The Backwaters Issue

We begin Amorielli's charter year on the water. Kerala in November is the state at its greenest, the heavy south-west rains just past and the December crowds not yet arrived, and it seemed the right place to start a magazine about where to stay. This issue follows one trip: into the old spice port at Kochi, out onto the Vembanad backwaters by Alleppey and Kumarakom, and up the winding road into the tea hills above Munnar. Three landscapes, one week, and a set of choices worth getting right.

This issue is built around a single argument about the backwaters. The kettuvallam houseboat, rebuilt from the rice barges that once carried grain out of Kuttanad, is worth a night, and rarely worth a second. The standard of the Alleppey fleet is uneven, and the days are better spent on one still night by the lake and then the drive up to the tea. We say which boats and which lodges earn their price, and where the money is simply the season talking.

Kochi carries the history. The Chinese fishing nets still work; St Francis Church held Vasco da Gama before Lisbon claimed him back; the spice godowns of Mattancherry still smell of pepper and cardamom because that trade is why the city exists. We have named only what is old and still standing, described the rest by type, and hedged every price and distance, because a guide that oversells a place is no use when you are standing in it.

A word on timing, since it shapes everything here. Kerala's Ayurveda is real and is traditionally taken in the monsoon rather than bolted onto a beach afternoon; its festivals, from the August snake-boat races to the winter Theyyam of the north, run to their own calendar and should not bend your dates. Come for the land, and let any festival you catch be a bonus. November gives you the fullest reservoirs, the greenest Ghats and the shortest queues, and that, more than any single sight, is the case this issue makes.

Vivienne Hartwell, Editor-in-Chief