Kerala Family Tour Package

Welcome to Cochin/Kochi, India. You will be greeted and received by our representative who would transfer you to your hotel for check-in. Kochi was earlier known as Cochin and is nicknamed as the Queen of the Arabian Sea. The name of the city comes from Malayalam term “Kochazhi” that actually means small lagoon.

Kochi was put on the world map by Vasco-de-Gama. The Arabs, Portuguese, British, Dutch, all have left their impression on the history of Kochi. Kochi was an important spice trading centre on the west coast of India from the 14th century onward, and maintained a trade network with Arab merchants from the pre-Islamic era.

Kochi is known as the financial, commercial and industrial capital of Kerala. Kochi is the second most important city on the west coast of India, right next to Mumbai. It is the most popular tourist destination for both domestic and international visitors to Kerala and is among the most visited tourist destinations in India.

This afternoon is at leisure. Overnight at hotel in Kochi.

Have your breakfast and get ready to explore the city of Cochin and some of the famous places in the city. You will be exploring the Portuguese churches, mosques and temples and also the Jewish synagogues. You will be taken to watch something that is amusing and most widely seen across Kerala – the Chinese style fishing nets. It has a height of 10m and holds a cantilever along with an outstretched net that is suspended in the sea and the other end has a huge stone tied to balance the counterweight. A group of six fishermen does the installation and operation of each fishing nets.

Come back to the hotel visiting these places. This afternoon is at leisure.

Overnight stay at hotel in Kochi.

Get driven to Kumarakom right after finishing your breakfast. Kumarakom is a popular tourism destination located near the city of Kottayam and is famous for its backwater tourism. It is set in the backdrop of the Vembanad Lake, that the largest lake in the state of Kerala.

Kumarakom is famous for its wide range of flora and fauna. Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary is a noted bird sanctuary where many species of migratory birds visit. The Vembanad Lake, the largest backwater in Kerala, is habitat for many marine and freshwater fish species and it teems with Karimeen shrimp. The bird sanctuary extends over 14 acres and came into existence following preservation efforts from the government. It is a major tourist attraction.

Fruit like banana, mango, jackfruit pineapple, etc. grow here in abundance and the place is a lush green covered with paddy fields and coconut groves.

Spend overnight at the hotel in Kumarakom.

Have your breakfast before getting driven to Alleppey, also named as Alappuzha that gets its name from two words, Ala (broad) and Puzha (river). Alleppey is a town with picturesque canals, backwaters, beaches, and lagoons, it was described as the one of the places known as the "Venice of the East" by Lord Curzon. History traded ancient Greece and Romans even before Christ and also during the middle Ages. Different religions mingled and built their churches, mosques and temples.

It is an experience to explore Kerala backwaters, which are a huge network of large lakes linked by canals and fed by rivers. The backwaters are formed because of the waves and shore currents creating low barrier islands. The backwaters would be explored in a houseboat (known as kettuvallam) which you would board for overnight stay that is by itself a lifetime experience.

These houseboats were first introduced to ferry the grain. The boats are like floating cottages with a sleeping area, toilets, dining area and a sit out on the deck. The food is cooked on board by staff.

Overnight in the houseboat in Alleppey.

Get driven to Kovalam on day 5 of this tour package. Kovalam is a beach town by the Arabian Sea in Thiruvananthapuram metropolitan area in Kerala, India, located around 18 km south of the city center. Kovalam in local language means a grove of coconut trees.

Kovalam first received attention when the Regent Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi of Travancore constructed her beach resort, Halcyon Castle, here towards the end of the 1920s. Thereafter the place was brought to the public eye by her nephew the Maharaja of Travancore. The European guests of the then Travancore kingdom discovered the potentiality of Kovalam beach as a tourist destination in the 1930s.

However, Kovalam shot into limelight in the early seventies with arrivals of the masses of hippies on their way to Ceylon in the Hippie Trail. This exodus started the transformation of a casual fishing village of Kerala into one of the most important tourist destinations in all India.

Another reason Kovalam is famous for is the exclusive Ayurvedic treatment that is being offered by many beach resorts for recuperation and regeneration.

Enjoy your afternoon by the Kovalam beach or treat yourself with an Ayurvedic spa in the resort. Overnight stay at Kovalam.

Have your breakfast and start for the morning tour to Thiruvananthapuram. The first destination is Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple. The temple is built in an intricate fusion of the indigenous Kerala style and the Tamil style (kovil) of architecture associated with the temples located in the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu, featuring high walls, and a 16th-century Gopuram. While the Moolasthanam of the temple is the Ananthapuram Temple in Kumbala in Kasargod District, architecturally to some extent, the temple is a replica of the Adikesava Perumal temple located in Thiruvattar, Kanyakumari District.

Up next is the Napier Museum which is an art and natural history. It is a saracenic architecture museum. The museum was established in 1855. The architectural masterpiece was designed by Robert Chisholm, the consulting Architect of the Madras Government, and the construction was completed in 1880. Napier Museum is a landmark in the city with its unique ornamentation and architectural style with gothic roof and minarets. The Indo-Saracenic structure also boasts a natural air conditioning system.

The museum houses a rare collection of archaeological and historic artefacts, bronze idols, ancient ornaments, a temple chariot and ivory carvings. It also contains the Sree Chitra Art Gallery, which contains works from Raja Ravi Varma and Nicholas Roerich, as well as examples of Mughal and Tanjore art. One of the oldest zoos of India is also a part of the museum.

Come back to Kovalam and spend overnight in the hotel.

This day is at leisure for exploring Kovalam. You are suggested to take a walk by the mesmerizing beaches. Kovalam has three beaches separated by rocky outcroppings in its 17 km coastline; the three together form the famous crescent of the Kovalam beach.

The Lighthouse beach is the southernmost beach which is the most visited by the tourists. Lighthouse Beach got its name due to the old Vizhinjam Lighthouse located on a 35 meter high on top of the Kurumkal hillock. The lighthouse is built using stones, is colored in red and white bands and enjoys a height of 118 feet. Its intermittent beams at night render the beach with an unearthly charm.

The other two beaches are the Hawah Beach and Samudra Beach. Hawa Beach, also called Eve’s Beach, is a beehive of activities with fishermen setting out for sea. With a high rock promontory and a calm bay of blue waters, this beach paradise creates a unique aquarelle on moonlit nights. Samudra Beach is not flocked much by the tourists as this is the trading area of the fishermen.

Overnight at Kovalam.

Get driven to Thiruvanathapuram to board your outbound or return flight.