Kerala

Kerala's coast is a long line of sand and palms, and in the dry season, roughly October to April, the sea is warm at about 28°C. Varkala is the most distinctive beach. It sits under red laterite cliffs, with guesthouses and cafés along the clifftop path. Kovalam has small crescent bays close to Thiruvananthapuram. Marari and the beaches near Alappuzha are quieter village sands where you can combine the beach with the backwaters. In the far north, Bekal and the Kannur coast are emptier still.

The Arabian Sea is not a gentle sea. There are rip currents and heavy surf on many stretches, and swimming is safest between the flags where lifeguards patrol. From June to September the monsoon makes the sea rough and grey. Local dress norms are conservative away from the tourist beaches.

Kerala cooks with coconut, curry leaves, tamarind and black pepper, and its cuisine comes from several communities. The Syrian Christian kitchens of the Kochi and Kottayam area make appam with stew and beef fry. The Mappila cooking of Kozhikode and the Malabar coast is known for its biryani and seafood snacks. The Hindu sadya is a long vegetarian feast served on a banana leaf, at its grandest during the Onam festival. Along the backwaters, pearl spot fish grilled in banana leaf and fiery toddy-shop curries are the local classics.

Everyday eating is excellent and cheap, from breakfasts of puttu and kadala curry to meals of rice on banana leaves. Tea and filter coffee are everywhere, and both are grown in the hills. Alcohol is harder to find than in most of India.

The richest place for sightseeing is Kochi. In Fort Kochi and Mattancherry, Portuguese, Dutch and British traders all left their mark. The Chinese fishing nets line the shore, and St Francis Church, the Dutch Palace with its murals and the Paradesi Synagogue in Jew Town are all within a short walk of each other. Thiruvananthapuram has the Napier Museum and the temple quarter around Sree Padmanabhaswamy. The wooden Padmanabhapuram Palace, just over the state border, is one of the finest timber buildings in India.

The Kerala temple style, with its sloping copper roofs and carved wood, is lovely to see in Thrissur and Guruvayur. Many of the major temples admit only Hindus, though, so visitors often see them from outside. Bekal Fort guards the northern coast.

Kerala goes to bed early. Alcohol is tightly licensed, so most drinking happens in hotel bars or in rough local toddy shops. In the dry season the clifftop at Varkala is the liveliest stretch, with candlelit cafés and music until late evening. Kochi has some bars and lounges in its larger hotels. There is no club culture to speak of, and evenings here usually mean a long dinner, a cultural performance or a quiet night on a houseboat.

Kerala has two great landscapes. Behind the coast lie the backwaters, a maze of lagoons, canals and lakes fringed with coconut palms and paddy fields, best seen slowly from a houseboat or canoe around Alappuzha and Kumarakom. Inland, the Western Ghats rise to tea estates and grasslands at Munnar, where Eravikulam National Park shelters the Nilgiri tahr. The forests of Periyar around Thekkady have wild elephants and lake boat trips, while Wayanad in the north has trekking trails, caves and spice plantations. Athirappilly is a broad waterfall in the forest.

The best months for the hills and wildlife are October to March. The monsoon turns everything a deep green but makes trails leech-ridden and slippery.

Most visitors move around Kerala on a circuit rather than taking day trips from one base, and road travel is slow. From Kochi, the Muziris heritage area around Kodungallur and Paravur has old synagogues, churches and one of the oldest mosques in India. Thrissur, about two hours away, is a temple town at the heart of the festival culture. From Thiruvananthapuram, Kanyakumari at the southern tip of India is about two and a half hours away, with its sunrise over three seas and its rock memorial. The towns themselves are pleasant rather than remarkable, and the strongest outings lead into the countryside.

Indian culture is fond of children, and Kerala is among the calmer and cleaner parts of the country, which helps. Children usually enjoy a night on a backwater houseboat, wildlife boat trips at Periyar, the cool tea hills of Munnar and the elephants. There is little else made for them beyond an amusement park near Kochi. The seas are often too rough for young swimmers. Drives into the hills are long and twisting, which leaves many children carsick, and the heat and humidity tire them quickly. A resort with a pool on the backwaters or at Marari is the easiest base.

A railway runs along the coast, linking Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha, Kochi, Thrissur and Kozhikode, and it is the easiest way to travel the length of the state. Kochi has a metro line and water ferries across its harbour. Away from the coast things get harder. The roads are crowded, overtaking is aggressive, and reaching Munnar or Thekkady means several hours of hairpin bends. Most visitors hire a car with a driver for the circuit. A car is not something to drive yourself here. Within Fort Kochi and Varkala you can get about on foot or by auto-rickshaw.

Shopping in Kerala is about local produce and crafts. The lanes of Jew Town in Mattancherry are lined with spice warehouses and antique and curio shops. Munnar and Thekkady sell tea, cardamom and pepper straight from the hills. The cream-and-gold kasavu sarees and mundu are woven at Balaramapuram near Thiruvananthapuram. Kathakali masks, coir goods and brass lamps make good souvenirs. The old market street of Kozhikode has halwa and textiles. Beyond that there are malls in Kochi, and very little in the way of fashion or design.

Kerala is cheap by international standards. Homestays, simple guesthouses, local meals, trains and auto-rickshaws all cost very little. Spending goes up with the things most visitors come for: a private houseboat, a stay at a backwater resort, a full Ayurveda programme or a car and driver for the hill circuit. Even so, a comfortable trip costs a fraction of what it would in Europe. Prices peak around Christmas and New Year.

Kerala's performance traditions are among the most striking in India. Kathakali is a dance-drama with elaborate green face make-up and towering headdresses, and in Fort Kochi and Thekkady shorter evening shows let visitors watch the actors being made up beforehand. Kalaripayattu, the local martial art, is also staged for audiences. Kutiyattam is an ancient form of Sanskrit theatre still performed in temple theatres. In north Malabar, from about December to April, Theyyam rituals turn villagers into deities in all-night ceremonies of fire and drumming.

The temple festivals bring huge chenda drum ensembles and caparisoned elephants, most famously at the Thrissur Pooram. There is little in the way of Western classical music, theatre or live music in clubs.

Kerala is where people go for Ayurveda. Treatment centres and retreats offer everything from a single oil massage to a supervised panchakarma programme lasting several weeks, with its own diet, daily treatments and a doctor's consultations. The cluster around Kovalam and Varkala in the south is the best known, and the quieter retreats sit on the backwaters at Kumarakom and in the hills of Wayanad. Yoga is taught almost everywhere.

The pace helps too: drifting along palm-lined canals, waking to mist over the tea gardens or watching the light fade from the clifftop. Many practitioners consider the monsoon months the best season for treatment, when the air is cool and moist.