MY JOURNEY TO GOD’S OWN COUNTRY

If you are planning to visit Kerala on your Next holiday trip then I hope my information’s & pictures will definitely help you.

I visited Kerala few months Back and I must tell you it was one of my most memorable trip so far,  No no its not that I am a frequent Traveler or Explorer of the world I am a law student pursuing my studies from Bangalore, but I have visited few places in India,and out of those few places. I would say This one was definitely the best one. It was not my first hill station or beach visit but Still The beauty of Kerala really mesmerized me. No wonder why it is called Gods Own country!!

Enough of descriptions now, Let me tell you How I explored The places in and around Kerala. If you ask me the best way to do it, I would recommend you to go through Travel Agents. The same even I did, otherwise it will be very hectic & confusing to decide where to start & where to end up your trip

So, in order to Enjoy the trip without any headaches and confusion, plan your trip through a travel agency. I finalized the agency and booked my hotels, travel tickets, Boat bookings etc two months prior to my trip. So, you can say it was a fully planned trip, as we had clear idea about our holiday dates & what and all we want see in Kerala. We had five days in hand. So, it was really necessary to plan every day perfectly,in order to prevent our self from missing any thing to be seen there.

I stay in Bangalore, So I booked flights tickets from Bangalore to Kochi. It just took couple of hours for us to reach Kochi Airport..& we were so relaxed by seeing our car with the Driver sent by the travel agents waiting outside the airport for us.

Places we planned to cover in those five days were:

1 Munnar ( 2 days stay)

2 Thekkady (1 day)

3 Allepey (1 day)

4 Kochi

We started our journey from Kochi to Our first destination Munnar. We stayed their in One Resort, It was beautifully located on the top of a hill, & the view from there was outstanding. Munnar is a beautiful Hill station, with lots & lots of tea plantations all around. We stayed there for two days & explored the city.

Gods Own Country!! Munnar

Things to do in Munnar:

You can see Rose garden, Lake( where you can do boating and buy some souvenir for your friends and family), National park, Click perfect pictures on photo points, Enjoy food at local shops And If you are staying in resorts then you can enjoy having break fast in tree house or bonfire at night organised by the resort people. Since there is nothing much to do in in Munnar after Sunset..So, better you book a good resort or hotel,to keep yourself busy in something during evening.

After spending two days in Munnar we headed to our next Destination Thekaddy.

Tree house at Munnar resort

Kerala is all about road trips and views that you see during travelling from one place to another, So, on the way to thekkady enjoy the greenery all around, deep valleys, beautiful mountains,waterfall and spice gardens. Dont forget to take elephant ride that comes on the way to Thekkady. The fare of elephant ride is never included in your travel plan cost..So 500 rs you will have to pay to the vendors, but that experience is  worth 500 rs.

We reached Thekkady in the afternoon, it was around 4 hours of journey from Munnar

Thekkady is considered as a heaven for natural spices such as Black pepper,Cinammon, Nutmeg, Nutmace, Ginger, and Clove . So Dont forget to buy some Natural Spices for your Family & Friends from there.

Water fall on the way to Thekkedy

Things to do in Thekkady:

1 Spice Garden Tour.

2 Elephant Ride

3 Ayurvedic Spa

4 Local arts

5 Shopping( There are many Emporium You can spend time in)

6 Periyar National park

Tea plantion

We stayed there for one day and then started our journey to Allepey the very next day at 7 in the morning Since it takes around 5 hours to reach Allepey from Thekkady and our target was to reach before 12 pm as cruising time of the house boat is 12 to 5 in the evening and we did not want to miss any single moment of it, We left Thekkady around 7 am & reached house boat around 12. Just the way we had planned.( WE ARE VERY PUNCTUAL TRAVELERS YOU SEE)

Now the best part of Kerala started….ONE FULL DAY & NIGHT STAY AT THE HOUSE BOAT.

House Boat

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If you are in Kerala, you must experience one night stay in house boat at Allepey for sure. If you are booking house boat through your travel agent,the cost will be included in your package but if you are doing the bookings by yourself then its pretty expensive..it will cost you around 11k to 15k depending upon the quality of boat you have booked, options available are Luxury boat,Deluxe boat,Premium boat etc. We have selected Deluxe AC boat..& it was very clean & comfortable.

The cruising time of the ship was really a life time memorable experience. Food served by the house boat people was also tasty, they serve veg & non veg both. In order to enjoy House boat experience even more Carry few (Below mentioned) things along with you.

1 Mosquito KIller Spray

2 Room Freshener

3 Collections of songs which you can play in the Cd player provided in your boat to keep yourself entertained.

4 Snacks ( Though they serve fruits, Biscuits etc but still u carry some more with yourself if you are a foodie like me)

Now it was our last day in Kerala..and we were going to see our final destination The Allappuzha  beach. There are a few more beaches in Kerala like Kovalam Beach,Marikulam beach,Bekal beach,Varkala Beach etc but we selected Allappuzha beach because we had not enough time in hand,  we had to return back to Bangalore that same day, so we selected the beach that comes on the way to the Kochi airport ,and I am really happy that we chose that particular Beach..it was beautiful even more than our expectations .

Alappuzha is one of the most beautiful beaches in India(According to me) It has a Light house which stands near the beach making it more interesting spot for tourists. Remains of Alappuzha Sea Bridge, are still there as a memory of the good old days when Alappuzha port was one of the most famous and important ports in Kerala. The Sea Bridge enabled the passage of goods via ship.

We reached there in couple of hours, The beach was clean and very different from the other I had seen so far,You see the photographs and you will come to know why I am crazy about the beauty of this beach.

Alappuzha Beach

After spending two three hours there We went inside the city   (Kochi.). There also you can enjoy few places like Museum, St Francis Church, Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium, Santacruz Basilica, Lulu Mall (one of the India’s largest mall) But we preferred a nice hotel to relax for an hour and to have good lunch before heading back to the airport. After relaxing for an hour we reached airport on time with lots of sweet memories to cherish for a lifetime & Perfectly Clicked Pictures. We got back to Bangalore.

So, this was my whole experience about My trip To God’s Own Country.

Hope you have enjoyed reading  it & Found it informative.  Don’t hesitate to PM me on my mail id if you want any more info about the place. Meanwhile enjoy few clicks from My Camera.

Take Care..

Water fall on the way to Thekkedy