Top Sights

Based on traveller visits and local insights
Mattancherry Palace
Mattancherry Palace

Palace built by the Portuguese in 1555

The Mattancherry Palace is a Portuguese palace popularly known as the Dutch Palace, in Mattancherry, Kochi, in the Indian state of Kerala which features Kerala murals depicting portraits and exhibits of the Rajas of Kochi. The palace was included in the "tentative list" of UNESCO World Heritage Site. Wikipedia

St. Francis CSI Church
St. Francis CSI Church

First European church built in India

Saint Francis Church, in Fort Kochi, Kochi, originally built in 1503, is one of the oldest European churches in India and has great historical significance as a mute witness to the European colonial struggle in the subcontinent. The Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama died in Kochi in 1524 when he was on his third visit to India. His body was originally buried in this church, but after fourteen years his remains were moved to Lisbon and now located at Jerónimos Monastery. Wikipedia

Hill Palace Museum
Hill Palace Museum

Historical complex with museums & parks

Hill Palace is an archaeological museum and palace located in the Tripunithura neighbourhood of Kochi city in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the largest archeological museum in the state and was the imperial administrative office and official residence of the Cochin Maharaja. Built in 1865, the palace complex consists of 49 buildings in the traditional architectural style, spreading across 54 acres. The complex has an archaeological museum, a heritage museum, a deer park, a pre-historic park and a children’s park. The campus of the museum is home to several rare species of medicinal plants. Presently the palace has been converted into a museum by The Kerala State Archaeology Department and is open to public. The palace is about 10 kilometres from the city centre and is approachable by road and rail. The Centre for Heritage Studies, an autonomous research and training institute set up by the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala also functions at the site. CHS is designated as the 'Manuscript Conservation Centre' and Manuscript Resource Centre by the National Mission for Manuscripts. Wikipedia

Willingdon Island
Willingdon Island

Maritime Heritage Museum & boat tours

Willingdon Island is the largest artificial island in India, which forms part of the city of Kochi, in the state of Kerala. Much of the present Willingdon Island was claimed from the Lake of Kochi, filling in dredged soil around a previously existing, but tiny, natural island. Willingdon Island is significant as the home for the Port of Kochi as well as the Kochi Naval Base, the Southern Naval Command of the Indian Navy, Plant Quarantine station, Custom House Cochin and Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, a constituent unit of Indian Council of Agricultural Research. The island is also home for other establishments associated with the port, namely, the Office of the Cochin Port Trust, the Customs Office, and more than two dozen export-import offices, warehouses, a few hotels and business centers. Wikipedia

Thattekad Bird Sanctuary
Thattekad Bird Sanctuary

Serene natural setting for bird watching

The Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary, covering an area of barely 25 km², and located about 12 km from Kothamangalam, was the first bird sanctuary in Kerala. Salim Ali, one of the best known ornithologists, described this sanctuary as the richest bird habitat on peninsular India. Thattekkad literally means flat forest, and the region is an evergreen low-land forest located between the branches of the Periyar River, the longest river in Kerala. Wikipedia

Paradesi Synagogue
Paradesi Synagogue

Antiques in India's oldest synagogue

The Paradesi Synagogue was built in 1568 by Samuel Castiel, David Belila, and Joseph Levi for the flourishing Jewish community in Kochi composed mainly of Malabari Jews and the refugees from the Portuguese religious persecution of Jews locally from Cranganore and farther a field originating from Spain and Portugal. It is the oldest active synagogue in the Commonwealth of Nations, located in Kochi, Kerala, in South India. It is one of seven synagogues of the Malabar Yehudan or Yehudan Mappila people or Cochin Jewish community in the Kingdom of Cochin. Paradesi is a word used in several Indian languages, and the literal meaning of the term is "foreigners", applied to the synagogue because it was built by Sephardic or Portuguese-speaking Jews, some of them from families exiled in Aleppo, Safed and other West Asian localities. It is also referred to as the Cochin Jewish Synagogue or the Mattancherry Synagogue. The synagogue is located in the quarter of Old Cochin known as Jew Town, and is the only one of the seven synagogues in the area still in use. The complex has four buildings. Wikipedia

Fort Kochi Beach
Fort Kochi Beach

Seafront beach with large fishing nets

Fort Kochi beach is a beach along the Arabian Sea situated in Fort Kochi in the city of Kochi in South India, Kerala state. Wikipedia

Wonderla Amusement
Wonderla Amusement

Sizable amusement park with water rides

Sizable amusement park with water rides