Guided Tour of Kumbalangi Village & Fort Kochi

Know about the history, architecture, village lifestyle and culture of Kochi and the older parts of the city. 

Highlights

• Witness the local life in Kumbalangi village and get a chance to interact with locals. 
• Explore Fort Kochi with an experienced guide.
• Visit Chinese fishing nets and experience fishing with locals. 

Detailed Overview

Kumbalanghi village is almost 10 km from Kochi. This village is open to tourists and people from different parts of the world visit this village to understand the local lifestyle of people around Kerala. People here make coir yearning, coconut leaves weaving for livelihood. 

The city of Kochi is a kind of archipelago, scattered across a number of islands and promontories linked by bridges and ferry services. When you arrive in the city's old town, Fort Kochi, you step into a sleepy, humid, provincial old port, long ago occupied by the Portuguese, Dutch. The Willington island is a man-made island during the time of British, now it is the hometown of Kochi port and Indian Navy. Fort Kochi was the place where most colonial powers played a major role. The existence and preservation of the old colonial building along with the rain trees ambience of Fort Kochi add charm to this old town.

Itinerary

• The guests are picked up from the cruise terminal/hotel in Kochi at the selected time slots.
• We will get transferred to Kallancherry island and received with tender coconut. 
• Take a boat ride in the big country boat which has chairs. We will be visiting a crab farm.
• Witness the coir yarn making and coconut leaves weaving. 
• We visit cocnut, betel nut, pepper, jackfruit, nutmeg, anthurium, orchids and vanilla plantations. 
• We will also witness the chinese fishing nets and have Kerala style lunch at the backwater front hall. 
• After, we will come back to Fort Kochi and visit St Francis church, the oldest European church in India.
• From the church, walk to the Chinese fishing nets which are another famous attraction in Fort Kochi. You might just be able to experience fishing with the locals.
• Proceed to visit Fort Immanuel which is the first Portuguese fort in Asia.
• Visit the Dutch cemetery by tuk-tuk (3-wheeled motorised vehicle), which is now managed by the Church of South India.
• Jewish Synagogue and Jew town market will also be covered during the tour, the stories from this part of the town are just fascinating.
• Mattancherry Palace, also known as the Dutch Palace is one of the finest examples of the Kerala style of architecture mixed with colonial influences. The aesthetic appeal of the architecture is quite unique in itself.
• The last place to visit for the tour is Santa Cruz Basilica, this heritage building of Kerala is also considered to be one of the finest cathedrals in the whole of India.
• With the tour ending, the guests will be dropped back to the cruise terminal/ hotel in Fort Kochi.