From the serene shores of Trivandrum to the spice-laden streets of Kochi, Malaysia Airlines offers two distinct gateways into this unforgettable region that promises an abundance of heritage architecture, flavourful cuisine and the wisdom of Ayurveda
Whenever first-time travellers to India ask me where they should go, the easy answer is Kerala state – home to spiritual Trivandrum, its capital city, and Kochi, its cosmopolitan and commercial hub. Kerala’s 590km-long coastline along the Arabian Sea, meandering backwaters, forested interiors and mountains wrapped in tea, pepper and cardamom are just the beginning.
I tell them to start in the middle, in Kochi, a city defined by thousands of years of trade and commerce. Greek, Roman, Jewish, Syrian, Arab and Chinese traders arrived here in search of the prized spices in the ancient world, like cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and black pepper.
The Portuguese also established their first settlement in India here in the 15th century – though Kochi later fell into the hands of the Dutch and the British. All these influences have left their mark, from the patinaed colonial-era houses and stone-paved bylanes of the old quarter (Fort Kochi), to the 33ft-high Chinese fishing nets set against the Arabian Sea and the spice boutiques near the Portuguese-built Mattancherry Palace, with its terracotta roofing and central courtyard.
Today, charming heritage boutique hotels such as Le Colonial – an intimate, luxurious hideaway along Vasco de Gama Square in Fort Kochi – set the tone for a richer exploration of history. “My mother and father travelled to India in the 1970s and promptly fell in love with Kochi,” says owner Isabelle Persenda. “Just like them, I’ve also been charmed by Kochi.”
In the early 2000s, her parents bought an old colonial-era home, originally built in 1506 to house Portuguese governors, and transformed it into Le Colonial with the help of architect Ramesh Tharakan, who specialises in heritage restoration. In many ways, this elegant hotel – with its wood-panelled walls, vintage furniture and antiques – stands as a witness to those who have travelled through Fort Kochi and have been similarly enchanted.
I often come to Kerala for the cuisine, as many others do. Specifically, for the sadhya, a feast of 25 to 30 vegetarian dishes and rice served on banana leaves, ubiquitous during the annual harvest festival Onam in August and September. The meal itself is a celebration of the bounty of the land.
From Kerala-born chef Jomon Kuriakose, culinary director at the restaurant chain The Tiffin Box (with branches across the United Kingdom and United Arab Emirates), I’ve learned that Keralan cuisine reflects everything that surrounds it: the Arabian Sea, the Western Ghats and the monsoon-fed fields.
“It’s a place where food is deeply seasonal and instinctively local,” he says. “What sets Kerala’s food apart is clarity and flavour. We don’t mask ingredients. We elevate them.” Ingredients such as coconut, shallots, curry leaves, tamarind and spices like cardamom, cloves and black pepper are used not just for heat, but for depth, aroma and balance.
For Kuriakose, Kerala’s food speaks of trade, migration, faith and celebration. These nuanced influences appear in Syrian Christian fish moilee with coconut milk and green chillies, Portuguese-inspired vindaloo, Moplah Muslim biryani flavoured with dry fruits and ghee, Jewish-style pickled mangoes and temple sadhya rooted in Ayurvedic, plant-based principles. “Few places in India offer such culinary diversity in such a small space,” says Kuriakose.
For a taste of this intersection of anthropology and food, dine at The History & Terrace Grill, a lavish restaurant at Brunton Boatyard in Fort Kochi. Set on a former harbourfront shipyard with lofty ceilings, terracotta floors, teak furnishings and vintage art, the hotel is part of CGH Earth, a hospitality brand offering community-led stays across South India.
Chefs here have been tending to the culinary legacy of the town’s diverse communities, crafting a menu that includes dishes like Portuguese-inspired seafood stews, Anglo-Indian recipes of tender duck in coconut gravy and chuttulli meen, where the fish marinade follows a Jewish family’s handwritten recipe.
No visit to Kochi is complete without a trip to its surrounding backwaters, running parallel to the Arabian Sea. The backwaters consist of a network of waterways that twist and turn, snaking past paddyland, coconut groves and local homes. They include lagoons, lakes, canals, rivers and deltas, both man-made and natural, shaped by tidal currents that create tiny islands across the coastal landscape. Locals use this vast network for transport, fishing and farming. Now, it’s also a place for houseboat cruises, especially in Alleppey, 53km south of Kochi.
To manage the impact of tourism, luxury houseboats like Spice Routes are creating more responsible experiences by anchoring their boats in the quieter village of Chennamkary and welcoming travellers in a two-century-old heritage home that sits on a 7-acre private farm before cruises begin.
The houseboats, ranging from one to five bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms, accommodate only one group at a time. Meals are delightfully local, with fish, lobsters and mussels sourced from the fishermen along the canals. Their single-bedroom boats come with a glass-covered lounge, sundeck and a jacuzzi, ideal for gazing at the surrounding landscape.
From Kochi, you must make your way to the Keralan capital of Trivandrum, where you’ll find fabulous beach towns, such as the popular Kovalam, as well as many of Kerala’s prominent Ayurveda institutions. The southern city is a centre for Ayurveda, a natural, holistic medicinal system that emerged in India over 5,000 years ago.
Based on the principles that everything in the body is intertwined, Ayurveda incorporates lifestyle changes and natural remedies to achieve balance and harmony in the body, mind, spirit and the world around us. “A calm body is required for a calm mind,” says Dr Neeraja Radhakrishnan, founder of Nerium Ayurveda and Wellness.
In Ayurveda, doshas are energies that govern our health. The essence of Ayurveda is primarily to restore the balance of these doshas, and to bring a person back to their prakriti (inherent nature), Radhakrishnan says. Therapies like Shirodhara, a healing technique that involves slow-dripping liquid – usually oil or milk – onto the forehead, soothe the hypothalamus, promote deep relaxation and restore balance.
In the heart of the backwaters in Paravur, 56km north of Trivandrum, is the CGH Earth’s Kalari Rasayana, an Ayurveda centre located on an eight-acre coconut garden with 22 lakefront rooms. With 11 treatment spaces, Ayurveda programmes here start at 14 days – the minimum time for therapies to take full effect.
Treatments are prescribed by doctors and address conditions like stress, insomnia, hormonal imbalance, diabetes and digestive issues, combining detox, massage, yoga, meditation and diet. There’s also preventive healthcare, an evolving global trend as more people turn to Ayurveda to curb and prevent illnesses.
“The monsoons are considered ideal for cleansing and taking medicinal porridge to preserve our health,” Radhakrishnan says. Traditionally, locals combine cleansing treatments and herbal decoctions with therapies like Shirodhara and Abhyanga, an oil body massage that relieves muscle tension, improves blood flow and calms the mind. Known as karkidaka chikitsa, these monsoon rituals are part of Kerala’s lifestyle that treat seasonal ailments like cold, cough, indigestion and chronic conditions like arthritis.
The heritage, cuisine, houseboats and Ayurveda aside, the state’s rich nature and the warmth and hospitality of its people fit into the narrative of God’s Own Country, a tourism slogan first used in the 1980s, now synonymous with Kerala. For Radhakrishnan, it’s this atmosphere that fosters a deep sense of well-being across her home state.
And for me, every visit to Kerala feels vibrant and alive. Isabelle Persenda reminds me that Fort Kochi, for instance, is still the sleepy seaside town where time seems to have forgotten its meaning, but events like the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India’s biggest art exhibition, which takes place every two years, transform the town with creativity, colour and cultural expression. “Moments like these,” Persenda says, “remind me how special this place truly is.”
