Where to Stay, Eat, and Shop | Travel + Leisure
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Where to Stay, Eat, and Shop

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Most guidebooks suggest going to Kerala between January and March, when it's dry and sunny. But the best season for ayurvedic massage is said to be June and July, when monsoons pound Kerala before sweeping north. They say that in the rainy season your body opens up like a thirsty flower to receive replenishment. Hotel prices are lower then, too.

You can see Kochi in four days, but it's worth spending a few nights in the backwaters. We got a lot of good advice from Fred and Ellison Poe, a father-daughter team who run Poe Travel (800/727-1960; www.poetravel.com), an Arkansas-based agency recognized in Travel + Leisure's A-List of super-agents.

WHERE TO STAY

Taj Malabar
The five-star landmark on Willingdon Island is where we stayed in Kochi. It's on the water and 20 minutes away, by either car or ferry, from Mattancheri or Ernakulam. The staff is extremely helpful, and the food at the hotel's Rice Boat restaurant is superb (try the njandu ularthiyathu, a crab appetizer). We did rather regret accepting the chef's suggestion that we experience a traditional banana-leaf lunch out by the dock, where we ate alone, in full view of all the hotel's guests, as three waiters stood by. "It's like being on The Bachelor," Amanda whispered. DOUBLES FROM $150; DINNER FOR TWO $50
Willingdon Island; 800/448-8355 OR 91-484/266-6811; www.tajhotels.com

Brunton Boatyard
This reconstruction of an 1849 boatyard is where we would stay next time we visit. It sits on the Arabian Sea in the center of Fort Cochin. There are terra-cotta floors, punkah fans in the lobby, and antique four-poster beds in many of the 26 rooms. DOUBLES FROM $130
CALVETTY RD., FORT COCHIN 91-484/221-5461; www.cghearth.com

Malabar House
A diminutive boutique hotel in Fort Cochin that feels a little fussy, but its owners have two beautiful hideaways in the backwaters: Serenity, a rubber-estate bungalow with five bedrooms, and Privacy, a romantic two-bedroom retreat in Sanctuary Bay. DOUBLES FROM $136
PARADE RD., FORT COCHIN 91-484/221-6666; www.malabarhouse.com

Nimmy Paul
As part of her ongoing plan to take over the world, this Indian domestic goddess just inaugurated homestays this October. Her guest room is spare but clean; she also offers meals, cooking lessons, and full- or half-day foodie immersions. Ask her son to teach you how he folds a napkin into the shape of a lotus flower. $125 PER NIGHT WITH FULL BOARD
CHAKALAKAL RD., ERNAKULAM 91-484/231-4293; www.nimmypaul.com

WHERE TO EAT

Badettu
This vegetarian restaurant in the Sarovaram hotel on the road to the airport serves wonderful traditional Keralan lunches on banana leaves: a dozen varieties of tasty, spicy curries and rice. We were the only WESTERNERS THERE; YOU EAT WITH YOUR HANDS. DINNER FOR TWO $8
NH 47 COCHIN BYPASS RD., ERNAKULAM; 91-484/230-5519

Shreekrishna Inn
They start you off with ayurvedic water—which tastes like chicken! Well, licorice, actually. The Keralan curries packed with chiles, ginger, and mustard seed are excellent (though the service is a bit lackadaisical). DINNER FOR TWO $5
WARRIUM RD., ERNAKULAM; 91-484/236-6664

WHERE TO SHOP

Crafters
This complex of five antiques shops, all within a few minutes' walk of each other, is owned by the Malayil brothers, former spice traders who decided to turn 33,000 square feet of warehouse space into storage for a beguiling hodgepodge of Shiva statues, cedar chests, and old-fashioned rice measures. To attract passers-by, Johny Malayil recently installed a 12-foot-wide bell-metal pot in the doorway of his main outlet. He was inspired by how many people in Brussels visit Manneken Pis, a 25-inch-tall statue of a urinating boy. "If they can make small," he told me,"we can make big."
VI/141, JEW TOWN; 91-484/222-3346 www.craftersantique.com

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