Kerala Tourism

Posted by nabeelshaukat on September 10th, 2010

Kerala Tourism

Kerala is a land of God?s natural beauty positioned in south India. Kerala is a territory of backwaters and rivers, and considered as an advanced state with high rate of literacy. Kerala is surrounded with backwaters, thriving hill stations and exotic wildlife, superb art forums, which make it an unsurpassed tourism destination.

In 1980s, it was an unknown destination, and most of the tourists were concentrated to visit the north side of India. To make the tourists familiar with Kerala, and to get maximum visitors, the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation launched aggressive marketing campaigns, and within few years Kerala became one of the most visited destinations in India, and got sizeable investment from visitors inside and outside the country. Kerala tourism used the tag line God?s Own Country in its promotions to make it attractive to the visitors. In 2006, Kerala was visited by 8.5 million tourists (an increase of 23.68% as compared to the previous year), so becoming one of the world?s fastest growing tourism destinations in the world. Today, Kerala is a universal super brand, and known as one of the destinations with the utmost brand recall.

Kerala offers several astonishing picturesque places that make it the most wanted tourist destination for visitors from inside and outside the country. You will be loosing your heart to the compelling charisma of Kerala?s natural beauty. A short look on the amazing features of Kerala is detailed below.

Beaches:

Kerala has several worlds famed captivating beaches named with Kovalam, Chowara, Shanghumugham beach, Kochi, Varkala Papanasam beach, Alleppey and Bekal Beach. The most famous beaches are Kovalam and Varkala, and a brief detail about these two is shown below.

Varkala Beach: This beach is a coastal town located in the Indian state of Kerala, and situated at 37 km south west of Kollam, and 51 km North West of Trivandrum. This is the only place in Kerala where cliffs are found neighboring to the Arabian Sea. These cliffs are a distinctive biological feature on the Kerala coast.

Kovalam Beach: Kovalam beach is near Thiruvananthapuram, and it was among the first beaches in Kerala, which attracted elevated rate of visitors. Kovalam Beach was rediscovered in the sixties by tan-seekers and back-packers, and then hordes of hippies in the seventies. This beach is now the most visited tourist destination in India.

Hill Stations:

There are many gorgeous hill stations nestled in Kerala, where you can get the heat during a break. These are Ponmudi, Wayanand, Idukki, Munnar, Lakkadi, Malampuzha, Wagamon, Peermade, Nelliyampathy and Devikulam. Visiting any one of these hill stations will be unforgettable for you.

Wild Life:

Kerala has several striking wildlife that can be witnessed by any visitor. You will be finding many elephants swinging their trunks, monkeys on the trees doing trapeze, and many more animals with astonishing actions. So, if you are the one who loves animals then visit the eminent sanctuaries like Periyar wildlife sanctuary, Eravikulam National Park, and many more parks like that.

Backwaters:

One, who has not visited backwaters of Kerala, has not gone through the real charm and beauty of Kerala. The backwaters in Kerala are tempting, and the best way to travel around them is using houseboats. These houseboats are designed in an assorted range to outfit with the variegated needs of tourists.

Climate:

The climate is normal, and varies a little from season to season.  The rainfall is heavy, approximately 118 inches annually, and the temperature usually ranges from 80F to 90F in the plains, but drops close to 70f in the highlands. Overall the climate of this exceptional locale is stupendous.

Shopping at Kerala:

You have an extensive range of shopping options from spices to unique handloom clothes. One can purchase  aranmula kannadi, nilavilakku, unique and good looking jewelry boxes, sandalwood oil, traditional attire of Kerala, sandalwood figurines, unique decoration pieces, banana chips from Kerala, grass mat, gold ornaments, different types of sea food, cashew nuts, pickles, coir products, the paintings of raja Ravi Varma, bronze wares, and many more things. All these unique things deserve to be purchased, and one can easily take all these things back to his or her home country. On the top of that the prices are also affordable to any individual visitor.

General Information:

There is some general information that you should keep in mind in your departure to Kerala, like there is no limit of foreign currency, which visitors can bring, the best time to visit Kerala is in September to May and June to August. Moreover, major shopping malls, hotels, and restaurants honor credit cards, you should bring sunscreen lotions, hats, sunglasses, cotton outfits and other needed things with you in your visit to Kerala as these would be helping you in your visit. 

Keep in mind that India is very sensitive regarding drugs or other addiction related things. If one found with any kind of drugs, will have to pay heavy penalties, and will have to face imprisonment for possessing drugs.

If you want to visit Ayurveda centers then visit only those that are approved by the Tourism Department. You can find complete information about the approved Ayurveda centers from the Official website of Kerala tourism.

Avoid drinking water from slow moving lakes, dams or moving streams. Use bottled water, which is available in almost every restaurant and store. Furthermore, all restaurants offer a wide range of cuisines like Chinese, Indian food, continental, Italian, and many other dishes as well.

In case of emergency use the following numbers for an instant help.

Fire station: 101

Police control room: 100

Ambulance: 101

Police Helpline:

Traveling on Trains: 9846200100

Traveling on Highways: 9846100100

Temple Codes: Several temples do not tolerate entry to non-Hindus. Footwear is completely prohibited inside the temple premises, and strict dress codes are followed in nearly all the temples.

Moreover, nudity is strictly prohibited in any Kerala beach, smoking in forbidden in public places, hugging or kissing is not really acceptable in Kerala, and if someone wants to visit a wildlife sanctuary, prior permission is compulsory to be taken from the concerned authority.