Five days is the length most first trips to Kerala take, and it is enough for the classic circuit: Munnar's tea slopes, Thekkady's Periyar lake and spice gardens, and a night on an Alleppey houseboat, starting and ending at Kochi. This is the day-by-day plan our 5 Days Munnar Alleppey Thekkady Kerala Tour runs, with the timings, what each day costs beyond the package, and the swaps for a honeymoon, a family and a monsoon trip.
The shape of the five days
| Day | Base | The day | Drive |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Munnar | Land at Kochi, drive up through the Cheeyappara falls, tea slopes at sunset | 4 hours |
| 2 | Munnar | Eravikulam, the tea museum, Mattupetty dam and Echo Point, Top Station | local |
| 3 | Thekkady | Drive through the cardamom hills, spice plantation, Periyar boat, Kathakali show | 3.5 hours |
| 4 | Alleppey houseboat | Board at noon, cruise the backwaters, moor for the night | 3.5 hours |
| 5 | Disembark at 9, Fort Kochi if the flight is late, fly home | 1.5 hours |
Day 1: Kochi to Munnar
- Morning: land at Kochi. The driver meets you at arrivals; the road to Munnar is 130 km and four hours with the stops.
- On the way: the Cheeyappara and Valara waterfalls (best July to December), a spice-garden stop near Adimali, lunch at a roadside Kerala restaurant, ₹200 a head.
- Evening: check in by 4 pm, the tea slopes at sunset from the resort or the Pothamedu viewpoint. Munnar town closes early; dinner at the resort.
- Cost beyond the package: lunch and dinner, about ₹800 a head.
Day 2: Munnar
- 8 am: Eravikulam National Park for the Nilgiri tahr (about ₹200; closed February to March; queues by 10 am, so go first).
- Late morning: the Tea Museum at Nallathanni, then lunch in town.
- Afternoon: Mattupetty dam and the boating, Echo Point, Kundala lake, and Top Station at the Tamil Nadu border for the valley view, 35 km out, 90 minutes each way.
- Evening: a tea-tasting at the resort, or the Kalaripayattu show in town.
- Cost beyond the package: tickets about ₹600, meals ₹800.
Day 3: Munnar to Thekkady
- Morning: the 110 km drive through the cardamom hills, three and a half hours, with a stop at the Anayirankal dam.
- Afternoon: the spice plantation walk (cardamom, pepper, vanilla; ₹200 to ₹300), then the Periyar lake boat at 3:30 pm, the best hour for elephants and bison on the banks (about ₹300 plus park entry; book in the morning, it sells out).
- Evening: the Kathakali performance at 5 pm and the Kalaripayattu show at 6:30, ₹300 to ₹500 each, both in Kumily. Dinner at the plantation stay.
Day 4: Thekkady to the Alleppey houseboat
- Morning: leave by 8 for the 140 km, three-and-a-half-hour descent through the rubber estates to Alleppey.
- Noon: board the houseboat at the Punnamada finishing point. The boat cruises until about 5:30 pm past the paddy fields, the churches and the villages, and moors for the night; the crew cook lunch, dinner and breakfast on board, and the karimeen fish fry at lunch is the meal of the trip.
- Evening: sunset from the deck, no plans. Air-conditioning runs from 9 pm to 6 am on the standard boats.
- Cost beyond the package: nothing; the boat and all three meals are in the price.
Day 5: Alleppey to Kochi and home
- 9 am: disembark. Kochi airport is 85 km and about two hours.
- With an afternoon flight: Fort Kochi on the way: the Chinese fishing nets, St Francis church, Jew Town and the spice market, then lunch, and the airport by 2 pm.
The swaps
- Honeymoon: a tea-estate resort with a private balcony in Munnar, a premium one-bedroom houseboat, and Varkala's cliff in place of the last Kochi morning on the six-day version. The 5 Days Best Kerala Honeymoon Tour at ₹20,900 is this itinerary with those changes; the honeymoon guide has the rest.
- Family: a two-bedroom houseboat, the elephant camp at Thekkady instead of the evening shows, and a lighter Day 2 with the boating and Echo Point only.
- Monsoon (June to August): keep the plan but expect the Periyar boat and Eravikulam to close on heavy-rain days; the waterfalls on Day 1 are at their best. Prices drop by a third.
- Six days: add Varkala after the houseboat and fly home from Thiruvananthapuram: the 6 Days Kerala Exclusive Trip with Varkala at ₹18,900.
- Four days: drop Thekkady: the 4 Days Munnar Alleppey Tour at ₹12,250.
What five days costs
With the ₹14,500 land package, a return flight from Hyderabad at ₹10,000, and about ₹6,000 for the meals and tickets above, the trip is a little over ₹30,000 per person on twin sharing; from Bengaluru by train it is under ₹24,000. The line-by-line version is in Kerala trip cost from Hyderabad and Bengaluru, and the month to choose is in the best time to visit Kerala. All the plans are on the Kerala tour packages page.
