India can be very shouty. It’s industriously busy, loud (hope you like car horns!), spicy, dusty, and can slap you in the face culturally with a frying pan if you’re not mentally prepared. But then there’s Kerala. Down south, things seem a bit calmer, less hectic (look, I said a bit… this is still India) and way more coconutty (“he’s making words up again!”). This is my guide on how to spend a few leisurely days solo in Fort Cochin/Kochi.
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Is it Kochi, Cochin, or Fort Kochi?
Ok, we need to talk about two place names here, so pay attention at the back, this it’s important.
Cochin (or more correctly Kochi, renamed in 1996 after it’s more Malayalam name meaning “small lagoon”) refers to the larger urban conurbation of working port, factories, malls and the town of Ernakulum
Fort Cochin (or Fort Kochi) is it’s own island, and part of Cochin. It’s the bit most loved by tourists, hippies, backpackers and other assorted beady-haired flip-flop wearers. It’s where most of the famous Chinese fishing nets are, as well as the boutique hotels, museums, coffee shops and negotiably-priced tourist tat.
This is a guide to Fort Kochi. (“Well I’m glad we cleared *that* up. Seems India’s not the only thing round here that’s “shouty” hmmmm?”)
There’s 2 main areas in Fort Kochi for tourists:
- Fort Kochi itself
- Mattanchery
Both are relatively safe for solo travellers, even walking at night. Although, do remember you’re in a tourist area, and like every other tourist place in the world be mindful for the odd pickpocket or occasional petty theft. You’re more likely to be robbed in plain sight, and very legally, if you take up that tuk-tuk driver’s offer of going to his cousin’s shop to buy a bargain souvenir for 3 times the price it is on Princess Street, dummy!
However, if you get offered anything illegal for sale on the street, don’t do it. It’s not unknown for the stoned or unwary to then be picked up immediately by the local police (who may actually have be watching you all along) and then fined heavily in cash.
Fort Kochi proper
Towards the north of the island, this is where you will find the parade ground, Vasco da Gama Square, the working Chinese fishing nets, and the shops of Princess Street. Its Instagrammable colonial-era streets are easily walkable (flip-flops optional), there are cafés every fifty yards or so when the heat gets a bit much and you need a sit down and restorative ice latte and cake. This is where Brunton Boatyard and Malabar House are.
Mattancherry
Mattancherry is on the east of the island, and only a short terrifying tuk-tuk ride from Princess Street. This is the spice-trading quarter, where the roads may be narrower and busier but smell more like Christmas. It is home to the historic Mattancherry Palace Museum. This is also where you can find both the Paradesi Synagogue and the antique shops on Jew Town Street that will happily ruin the luggage allowance of the unwary. Good for an afternoon trip if you’re staying around the main tourist area.
If you’re a first time visitor, my advice is to avoid basing yourself in Ernakulam across the water unless budget forces your hand. It’s the modern, business-district side of Kochi, and you’ll spend half your holiday on the water taxis ferrying yourself to and from Fort Kochi. That said, there is a rather lovely Taj hotel just across the water. Look I didn’t promise to be consistent (“Clearly, Stephanie!”)
What to eat in Fort Kochi
Right, the bit you’re here for. (“Honestly, we were starting to wonder if you’d ever get to it”)
Fort Kochi sits at the centre of a history stitched together from centuries of spice traders and merchants, some of whom ended up (rather shamefully) as colonial occupiers. Portuguese traders, Dutch merchants, British colonials, Jewish spice merchants, Arab dhow captains, and the Syrian Christian and Muslim communities have all left their mark here. Because everyone who ever passed through left a recipe behind.
And apparently also left an ancestor who now can drive a tuk-tuk, and who has a cousin that runs a spice shop and can give you a very very good excellent price.
That means that Fort Kochi’s food scene is possibly one of the most interesting in India. Portuguese chillies, Dutch puddings, Arab-influenced grills, Anglo-Indian curries: it’s all still on the table, often literally in the same restaurant (sometimes in the same dish!).
That said, expect menus to have more lighter seafood and south Indian vegetarian dishes rather than the spicy & robust meat or chicken based offerings that you might expect further north,
First Class Railway Mutton Curry
This brings us to History Fine Dining restaurant on the third floor of Brunton Boatyard, whose menu draws on some 32 different communities that have called Fort Kochi home over the centuries. Yeah, it could come across as a gimmicky “fusion heritage dining experience” but it’s really not. The menu is delicious.
The dish I’d recommend ordering is their First Class Railway Mutton Curry mutton shanks, slow-braised for the best part of five hours in a brass vessel, served with ragi roti. It’s an Anglo-Indian invention (back in the day, a first-class railway ticket got you a rather better standard of curry than everyone else on the train). It has developed something of a cult following well beyond Fort Kochi, not least thanks to Rick Stein who featured it in his Indian cookbook & TV series after tasting it here
Seafood
Because you’re in Kerala, expect to be offered lots of fresh tasty seafood (mostly local fish or prawns) and it comes most frequently in 2 ways:
- Fish fry (or meen porichathu) is local fish – often kingfish caught in the backwaters – coated in spicy masala and then shallow fried in coconut oil for extra deliciousness.
- Fish curry is local fish in cooked in a sauce that is usually not too spicy, but tangy from either kokum or tamarind, and finished with lashings of coconut cream for extra deliciousness.
Neither coconut oil or coconut cream are low calorie, so you might want to consider that if you’re trying to lose weight (“haha hahahaha hahaha”).
Top tip: to minimise your chances of *ahem* severe and uncontrolled intestinal distress eat in places where it’s busy with locals. Fast turnover of food means that the seafood is less likely to have been kept hanging around; and Indian people are fussy where they eat and in my experience won’t return anywhere with poor hygiene. They’ll also go online and bad-review the crap (yeah, I said it) out of somewhere that has.
South Indian breakfast
Breakfast in south India is the best breakfast in the world. Yes, I went there. I said what I said. I could eat tasty dishes made from fermented lentils & rice, served with all kinds of dippy chutneys and sambal, until I popped.
These are my 2 favourites:
Idli are the soft pillowy gravy sponges of the south Indian breakfast world.
Crumbly and slightly chewy, they are able to hold twice their own body weight in delicious spicy gravy
They are the perfect hangover cure. Apparently. So I’ve been told…. ahem
Dosa are the pancakes of the gods.
Crispy loveliness, often snuggling a portion of potato curry in it’s warm crunch insides (if you’ve ordered a masala dosa) you haven’t lived until you’ve gobbled up a couple of these. Back to back. Whilst making snuffly piggy noises. (“seriously dude, you need to go on a diet!”)
Where to Stay in Fort Kochi
Brunton Boatyard
Built on the site of a 19th-century British shipyard, Brunton Boatyard is the grande maharani of Fort Kochi hospitality. Solidly colonial-heritage architecture, it is filled with beautiful antique teak furniture, and most of the rooms look out over the harbour where container ships, fishing boats, motor launches, coal/diesel-fired ferry and the odd naval vessel glide past. This can be either deeply romantic or a bit like holidaying next to the maritime equivalent of the M25, depending on your temperament.
It’s part of the CGH Earth group, and so follows not just their design aesthetic but also their commitment to responsible tourism.
There are three restaurants on site (including a knockout outdoorsy seafood one) but one of them is First Class, and the reason half this guide exists. (“Hmmmm….. no mentions of wine yet? This doesn’t seem right. Do we need to call someone?”)
Top tip: Request a room that does not overlook the ferry terminal. Honestly, I can’t emphasise this enough. The ferry starts it’s 30 minute smokey, phlegmatic journey carrying cars, tuk-tuks, bikes and hard-working locals across the harbour at around 6am. And its last trip is close to midnight. It can get noisy. And I mean dirty and VERY NOISY. So try to book a room where you won’t need to bring earplugs or a smoke mask. Personally, I love this side of India, and I find being close to such an industrious and unfiltered glimpse into everyday life is actually a privilege. But I get that it’s not everyone’s cup of masala chai, so book accordingly.
- Click here to book directly on the Brunton Boatyard website
- Click here to see Brunton Boatyard on Google Maps
Malabar House
If Brunton Boatyard is the most extra hotel in the area, Malabar House comes a close (albeit more artsy) second. It has its origins as a Dutch-era mansion, but was turned into 17-room boutique hotel with an annex next just round the corner, and is generally credited as Kerala’s first.
It is also a member of Relais & Châteaux (“oooo she’s boogie”).
It sits right on the parade ground, wrapped around a courtyard where there’s often live Carnatic music of an evening, and the whole place doubles as a small, well-curated art collection you can sleep in. Smaller and quieter than Brunton Boatyard, it has a pool just big enough to splash about in and a decent wine bar. First time I stayed here back in 2007, the local wines were “challenging” but I’m happy to report that since then, India wine makers have really stepped their game up, so give it a bash. (“Phew. He’s back to talking about wine. We were worried there for a bit”)
- Click here to book directly on the Malabar House website
- Click here to see Malabar House on Google Maps
No.18 Hotel
No.18 Hotel sits smack bang in the middle of Fort Kochi, almost next door to the bus terminal.
No, it’s not a pillow-menu kind of place (“WTF??? Right that’s it, I’m out of here”). That said, it’s modern, clean, straightforward and comfortable. Without the heritage price tag, it’s extraordinarily good value for money, albeit a bit homespun. But it’s close enough to everything in the main part of Fort Kochi that you will rarely need to take your life in your hands on a tuk-tuk to go anywhere.