Kerala and Sri Lanka's South Coast

Two countries in one short journey: Fort Cochin and Thiruvananthapuram on the Kerala coast, then a clifftop on the south coast of Sri Lanka. Ayurveda, temple dance and old palaces come first, the Indian Ocean last.

Length: Seven nights
Pace: Three stays
Style: Backwaters, Ayurveda, palaces, whales, beach
Route: Fort Cochin to Thiruvananthapuram to Weligama

Fort CochinTwo nights
ThiruvananthapuramTwo nights
WeligamaThree nights

A Chinese fishing net on the shore at Fort Kochi. — Photo: gaurav kumar / Unsplash

Days 1 to 3 · two nights

Fort Cochin

Two nights in Fort Cochin. You watch the Chinese fishing nets worked at high tide, with four men acting as the counterweight, and see a Kathakali performance, arriving early to watch the dancers make up. A day on the backwaters aboard the inn's own houseboat, Purity, shows Kerala from the water.

Where you stay

The Malabar House

The Malabar House has 17 rooms and suites in Fort Cochin, the old harbour quarter of Kochi, mixing Kerala tradition with Western style around an art collection. It has an Ayurvedic spa, yoga, and its own houseboat for the backwaters.

Days 3 to 5 · two nights

Thiruvananthapuram

A flight of about an hour south to Thiruvananthapuram for two nights. You see the Napier Museum, a mix of building styles with an archaeological collection, and the zoo beside it, then the wooden palace of Padmanabhapuram, a reminder of the old kingdom of Travancore. The city is home to India's main Ayurvedic institutes, so there is time for a traditional massage.

Where you stay

Taj Green Cove Resort & Spa

Taj Green Cove stands on 16 acres of a hillside above the Arabian Sea at Kovalam, just south of Thiruvananthapuram. There are suites with their own pools, three restaurants and the J Wellness Circle spa, and the airport is about 20 minutes away.

Days 5 to 8 · three nights

Weligama

Onward to Sri Lanka, about three hours by air, for three nights at Weligama on the south coast. The sea here is home to blue whales, and the outing to find them is best from November to April when the water is calm. A day goes to Galle, to the fort the Portuguese built and the Dutch and British enlarged, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Where you stay

Cape Weligama

Cape Weligama sits on a clifftop above the Indian Ocean at Weligama, about 26 kilometres from Galle, with villas and suites set in gardens. It has ocean-facing pools, a beach club on Cove Beach, several restaurants, and arranges surfing and whale watching.

Ways to make it yours

The Nehru Trophy Boat Race at Alleppey, held on the second Saturday in August
A diving trip along Sri Lanka's southern coast, added to the whale outing

This is a sample. The hotels, the pace and the order are where we start, not where we finish: every journey is designed around the people taking it.

Made around you

Most travel is bought. This is designed.

Before anything is booked, we talk: who is travelling, how you like to spend a morning, and the hotel preferences below the obvious, from the kind of bath you like to the time you wake and how much daylight you need in a room. You see options where options matter and clean recommendations where they don't.

The same person remains your point of contact from the first reply to the trip after next. No handovers. No team.