Six nights is the working minimum. Two in Fort Kochi for the spice warehouses and the Jewish quarter, two in the hills at Munnar or Thekkady, one on a houseboat or in a backwater house, and one or two at the end on the coast. Nine nights lets you add Alleppey properly and the north Malabar coast.

A houseboat is worth one night, not three - the canals are beautiful and the boat is slow. Guests who want water for longer do better in a lakeside house with a boat on call.

The monsoon is heavy from June to September and much of the state is closed for it. October brings the green back and the season runs to March; ayurveda retreats are the exception and treat the monsoon as their best months.