Kerala
You can be here in December for about €1,855, 4 days, 1 stop.
Why now
Prime time in December: 31°C days, sea 30°C.
The dry season after the monsoon is the comfortable one and the busy one; the southwest monsoon is when Ayurveda centres say their treatments work best and the hills are at their greenest. The Thrissur Pooram and the boat races bring crowds to specific towns for days.
Best months here: January, February, December. Daytime highs, sea temperature and rainy days from three years of Open-Meteo reanalysis; a rainy day is one with at least 1 mm of rain, which is the WMO threshold and not the same as "it drizzled".
The place
Kerala is India at a manageable pace: a literate, leafy coastal state of backwaters, spice hills, Portuguese and Dutch leftovers in Fort Kochi and a fish-and-coconut kitchen that is its own cuisine. It suits people who want India for a first time, and repeat visitors who want it slower.
What you can do
- 01Spend a night on a converted rice-barge kettuvallam from Alleppey or a quieter canoe trip from Kumarakom.
- 02Walk Fort Kochi's Chinese fishing nets, St Francis church and the Jew Town spice warehouses in Mattancherry.
- 03Eat a sadya on a banana leaf at lunchtime, and Malabar-style fish curry with appam at dinner.
- 04Watch a Kathakali performance in Kochi with the makeup session beforehand, then a Kalaripayattu demonstration.
- 05Take the mountain road to Munnar's tea estates or Thekkady's Periyar reserve for elephants by boat.
Where to stay · neighbourhoods
A homestay in Fort Kochi first, then a night in the backwaters and two in the hills; avoid Ernakulam's business hotels unless the airport or trains dictate.
Unusual things
- ◦The Kerala Folklore Museum in Kochi, three floors of masks, puppets and architecture salvaged from old houses.
- ◦Bekal fort in the far north, a laterite sea fort on a mostly empty stretch of Malabar coast.
- ◦Marari beach between Kochi and Alleppey, fishing villages and small homestays, no strip.
Day trips
Flight options
Routes come from OpenFlights (historical) and a 2026 route reference compiled from public timetables. Durations are the published schedule where we have it, otherwise a block-time model fitted on measured nonstop flights. Verify schedules with the airline before booking.
Entry requirements · IT passport
India e-Visa: apply online 4+ days before; 30-day, 1-year and 5-year options.
Source: passport-index-data, March 2026 (coarse indicator), covering 258 of our 268 destinations for each of 199 passports. Always confirm with the destination's official site.
Airports
Distances are centre to airport derived · nonstop counts are our route reference for 2026, not every flight that exists.
Local transport
- Airport to city
- Taxi, 60 min, ~€15
- Car needed?
- Recommended for most of what is worth seeing
- Getting around
- Trains link the coastal towns cheaply, ferries cross Kochi's harbour, and a hired car with driver is how most visitors do the hills. Kochi airport is about 1.5 hours from Fort Kochi; Thiruvananthapuram serves the southern beaches.
- Clock
- 13½ hours ahead of Los Angeles (Asia/Kolkata) derived
- Daylight
- 11.5 hours of daylight in December · sunrise 06:34, sunset 18:06 derived
- Currency
- INR
Good to know
Monsoon flooding has closed roads and the airport in recent years; sea currents are strong and drownings at the beaches are not rare.
Alternatives at a similar price
Whole trip per person for 4 days from Los Angeles in December, then the flight time; estimates, like the total above.
Hawaii
Hong Kong
Abu Dhabi
Hurghada
Riyadh
Muscat