Kochi: A Travel Guide to Kerala’s Historic Port City

Kochi, still widely known by its old name Cochin, is the cosmopolitan port city that gives visitors their first proper taste of Kerala. Strung along the Arabian Sea on the Malabar coast, it has been called the Queen of the Arabian Sea for centuries, and it earns the title. This was once one of the world’s great spice ports, a place where Arab traders, Chinese merchants, Portuguese explorers, Dutch administrators, British officials and a long-settled Jewish community all left their mark, layer upon layer, on the same small stretch of coastline. The result is a city of two very different halves. Across the water sit the old quarters of Fort Kochi and Mattancherry, atmospheric, low-rise and thick with history. On the mainland is Ernakulam, the modern commercial hub, with its shops, offices and transport links. Together they make Kochi a wonderful blend of heritage, culture, backwater scenery and everyday modern life, and for many travellers it is the true gateway to Kerala.

Fort Kochi: the heart of the city for visitors

Fort Kochi is where most people fall in love with this city. It is a compact, walkable old European quarter of narrow lanes, colonial-era bungalows, art cafes and homestays, with a relaxed, slightly boho air that rewards simply wandering without much of a plan. The signature image of Kochi, and arguably of Kerala tourism generally, is found along the waterfront here: the Chinese fishing nets, or cheena vala, huge cantilevered contraptions said to have arrived with traders from China, possibly during the era of the explorer Zheng He. They are still worked by hand today, lowered and raised by teams pulling on ropes and counterweights, and watching them silhouetted against the sunset is a Fort Kochi ritual not to be missed.

Fort Kochi’s churches are equally storied. St Francis Church is one of the oldest European-built churches in India, and it holds a particular claim to fame: the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama was originally buried here after his death in Kochi, before his remains were later exhumed and taken back to Portugal. Nearby, the Santa Cruz Basilica is a grand, brightly painted cathedral well worth stepping inside for its ceiling artwork alone. Elsewhere in the district, Dutch and Portuguese colonial architecture survives in old warehouses and residences, many now repurposed as boutique hotels or galleries, while Fort Kochi beach offers a breezy spot to sit and watch the ships queue for the harbour. Every couple of years the whole area becomes a stage for the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India’s biggest contemporary art event, when disused warehouses and heritage buildings across Fort Kochi and Mattancherry fill with installations from artists around the world.

Mattancherry: palaces, synagogues and spice

Adjoining Fort Kochi, and easily combined with it on foot, is Mattancherry, another layer of Kochi’s trading history. The Mattancherry Palace, often called the Dutch Palace, is actually of Portuguese origin, though it takes its popular name from later Dutch renovations. Inside is a small museum with striking Kerala mural paintings depicting Hindu epics, along with royal portraits and artefacts of the former rulers of Kochi.

A short walk further on is Jew Town, centred on the Paradesi Synagogue, one of the oldest active synagogues in the Commonwealth and among the oldest in India. It stands as a quiet, moving reminder of the small but historically significant Jewish community that settled in Kochi centuries ago through the spice trade. The synagogue’s opening hours vary and it closes on Saturdays and Jewish holidays, so it is worth checking locally before you plan a visit. The lanes of Jew Town around it are lined with antique shops, curio dealers and old spice warehouses, and this is prime territory for browsing, and bargaining, over carved furniture, old prints, brassware and textiles. Even if you buy nothing, the smell alone is worth the walk: sacks of ginger, black pepper and cardamom stacked in doorways, a direct link to the trade that built this city.

A city of dance, drama and living tradition

Kochi is one of the best places in Kerala to see the state’s classical performing arts up close. Kathakali, the elaborate dance-drama with its extraordinary makeup, towering headdresses and stylised storytelling, is performed most evenings for visitors at dedicated theatres around Fort Kochi and Ernakulam. It is well worth arriving early, before the show itself, to watch the performers apply their intricate makeup, a slow, almost meditative process that is a spectacle in its own right. Alongside Kathakali, look out for demonstrations of Kalaripayattu, the ancient Kerala martial art often described as one of the oldest fighting systems in the world, combining combat, gymnastics and a kind of physical theatre. Add to this Fort Kochi’s thriving art gallery scene, kept lively year round and supercharged during the Biennale, and you have a city that takes its culture seriously without ever feeling stuffy. Kochi’s genuine multiculturalism, Hindu, Christian, Muslim and Jewish communities living side by side for centuries, runs through all of it.

Backwaters, ferries and life on the water

Water defines Kochi as much as its architecture does. The city sits right at the edge of Kerala’s famous backwater network, and even a short visit gives you a taste of life afloat. The public ferries that shuttle between Fort Kochi, Mattancherry, Ernakulam, Vypin and Willingdon Island are cheap, unhurried and a genuinely lovely way to see the harbour, arguably better than any paid tour. Alongside them, harbour cruises and short backwater boat trips are easy to arrange locally. On the mainland, Marine Drive in Ernakulam is a popular waterfront promenade for an evening stroll, with views across to the harbour and a steady stream of local life. Across the water on Vypin Island, Cherai Beach makes a good half-day trip, combining a quiet stretch of sand with backwater views close by. For a longer taste of the backwaters proper, many visitors use Kochi as a base for day trips or as the starting point for a longer journey south to Alleppey or Kumarakom, Kerala’s best-known houseboat destinations.

Food: one of Kochi’s great pleasures

Eating well in Kochi is not difficult. Seafood is the obvious highlight, and the fish caught by those Chinese nets is often grilled right there at waterfront stalls, where you can pick your own fish and have it cooked to order. Beyond the nets, Kochi is a superb place to try Kerala and Malabar cuisine more broadly: appam with a fragrant vegetable or meat stew, Kerala-style fish curry made rich with coconut milk and kokum, karimeen or pearl spot fish, Malabar biryani with its layered rice and spices, and dishes like prawn roast or duck roast that show the Syrian Christian influence on the region’s kitchens. Muslim and Hindu culinary traditions each add their own dishes and techniques, and coconut, in oil, milk or grated form, finds its way into almost everything. Fort Kochi in particular has a strong cafe culture, with fusion menus and quirky little places tucked into converted colonial buildings, good for a slow breakfast or an afternoon coffee between sightseeing. For something more traditional, a toddy shop serving fermented palm wine alongside simple, fiery Kerala dishes is worth seeking out, and no visit is complete without picking up a bag of local spices or tea to take home. As with anything bought on the street or in a market, it is sensible to check prices before you order or buy.

Where to stay

Fort Kochi is the atmospheric choice and, for most first-time visitors, the obvious base. Its heritage homestays and boutique hotels, many set in restored colonial-era buildings, put you within walking distance of the nets, the churches and the cafes, and give the stay a real sense of place. Ernakulam, on the mainland, has a wider range of modern and business-oriented hotels and is convenient if you need easy access to transport links or shopping. For something different again, a handful of resorts occupy small islands in the harbour, such as Bolgatty and Willingdon Island, offering a quieter, more resort-style stay within easy reach of the sights. Whichever you choose, Fort Kochi is where the atmosphere lives.

A port with a very long history

Kochi’s story as a trading city stretches back further than its European buildings suggest. Nearby lay the ancient port of Muziris, a legendary hub of the spice trade known to Roman, Arab and Chinese traders long before the Portuguese arrived, and now the subject of the ongoing Muziris Heritage Project exploring the region’s archaeology and history. Kochi itself rose to prominence after Vasco da Gama’s arrival in the early 1500s brought the Portuguese, who were followed in time by the Dutch and then the British, each leaving buildings, place names and customs still visible today. Through all of this, the city’s Jewish, Christian, including the ancient Saint Thomas Christian tradition, and Muslim communities remained rooted here, making Kochi one of the oldest continuously multicultural, European-influenced cities anywhere in India.

Getting there and around

Cochin International Airport at Nedumbassery is a major gateway, with good international and domestic connections into the city. Ernakulam Junction and Ernakulam Town railway stations form one of South India’s key rail hubs, linking Kochi to destinations across the country. On the mainland, the Kochi Metro provides a modern way to move around Ernakulam, while autos and buses fill in the gaps. Fort Kochi itself is best reached from Ernakulam by ferry, which is both practical and scenic, or by road across the connecting bridges.

Tips for a good visit

• Take the public ferries between Fort Kochi, Mattancherry, Ernakulam and Vypin. They are cheap, scenic and far more enjoyable than sitting in traffic.
• Time your evening for the Chinese nets at sunset, one of the great low-key spectacles of South Indian travel.
• Arrive early for a Kathakali performance so you can watch the makeup being applied before the show begins.
• Explore Fort Kochi on foot or by hired cycle. It is a small, flat, walkable district and driving adds little.
• Bargain politely in the antique shops of Jew Town, and check prices before you commit.
• Dress modestly when visiting churches and the synagogue, and check current opening hours locally, since the synagogue closes on Saturdays and Jewish holidays.
• Enjoy the net-fresh seafood at the waterfront stalls, but agree the price before your fish goes on the grill.
• Allow at least two days for Kochi, and consider combining it with a backwater trip to Alleppey or Kumarakom, a spell in the hills at Munnar, or a few extra days on the coast further south at Varkala.

Few Indian cities carry their history as lightly, or as visibly, as Kochi. It is a place where the Chinese fishing nets dip into an Arabian Sea sunset every evening, where a sixteenth-century church stands within walking distance of a centuries-old synagogue and spice warehouses still fragrant with pepper and cardamom, and where Kathakali drummers strike up as the light fades over the harbour. Layered, laid-back and deeply historic, Kochi makes the perfect start, or the perfect end, to any journey through Kerala.