Where to stay in Kochi

Fort Kochi has the nets at sunset, the colonial lanes, St Francis Church, the cafes and the Biennale galleries, and evenings mean cafes and Kathakali theatres. It has the widest range of stays: the Zostel and goSTOPS hostels (the latter in a roughly century-old Dutch building), the family-run Reds Residency homestay, Tissa's Inn and the 1912 Tea Bungalow with their pools, the Old Harbour Hotel in a Dutch-era mansion by the nets, and, at the top, Brunton Boatyard on the site of a 19th-century shipyard and The Malabar House in two 18th-century villas.

Mattancherry is the spice quarter, with the godowns, the Dutch Palace, the synagogue and the antique rows of Jew Town. There are only a few boutique stays here, intimate and quiet: the Ginger House Museum Hotel on the waterfront near Jew Town, and, towards Fort Kochi, Fragrant Nature with its rooftop pool over the harbour and Bloom Boutique Waterfront. Most shops shut by six and the synagogue is closed on Saturdays, so evenings are calm.

Ernakulam is the business shore of malls, the metro (MG Road and Maharaja's College stations) and the Marine Drive promenade. It is handy for shopping, trains and the airport road, and a ferry crosses to the old town. On the list here: North Seven Hotel, near the Town Hall metro station.

Two large resorts sit on islands between Ernakulam and Fort Kochi: the Taj Malabar at the tip of Willingdon Island, looking over the harbour, and the Grand Hyatt on 26 acres of Bolgatty Island. Space, pools and spas, at the cost of a drive or a boat to everything else.

For a night on the water, the kettuvallam houseboats on the list (Spice Coast Cruises and Aqua Jumbo) are based on the Alappuzha–Kumarakom backwaters, about 1–1.5 hours from Kochi, with meals cooked aboard.