Read this before you book Kochi

Two nights, one base, and about ₹9,000 per person all-in if you sleep in a Fort Kochi homestay. Here is the route that wastes no ferry crossings.

Seven nights split between two bases, with three day trips and one night on water. Budget roughly ₹28,000 per person on homestays or ₹95,000 on heritage hotels.

Three days, three nights and about ₹1,600 a day per person including a room. Kochi is one of the few Indian tourist cities where that is still honest arithmetic.

The same three days with heritage rooms, a private boat and a driver: about ₹22,000 a day for two, and worth knowing exactly what that buys.

53km south for the Vembanad backwaters. A chartered day-cruise houseboat runs ₹6,000 to ₹9,000, a country canoe with a poler ₹800 to ₹1,500.

Kerala's widest waterfall is 70km northeast of Kochi. Entry is about ₹50, a car with driver ₹3,500 to ₹4,500 return, and monsoon is when it earns the trip.

130km and four to five hours each way into the tea hills. A return taxi is ₹5,500 to ₹7,000 — and this is the one trip where I would argue for two nights instead.

Kerala's cultural capital is 75km north, 70 to 90 minutes by train for ₹40 to ₹90. Add Kalamandalam or Guruvayur and it becomes a full, cheap day.

Vembanad Lake without the Alleppey crowds: 55km south, ₹2,500 to ₹4,000 for a chartered country boat, and lake resorts that let day guests in for lunch.