Must See Destinations in Kerala, Munnar, Tree House, Wayanad, Nelliyampathy, Bekkal and Alleppey

Kerala is in the southern tip of India, running a coast line of Arabian sea on the left side. A must place to visit, if you are in India. When I am writing this, on Feb 2008, the serenity and closeness to nature is being preserved in this part of the world. Kerala governments site describes 101 things to do while you are in kerala. Some of them, getting the best and healthiest breakfast in the world, stay on a house boat in back waters, ride a canoe, get an ayurvedic massage, stay in a tree house, have a mudbath, romance the spice hills, bathe in the waterfalls, Spent the night at Kathakali concert etc. These are some of the things which you should be doing while in kerala, there are lot many more such things. 

Here are some pictures from Kerala. I recommend you to visit kerala. If the pictures here inspires you, I would be obliged.

Touring kerala- A suggested itinerary

 Kumarakom        

Kumarakom is now a synonym for the backwaters in kerala. Alleppey is the district which encompasses the backwaters in kerala. The lake resort in Kumarakom is one of the best lake resorts in the world.

Munnar

Munnar (Kerala) is situated in betwen three mountain streams - Mudrapuzha, Nallathanni and Kundala. Located at 1600 M above sea level,it has sprawling tea plantations, picture book towns and winding lanes.

 Wayyanad or wayanad

Tree houses, Trekking, Wild life, Water falls very scenic and beautiful. Its a must visit. There are number of sites which give you enough information.  I think this is one of the must do, for people who like nature a lot. This is a fantastic option if you would like to be secluded on the top of the tree, with you and just the nature around you.

You can fly to Cochin or Calicut airport and take a taxi to Wayanad. There are many tour operators who would provide you with transport and boarding facilities. If you are an international visitor, I suggest that you take the services of good tour operator, since langauge could be a problem and you could get cheated if your try venturing out on your own. If you are coming form other parts of India, go ahead and try your luck, Mallus(natives of Kerala as they are called shortly) do speak Hindi and english.

Thekkady - Wild life resort

About 186 km south east of Cochin is this small village by the name of Thekkady. That this small village is the only gateway to the most famous wildlife sanctuary of the south - the Periyar Wildlife Sanctaury. For someone visiting Kerala on a holiday, this is a must inclusion.
 

Thrissur - Temples, Greenary and Elephants, water falls (Athirapilly, Vazhachal)

East of Chalakudy, near the entrance to the Sholayar forest ranges, are the beautiful waterfalls of Athirapally and Vazhachal, 5 km apart. These waterfalls are a place of scenic beauty , and is of 80 feet high.

Guruvayur temple is in Thrissur district.The temple is dedicated to Krishna known here as Guruvayurappan or the Lord of Guruvayur, and the idol is said to have been worshipped by Lord Brahma himself at Dwaraka. It is at this temple that Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri composed his well-known Sanskrit devotional poem 'Narayaneeyam'.

Vadakkumnathan Temple

This temple is a classic example of the Kerala style of architectrue. The temple contains the sacred shrines of Paramashiva, Parvathy, Sankaranarayana, Ganapathy, Sri Rama and Sri Krishna. The central shrines and Koothambalam exhibit exquisite vignettes carved in wood. Legend goes that this temple was founded by Parasurama.

Bekal - Fort on the sea side.

Bekal is a small place located on the shores of the Arabian Sea in the Pallikare village in Kasargod district of Kerala state, South India. Bekal Fort is a major tourist attraction in the state. It is situated around 15 km. to south of Kasargod town.This fort is more than 300 years old and is believed to have been built in the 1650's by Sivappa Naik of the Ikkeri dynasty. There is also another belief that it was originally built by Kolathiri Rajas and later captured by Sivappa Naik. The fort was occupied by Hyder Ali of Mysore in 1763 A.D and then the Huzur of Canara during Tipu Sultan's reign and later by the British.

As a contemporary note, this was where the Uyyire(Tu hi re) song was picturised in the "Bombay" movie.

A green paddy field in a village

Elephants bath in Trichur - Kerala

Back waters in Kerala

Getting Around in Kerala

If you arrive in Cochin Airport, take a cab from the airport to your destination. There are very good travel companies, which arrange cabs and other sight seeing trips. You could use trains if you are travelling from one end to other end (for eg. Trivadrum to Kannur). Buses are not a great option in Kerala.

Eco Tours Kerala provides packaged tours in the southern part of kerala, they do have chauffeured cab services and accommodation in a house boat

How do you get to Kerala

1. Book a flight to Cochin and then look for a taxi operator who would take you to your respective destinations

2. You can also reach by train to Kerala from all the major cities in India.

3. You can drive down from Chennai or Bangalore by car.

Flights to Kerala

Deccan, Kingfisher, Indigo, Indian Airlines, Jet Airways, Jetlite flies to Cochin and Trivandrum from Mumbai, Bangalore,Delhi and Hyderabad. You could book in advance to get a good deal.

Food

if you are coming in from northern part of India, first thing people tell you when you make plans to come here is that you would not be able to get good food or mallus eat only beef. :-) Predominantly sea food and rice, Kerala is not a typical vegetarian state like other parts of India. There is misconception that every food made in hotels includes Beef. This is not true. there are lot of hotels which serves beef dishes, but they dont mix beef in everything. Rice is different from the rest of India, its boiled rice, similar to what  is available in Bengal.

There are lot of pure vegetarian hotels run by vegetarians where you can eat without any concern. (Anandabhavan, Namboodiris etc)

Photos

Check out this link for more pictures of kerala. You would definitely agree with me after you see these pictures

Real Estate in Kerala

Many places in kerala, except cochin is yet to catch up completely with the real estate boom that was happening across the country. The places to look at now would be trivandrum, thrissur, kottayam, Palghat and Calicut. I would not say they are available at cheap price, but if you compare to cochin, yes they are cheap. Thrissur is  being developed as twin city to cochin. So buying a land in between cochin and thrissur might get you mind blogging returns in the near future.