Kerala Gay Honeymoon Tour

A member of our Kerala team waits for you outside the arrivals exit at Cochin International Airport, holding a card with your names, and leads you across to the private, air-conditioned car reserved for your stay. It is roughly ninety minutes by road to Fort Kochi, and on the way your host runs through the week ahead, hands over local SIM advice and shares a direct phone number that works around the clock. Your heritage hotel in the old quarter has already confirmed a double room for the two of you, so check-in is a simple matter of keys and a welcome drink. The early hours after a long-haul flight are kept free for rest.

Late afternoon is the right moment to step out, because the sea breeze picks up and the glare finally leaves the harbor mouth. Your guide calls for you at the lobby for a short, easy stroll along the waterfront promenade at Fort Kochi, where the tall cantilevered fishing nets lean out over the channel. Rather than a long lecture, this first outing is about getting your bearings: the line of old warehouses, the ferries crossing to Vypin island, the fishermen sorting their catch and the cargo ships sliding past toward the port. Couples of every kind stroll here after dark, and nobody pays much attention.

After dark you take seats near the stage at a small Kathakali theater for a shortened performance of Kerala's classical dance-drama. Come forty minutes early to see the actors grind rice paste and natural colors into their elaborate green and red faces, a ritual that takes well over an hour. A narrator explains the main gestures in English before the drums begin, so the story of gods, demons and wronged lovers is easy to follow. Dinner afterward can be grilled seafood at a quiet courtyard restaurant a few steps from your hotel, where tables sit far enough apart for an unhurried first evening together. Overnight in Kochi.

Kochi has been trading with the wider world for more than six hundred years, and a morning walk with your guide shows how many cultures left their mark on one small peninsula. Starting near St. Francis Church, which once held the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama's grave, you wander past Dutch-era bungalows, the old cemetery and a parade ground now used for cricket matches by local boys. Your guide is someone we work with regularly and has been briefed in advance; expect a relaxed, humorous companion who answers questions about local life, including how attitudes toward LGBTQ+ people in Kerala have changed over the last decade, openly and without awkwardness.

After coffee you drive a few minutes to Mattancherry, where the old palace of the Kochi rajas keeps wall paintings of the Ramayana and of Krishna among the gopis, done in earthy reds, ochre and leaf green. Over in Jew Town, the 1568 synagogue of the Paradesi community still has its floor of hand-painted Chinese tiles, each one slightly different from its neighbor. Friday closes the palace, while the synagogue stays shut from Friday through Saturday and on Jewish holidays, which is why we slot this walk into a midweek morning. Around them the lanes fill up with antique dealers, ginger and pepper godowns and small galleries showing contemporary Kerala artists.

The afternoon belongs to you, whether that means a nap, a swim in the hotel pool or an hour in one of the converted warehouse cafés on Bazaar Road. Around five o'clock we have arranged a private sunset boat on Kochi harbor, a gentle hour on the water past the naval base, Bolgatty island and the container terminal, with cold drinks on board. Kochi is among the more open-minded cities in India and hosts a Kerala Queer Pride march in some years, with dates confirmed each year, so it is a comfortable place to start your honeymoon. Overnight in Kochi.

Once breakfast is done, the car turns its back on the sea and heads for the Western Ghats. The first hour passes through the busy towns around Kochi, then the road begins to climb past rubber plantations, pineapple fields and small churches painted in pale blue. Your chauffeur has his favorite halts, so a pause for sweet milky tea and a paper cone of banana chips is part of the plan. Higher up, the Cheeyappara waterfalls tumble down beside the highway in a series of steps, at their fullest after the monsoon, and the air begins to feel noticeably cooler as the slopes rise steeply around the road.

Before you reach Munnar itself, a short stop at a family-run spice garden near Adimali introduces the plants behind Kerala's trading wealth. A grower walks you between cardamom bushes, pepper vines twisting around tall shade trees, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves, letting you crush leaves between your fingers to compare their scents. From there the last stretch of road winds through the first tea gardens, where neatly clipped bushes cover every slope like green upholstery and women pluckers work steadily down each row, filling the sacks slung behind them. By mid-afternoon you are checking in at the tea estate resort.

The resort sits well away from Munnar town, with cottages spread across a hillside and views over the plantation, and our team has confirmed a room with a king-size bed and a private balcony. The rest of the day is unscheduled. Many couples simply wrap up in a blanket on the balcony with a teapot of the estate's own leaf and watch clouds drift through the valley below, while others take a short walk along the plantation paths before the light fades at around six. Dinner in the resort restaurant often features Kerala chicken stew with soft appam, and a log fire is usually lit on cool evenings. Overnight in Munnar.

Set an early alarm, because the best hour in Munnar comes just after sunrise, when mist lies in the valleys and the tea bushes glisten with dew. An estate naturalist takes just the pair of you out along the plantation tracks, pointing out the shade trees, the small streams that feed the gardens and the birds that start calling at first light, such as bulbuls and the Malabar whistling thrush. The paths are quiet at this hour, with only a few workers on their way to the fields, which makes this one of the most private moments of the whole trip.

Later in the morning you head for Eravikulam National Park, roughly a half-hour drive from town, where a forest department bus carries visitors up into rolling grasslands at around 2,000 meters. Up here lives the endangered Nilgiri tahr, a heavy-horned wild goat unique to the Western Ghats, and small herds often graze close to the walking path. The park closes for several weeks each year during the tahr calving season, usually around February and March, so we adjust the day if your dates fall then. Coming down, there is time for a stop at the tea museum to see how leaf becomes the dust and granules sold around the world.

The afternoon is kept free for the two of you. Your resort can arrange a couple massage, a guided cycle ride on estate roads or a short drive to the Mattupetty dam and its lake, where boat rides run when water levels allow. Alternatively, ask the kitchen to pack a picnic and let your driver drop you at a viewpoint over the hills for a lazy hour with a view. In tea country the locals are polite and reserved, and two men sharing a holiday will rarely draw attention, though a little discretion in public places is wise here as anywhere in rural India. Overnight in Munnar.

The morning drive takes you down out of the hills, with the temperature rising a degree or two at every bend as tea gives way to cardamom, then rubber, then the coconut palms of the plains. Your driver plans a break at a quiet roadside café for fresh lime soda and a stretch of the legs. Below Kottayam, the land flattens completely and water starts to appear everywhere: narrow canals beside the road, paddy fields protected by mud walls and small boats moored outside village homes. By early afternoon you reach Kumarakom, a cluster of villages on the eastern shore of Vembanad, the longest lake in Kerala.

Your resort sits right on the water, with cottages set among coconut palms and a small private sit-out facing the lake. As on the rest of this route, our team has spoken with the management ahead of your arrival, so your double room is ready and the staff greet you as a couple without fuss. Take an hour to settle in, try the infinity pool or order a plate of karimeen, the pearl spot fish that Kumarakom is known for, pan-fried in a thick spiced masala. Lunch on a shaded veranda with the lake in front of you is a fine introduction to the slower pace of backwater life.

Toward five o'clock a boatman collects you from the resort jetty in a small country canoe, paddled by hand, for a sunset trip through the narrow canals behind the lake. These waterways are too small for houseboats, which means the only sounds are the dip of the paddle, the calls of kingfishers and the chatter of families on their front steps. You pass toddy shops, tiny chapels and fields where egrets wait for fish at the water's edge. Later, the staff can lay dinner on your private sit-out if you prefer a quiet table for two over the main restaurant. Overnight in Kumarakom.

Early risers should not miss the Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary, a patch of mangrove and woodland on the lakeshore that is at its liveliest between six and eight in the morning. A local birding guide walks with you along the shaded trail, scanning the canopy for darters, cormorants, herons, kingfishers and, between November and February, migrant birds from colder lands. Light filters through the trees onto the water, and the only other visitors at this hour are usually serious photographers with long lenses. Afterward it is back for a late breakfast, a swim and time to pack a small overnight bag for the houseboat.

Around noon you board your private houseboat at a jetty near Kumarakom. No other guests share the boat: there is one bedroom with a double bed, an open upper deck and three crew members who have looked after gay couples many times and are discreet and friendly. Once you are settled with a glass of coconut water, the boat moves out onto the open waters of Vembanad Lake, far wider here than in the narrow Alleppey canals. Lunch is served at a table on deck, with red Kerala rice, avial, fish curry tinged with kodampuli and crisp pappadam made fresh in the galley.

Through the afternoon the boat drifts past Pathiramanal, a small island where boats sometimes stop for a short walk, and on into side channels lined with paddy fields lower than the water level. Cruising has to stop once dusk approaches under Kerala rules, so around then your captain ties up at a calm mooring beside the fields while the sky changes color. As darkness settles, they set up a candlelit dinner on deck with a cake and a small floral arrangement, our way of marking the celebration. Then the crew retires to their own quarters at the back, leaving you the deck, the stars and the frogs. Overnight on the houseboat.

Morning on the lake starts gently, with a thin layer of mist hovering over the water and fishermen already casting nets from narrow canoes. The cook brings out tea and then a breakfast of puttu, the steamed rice and coconut cylinder, with chickpea curry and sweet bananas. The boat cruises slowly back to the jetty, where disembarkation is usually around nine o'clock. On the bank, your driver has the car ready and the crew hand your bags across. Crews here hope for a tip when guests leave satisfied, and your driver can advise you on a sensible amount without any awkwardness.

The drive to the coast follows country roads through Cherthala and a string of small towns where church festivals, coir factories and roadside fish stalls compete for your attention. Ninety minutes later the car rolls into Marari Beach, part of the fishing village of Mararikulam, a long stretch of pale sand that feels a world away from Kerala's busier resorts. Your villa, with a private garden and plunge pool, is set behind a screen of coconut palms a short walk from the shore. Check-in has been prepared in advance, and the welcome here is as relaxed and matter-of-fact as everywhere else on this route.

Nothing else is scheduled for today. Marari is a working fishing beach rather than a party strip, so the sand is quiet and the sea is often calm enough for a swim between October and March, though currents can be strong and lifeguards are not always present. Lie in a hammock, read under the palms or wander down to watch the fishing boats come in during the late afternoon, when the whole village gathers to haul in the nets and sort the catch. Dinner at the villa restaurant might feature prawns in coconut milk or a mild vegetable stew. Overnight in Marari.

If you wake before the sun, a gentle walk along the shoreline toward the fishing hamlets is the quietest way to start the day. Once the sun is higher, a young man from the village can take you on a short cycle ride along the inland lanes, past freshwater ponds, coir-making yards and households drying fish on woven mats. Your guide talks about the life of the fishing families, the effect of the monsoon on their year and the small Christian and Hindu shrines that stand side by side along the coast. The ride is flat, slow and finished well before the midday heat sets in.

After lunch the resort spa books you in for a side-by-side Ayurvedic massage for two, about an hour long, in a treatment room set aside just for you. The therapists work with warmed herbal oils and slow, flowing strokes in the traditional abhyanga style, and they are used to treating couples together without any questions. Afterward there is time for a steam bath, herbal tea and a lazy hour by your plunge pool. This kind of massage is about relaxation rather than any medical purpose, and the spa will ask a few simple questions about your health before starting so the oils and pressure suit you both.

For your last evening in Kerala, we have arranged a private dinner on the sand, set a little apart from the resort with lanterns, flowers and a menu you choose with the chef earlier in the day. Many couples ask for grilled seafood, Kerala-style chicken roast and a light coconut pudding, with wine or cocktails on the side. The staff keep a respectful distance, and the sound of the surf fills the gaps in the conversation. It is the right moment to toast what brought you here, whether that is a recent wedding at home, a civil partnership or simply years well spent together. Overnight in Marari.

Take a final breakfast in the garden and one more walk along the sand before checking out. Allow roughly two hours on the road north to Cochin International Airport; your pickup time is worked back from your flight so you reach check-in with three clear hours in hand. With an evening flight there is scope for a late check-out, requested in advance, or a stop in Fort Kochi for last-minute shopping, such as Kerala tea, pepper, cashews or a hand-loomed cotton mundu.

Over nine days you have moved from an old trading port to quiet tea hills, a private night on the lake and two slow days by the sea, all at your own pace and without having to explain yourselves at any check-in desk. Our representative walks you right up to the departure doors. Should you wish to come back for an anniversary, the Ayurveda retreats of Varkala or the hills of Coorg pair nicely with another week in South India. Safe travels home.