The Most Beautiful Places in Kerala

Kerala’s real beauty is its variety. In one small state you get the palm-lined backwaters of the coast, tea-covered hills high in the Western Ghats, forest and waterfalls inland, and a long Arabian-Sea shoreline of cliffs and quiet beaches — most of it within a day’s drive of the next. This is a tour of the regions worth planning a trip around, from the most famous to a few that stay off the standard circuit.

Alleppey & the backwaters

The backwaters around Alleppey — a maze of lakes, rivers and palm-shaded canals threaded between paddy fields — are the image most people carry away from Kerala. The classic way to see them is from a converted-rice-barge houseboat, drifting past village life at walking pace. Sunrise and sunset over the water, with the paddy dead flat to the horizon, are as good as scenery in India gets.

Munnar’s tea hills

High in the hills of Idukki, Munnar is wrapped in some of the most photogenic tea estates in the world — endless clipped-green slopes rolling into the mist. The air is cool, the light is soft, and viewpoints like Top Station look out over the Western Ghats falling away towards Tamil Nadu. It is the easiest hill station to reach and the one most first-timers fall for.

Wayanad’s forests & waterfalls

In the northern highlands, Wayanad trades tea for a wilder mix of rainforest, spice plantations, waterfalls and wildlife. This is elephant and tiger country, with sanctuaries on the state border, prehistoric petroglyphs at the Edakkal Caves, and the heart-shaped lake atop Chembra Peak for those who make the climb. Some trails and sites close seasonally, so confirm locally before you set out.

Varkala & the beaches

For coastline, Varkala is the standout — a dramatic red-laterite cliff with cafés strung along the top and a beach below, unusual on a coast that is mostly flat. It is more relaxed than the bigger resort strips, good for sunsets over the Arabian Sea, and an easy add-on to a southern Kerala trip.

Thekkady / Periyar spice hills

Also in Idukki, Thekkady is the gateway to the Periyar Tiger Reserve, set around a lake in the cardamom hills. A boat cruise on the reservoir is the usual way in, with elephant, gaur and bird sightings common along the shore, and the surrounding spice plantations — pepper, cardamom, cinnamon — are a fragrant walk in their own right.

Fort Kochi heritage

Beauty here is built rather than natural. Fort Kochi is a slow, salt-worn old port of Portuguese, Dutch and British streets, art cafés in former trading houses, and the row of cantilevered Chinese fishing nets silhouetted against the harbour at sunset. It is the most walkable heritage quarter in the state and an easy place to begin or end a trip.

Vagamon meadows

Less famous and all the better for it, Vagamon is a string of rolling grassy meadows, pine forest and tea slopes on the Idukki–Kottayam border. It is greener and quieter than Munnar, popular for gentle walks and paragliding, and rarely crowded. If you want hill-station scenery without the tour buses, this is where to point the car.

Which to pick first

You cannot do all of it in one trip, and you shouldn’t try. For a first visit, the classic loop — Fort Kochi, Munnar and the Alleppey backwaters — gives you heritage, hills and water within about a five-hour drive of each other. Add Varkala or Thekkady if you have more time, and save Wayanad or Vagamon for a return. Start from our Kerala hub to see how the regions connect and plan your route.