Mysore, Chennai and Hyderabad can reach Kerala by train, flight or bus. From Coimbatore, bus is the best option. If you are traveling from Bangalore, you have all three options. Normally a bus takes 9 – 1. Cochin from Bangalore. Nowadays multi- axle Volvo buses are reaching Cochin in 9 to 1. This varies on road conditions. There is a check post at Tamil Nadu – Kerala border and very rarely, we have seen buses come late due to checking at this check post. There are lots of buses plying on Bangalore – Cochin route and this is a good option to reach Kerala from Bangalore. You may even check for sleeper buses. A train takes approximately 1. Bangalore but getting a ticket is the biggest challenge. If tickets are available, this is the best option. In any case, try to book a bus/train which reaches Cochin in the morning. If you are opting for flight, book a flight that reaches at least before noon. From Hyderabad, flight or train is the best option. Choose a bus only if nothing works out, as it takes almost 1. Nowadays buses are plying from Mumbai also but use this as your last option, as it is nearly a 3. From Mangalore you can travel by bus or train. From Mysore, you have the option of only bus, or else you need to travel to Bangalore first and then to Cochin. From Chennai you can travel by bus, train or flight. Bus and train takes almost 1. Cochin. From Delhi, Ahmadabad or any other destinations to Kerala, you have the option of traveling by train or flight only. For those who are coming from other countries, you have the option to come directly by flight. You can also get off at one of the metro city air terminals and come to Kerala by train. You need to do all the booking beforehand to avoid any confusion. Once onward journey is booked, you may book return ticket. While booking return ticket, please be careful about timings and destinations. I suggest you book this only after finalizing the package, or at least the itinerary. Pick the Destinations. Now we need to finalize on the destinations to be covered. This is where we need to balance between the number of days you have and your interests. A small description about the major tourist spots in Kerala should help you with this. Major Tourist Destinations in South/Central Kerala. Cochin – In most cases this is the place you land in Kerala. If you are interested in Cochin sightseeing, you can either do this on the first day – upon arrival at Cochin, or if you have enough time on last day, go for it. Munnar – This is the best tourist spot in Kerala. You’d love to see it 1. Munnar is a hill station. Thekkady – Thekkady has the Periyar wild life Sanctuary that you can visit when you go for boating at Thekkady. Thekkady has a lot of adventurous activities and eco tourism activities too. Alleppey/Kumarakom – This is the place where you can go for a houseboat cruise. Alleppey also has a lot of resorts to relax, and there is also a beautiful beach. Trivandrum- The capital city. Kovalam – Lovely beaches. Kanyakumari – Though this is in Tamil Nadu, if you are travelling up to Trivandrum (and if time permits), it is advisable to have a visit. Athirapilly- Vazhachal – Biggest water falls in Kerala. Cherai – Another beach near Cochin. Guruvayoor – Pilgrim place, the famous Krishna temple. There is an elephant sanctuary at this place with more than 6. Major Tourist Destinations in North Kerala. Northern part of Kerala has Wayanad to visit. Wayanad is approximately 3. Cochin. Plan Your Itinerary. From the above listed major tourist destinations, make a list of places you wish to cover in Kerala. I shall be writing about all these places in detail below with travel time required for each. After reading this post, you would be in a position to finalize the places to visit depending on your leave from office. Once places of visit and number of nights in each destination are finalized, the itinerary can be prepared with ease. Cochin: Most of the time, this is the place where you land in Kerala. If you have enough days in Kerala, a full day visit of Cochin is worth doing. Cochin has lot of sightseeing places including Marine drive, Chinese fishing nets, Fort Cochin where you can visit Dutch palace, Jew Synagogue etc. If you are short of time, I suggest you to move directly to your first destination from Cochin. This can be Munnar which is 4 to 5 hours drive from Cochin, Thekkady which is 5hrs drive, Alleppey 2hrs, Guruvayoor 2hrs and Athirapilly- Vazhachal, a short 2 hours drive. If you want Kovalam as your first destination, it is better to arrive at Trivandrum instead of having a hectic travel of 6 to 7 hours on the same day of arrival. For every travel you need to consider halting time in between for sightseeing, food etc. If your first destination is Alleppey Houseboat, make sure you reach Cochin at least by 9. AM so that you can check in to Houseboat at 1. Noon. If your arrival is after 1. AM at Cochin, then don’t plan Alleppey Houseboat cruise on the same day, as check in to houseboat is at 1. Noon and check out is at 9. AM next day. If you are reaching Cochin after 3. PM, then don’t plan any travel on that day. In this case, best option is to stay in a hotel near to airport or railway station depending how you come to Cochin. Most hotels near the airport offer free pick up from the airport, thus helping you save money on a vehicle for that day. Do inform your travel agent about your mode of arrival, so they can book the hotel accordingly. Cochin airport is almost 2. Cochin city/railway station. If you are planning to stay at Cochin on arrival day, normally check in time of all hotels is 1. Noon and if you are reaching early morning, do inform this in advance to your travel agent. In this case you can request for early check in. Most of the hotels allow this subject to room availability and do note that breakfast will not be complimentary for this day. If you are planning to travel to other destinations on the same day, I suggest you to start directly to that destination, instead of having a half day sightseeing of Cochin and then traveling to next destination. If you are arriving at Cochin by train or bus or after a long flight travel, try to refresh yourself before driving from Cochin to your next destination. This helps you to enjoy the trip right from beginning and you can do all your sightseeing on the way. Coordinating your first destination in accordance with your arrival time is very important. Munnar: Munnar, a hill station, is one of the most beautiful places in Kerala. There are lots of Tea plantations and more than a dozen places to see near Munnar. This is a must see place if you are visiting Kerala. Climate will be mostly cold throughout the year. Munnar is 1. 40km from Cochin. If you are traveling to Munnar, you should try to stay there at least for 2 nights. For your onward journey, travel time listed from Cochin is 4 to 5hrs, but in practical you will reach Munnar in about 7 to 8 hrs only.
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