Solo travel · Kerala · India
Solo travel in Kerala
How to enjoy Kerala at your own pace.
Updated By the AMZBooking editorial team
Photo: Wouter Hagens, Public domain
Quick answer
Kerala is one of India's more relaxed states for solo travellers: trains are easy, homestays are welcoming, and Fort Kochi and Varkala have sociable café and yoga scenes. Many solo travellers base themselves in Ernakulam.
Key facts
- Base
- Ernakulam
- Getting around
- Train
- Emergency number
- 112 (national emergency number)
- Language
- Malayalam and English
Solo travel tips
- Stay in family homestays in Fort Kochi and Munnar for local advice and home-cooked meals.
- Varkala's cliff guesthouses and yoga schools are the easiest place to meet other travellers.
- Share a houseboat or car-and-driver with travellers you meet to split costs.
- Use prepaid taxis or rideshare apps from airports and stations rather than accepting offers in arrival halls.
- Dress modestly in towns to avoid unwanted attention, especially for women travelling alone.
Where to stay
$$ · Best for shopping, budget and solo travellers
Ernakulam
Ernakulam is the modern side of Kochi across the harbour, with the main railway stations, Kochi Metro, malls along MG Road, the Marine Drive waterfront and a wide range of business hotels. It is practical for train connections and shopping, and ferries cross to Fort Kochi and Vypin.
- Good
- Best transport links; Shopping and services; Business-hotel prices
- Watch out
- Traffic and noise; Little heritage character
- Nearby
- Marine Drive, MG Road, Ernakulam Junction station, Kerala Folklore Museum
Great on your own
Experience · Alappuzha
Backwater houseboat cruise
Ask for a route that leaves the main lake for narrower canals, and check the boat's licence and safety equipment before you pay.
- Time needed
- 1 night
- Cost
- Expensive
- Iconic
- Couples
- Kids
- Food
- Views
Experience · Fort Kochi
Kathakali performance
Arrive an hour early to watch the performers apply their make-up, which is as fascinating as the show.
- Time needed
- 2 hours including make-up
- Cost
- Low cost
- Iconic
- After dark
- Art
- Kids
- Rainy day
Palace · Mattancherry
Mattancherry Palace
Take your time in the bedchamber with the Ramayana murals; photography is not permitted inside.
- Time needed
- 1 hour
- Cost
- Low cost
- History
- Art
- Rainy day
- Architecture
Religious site · Mattancherry
Paradesi Synagogue and Jew Town
Visit in the morning, then browse the antique and spice shops along Jew Town Road towards Mattancherry Palace.
- Time needed
- 1–1.5 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- History
- Shopping
- Architecture
Religious site · Fort Kochi
St Francis Church
Combine with the Santa Cruz Basilica and the Dutch cemetery, all within a few minutes' walk.
- Time needed
- 30 minutes
- Cost
- Free
- History
- Free
- Architecture
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Park · Munnar
Eravikulam National Park
Go early to beat the queue for park buses; the park usually closes for several weeks during the tahr calving season around February and March.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- Nature
- Kids
- Views
- Outdoors
Meeting people
- Houseboat meals — On an overnight houseboat, the cook prepares Kerala lunch, tea snacks and dinner on board, often with karimeen fish bought from a canal-side fisherman.
- Banana-leaf 'meals' lunch — Vegetarian restaurants serve unlimited rice with sambar, curries and pickles on a banana leaf at lunchtime — the everyday version of the sadya.
Sensible precautions
Sea currents are strong, especially from May to September, so swim only on lifeguarded beaches and obey red flags. Roads are busy and hill routes winding; avoid night driving in the Ghats, where wild elephants sometimes cross.
- Emergency number
- 112 (national emergency number)
- Staying connected
- Mobile data is good across most of Kerala; signal drops in parts of the hills and on remote backwater stretches.
Questions travellers ask
+Is Kerala good for solo travellers?
Kerala is one of India's more relaxed states for solo travellers: trains are easy, homestays are welcoming, and Fort Kochi and Varkala have sociable café and yoga scenes.
+Where should solo travellers stay in Kerala?
Ernakulam: Kochi's mainland business centre with the railway stations and metro.