A boat on a river running beside dense green forest in Kerala

Luxury Accommodation11 NightsLuxuryBackwaters

Kerala Grand Luxury Journey — Luxury

Route

Kochi → Wayanad → Munnar → Thekkady → Kumarakom → Varkala

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About This Journey

Kerala Grand Luxury Journey — Luxury

Eleven nights across the whole of Kerala, Wayanad, Munnar, Thekkady, Kumarakom and Varkala, offered here at a single, uncompromising standard. Every hotel on this route is a genuine landmark property, from Taj Wayanad Resort & Spa to Kumarakom Lake Resort on the water, rather than simply the best available option at each stop.

The trip opens at Taj Malabar Resort & Spa in Cochin, climbs through Wayanad's forests and Munnar's tea estates to Thekkady's spice country, descends to an overnight houseboat on Kumarakom's backwaters, and closes at Gateway Varkala - IHCL SeleQtions on the clifftop coast. It is the fullest telling of Kerala this route offers, at its finest stays throughout.

01
Six landmark hotels across eleven nights
Taj Malabar Resort & Spa, Taj Wayanad Resort & Spa, Scenic Munnar - IHCL SeleQtions, Spice Village, Kumarakom Lake Resort and Gateway Varkala are each considered among Kerala's finest, and this route stays at all six in sequence.
02
Every landscape the state has to offer
Forest at Wayanad, tea hills at Munnar, spice country at Thekkady, backwaters at Kumarakom and coast at Varkala — nothing significant is left out of this eleven-night sweep.
03
An overnight houseboat on Vembanad
A night afloat at Kumarakom, on Kerala's largest lake, sits at the heart of the trip's final stretch, between the hills and the coast.
04
A private butler or dedicated concierge, on request
Several of the properties on this route offer a private butler or dedicated concierge service. Tell your trip designer if this matters to you when booking.

Chapter Two — Where You'll Stay

6 Real Stays, In Order

Handpicked along your own route — not a hotel chain repeated city to city.

Aerial view of Taj Malabar Resort & Spa on the tip of Willingdon Island, Kochi, surrounded by harbour water

First, one night in Kochi

Taj Malabar Resort & Spa, Cochin

Taj Malabar sits where the Kochi backwaters meet the sea. Heritage teak rooms, a waterfront pool and Ayurvedic spa on our Kerala tours.

Kochi · Resort · Luxury★★★★★

Taj Wayanad Resort & Spa on its hillside above Banasura Lake and the Western Ghats

Next, 3 nights in Wayanad

Taj Wayanad Resort & Spa, Kerala

A 2023 Taj resort above Banasura Lake in Wayanad, with waterfront cottages, plunge-pool villas and an Ayurveda-led spa in the Western Ghats.

Wayanad · Resort · Luxury★★★★★

A SeleQtions Villa with private plunge pool at Scenic, Munnar, overlooking the tea slopes

Next, 2 nights in Munnar

Scenic, Munnar - IHCL SeleQtions

Scenic, Munnar is an IHCL SeleQtions hotel above the tea gardens. Balcony rooms, plunge-pool villas and plantation walks on our Kerala tours.

Munnar · Resort · Luxury★★★★★

Aerial view of thatched-roof cottages at Spice Village, CGH Earth, Thekkady

Next, 2 nights in Thekkady

Spice Village – A CGH Earth Experience

A CGH Earth spice-garden resort on the edge of Periyar Tiger Reserve in Thekkady, with cottages, pools, and Ayurveda spa.

Thekkady · Resort · Premium★★★★

Next, 2 nights in Kumarakom

Kumarakom Lake Resort

A 25-acre heritage resort on Lake Vembanad with meandering-pool villas, a dedicated Ayurveda centre and Kerala cooking, on our Kumarakom tours.

Kumarakom · Resort · Luxury★★★★★

Gateway Varkala on the laterite cliff above the Arabian Sea

Finally, one night in Varkala

Gateway Varkala – IHCL SeleQtions

An IHCL resort on the Varkala cliff, every room with a balcony, a pool with a sunken bar and a Green Leaf certified Ayurveda centre.

Varkala · Resort · Luxury★★★★★

Chapter Three — Day by Day

Real Kerala Attractions in This Itinerary

10 of your 12days — the full itinerary follows below. Scroll to travel the route.

A road climbing through lush green hills into the Wayanad plateau

Day 2 · Kochi → Wayanad

Kochi to Wayanad — Up the Thamarassery Pass

The drive to Wayanad takes about four and a half hours and climbs the whole second half. The road up from the coast turns nine tight hairpin bends through the Thamarassery pass. Rubber gives way to coffee, then to forest. Wayanad is Kerala's only plateau, held high in the Western Ghats. By the time you reach the resort the air is cool and the light is going.

Tall forest trees on a hillside in the Wayanad wildlife sanctuary

Day 3 · Wayanad

Wayanad — Wildlife Sanctuary & Edakkal Caves

A dawn jeep safari through Muthanga or Tholpetty, booked through the forest department. Elephant, gaur and deer are the usual sightings; tiger and leopard are here and rarely seen. Later you climb to the Edakkal Caves, two rock shelters on Ambukuthi hill. Their walls are cut with carvings that are thousands of years old, some among the oldest in India. The last stretch is a steep set of stairs and iron ladders.

Open grassland below a green peak in the Wayanad hills

Day 4 · Wayanad

Wayanad — Chembra Trail & Banasura Sagar

The morning is a guided walk on Chembra, the district's highest hill, past a small heart-shaped lake said never to dry. Numbers are capped each day and the upper section is often closed for weather or fire risk. The afternoon is Banasura Sagar, the largest earthen dam in India. Its reservoir has flooded the low hills into islands, and a speedboat runs out among them. The Banasura ridge stands behind the whole scene.

A curved mountain road cutting through a lush green hillside in the Western Ghats

Day 5 · Wayanad → Munnar

Wayanad to Munnar — Across the High Ranges

This is a long transfer, six to seven hours, and a scenic one. The road drops off the Wayanad plateau, crosses the low country, then climbs again into the high ranges. Coffee and forest turn to cardamom and then to tea. Munnar sits at around 1,600 metres, in a bowl of estates first planted in the 1880s. You arrive in the late afternoon with the tea light at its best.

Green tea plantations covering rolling hills under a warm orange sky

Day 6 · Munnar

Munnar — Tea Estates & the Old Plantation Machinery

Munnar is tea, and has been since the 1880s. Spend the morning walking a working estate with a planter who can explain what you are looking at. The Tata Tea Museum houses the original rollers and a functioning miniature factory. Afternoon at Mattupetty Dam and Echo Point.

A row of tall trees along the crest of a lush green hillside in the Cardamom Hills

Day 7 · Munnar → Thekkady

Munnar to Thekkady — Along the Cardamom Hills

Three and a half hours south through the Cardamom Hills. The road is good and the views are constant. You can smell the plantations before you see them. Thekkady sits on the edge of Periyar Tiger Reserve, so the last stretch runs through genuine forest.

Rows of plantation crops on a hillside field with mountains behind

Day 8 · Thekkady

Thekkady — A Working Spice Plantation

Thekkady grows cardamom, pepper, clove, nutmeg and vanilla, often on the same hillside. A guided walk through a working plantation shows you how each one actually grows, which is rarely what people expect. Buy directly from the estate if you want the good stuff at the real price.

A boat moving down a palm-lined backwater towards Kumarakom

Day 9 · Thekkady → Kumarakom

Thekkady to Kumarakom — Down to the Backwaters

The road down from Thekkady loses altitude quickly through cardamom and rubber. It is about four hours to Kumarakom, on the eastern shore of Lake Vembanad. The change is complete: from cool spice hills to hot, flat, waterlogged country in a single morning. You arrive for lunch and an afternoon on the lake. The sunset from the resort jetty is the thing to be back for.

A Kerala houseboat moored against a palm-lined bank on Lake Vembanad

Day 10 · Kumarakom

Kumarakom — Overnight Houseboat on Vembanad

You board a private houseboat in the late morning. These are built on the frame of the old rice barges, with a bedroom, a deck and a cook aboard. The Kumarakom side of the lake is quieter than the Alleppey routes. Lunch and dinner are Kerala home cooking, fish bought from a passing boat. The crew moors for the night against a bank, and it is properly dark and quiet. You come off after breakfast.

A palm-fringed beach on Kerala's southern coast near Varkala

Day 11 · Kumarakom → Varkala

Kumarakom to Varkala — Down the Coast

The drive south is about four and a half hours. It leaves the backwaters behind and picks up the coast road towards Thiruvananthapuram. Varkala is the one place in southern Kerala where cliffs meet the sea. You arrive at a clifftop hotel with the afternoon free. The path along the cliff edge, with its cafes and the long drop to the beach, is the first walk to take.

Chapter Four — The Full Itinerary

12 Days, In Full

Every day, start to finish — including the transfers the day-by-day chapter above skipped.

Kochi

Arrival in Kochi — Fort Kochi & the Spice Quarter

Your driver meets you at Cochin airport. The road runs out to Fort Kochi, where four centuries of trade left their mark on one small peninsula. Walk the lanes on foot. St Francis Church, the Dutch Cemetery, the godowns of Jew Town still stacked with ginger and pepper. Evening is free for a Kathakali performance if you want one.

Kochi → Wayanad

Kochi to Wayanad — Up the Thamarassery Pass

Wayanad