Fort Cochin

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
5
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
6
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
4
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
5
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
3
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
6
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
52 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
355th/454
Top 80%
continent
Asia
country
India
Length of time
1-2 days
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$50 ($50-$150 in 2024 prices)
Time of year visited
December
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Wow Factor
The wow factor reflects just how much you’re likely to say “wow”. As there’s a lot of experiences in the world, and a lot of wows, i’ve gone with a simple ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️ score, and a separate category for the truly "gash"
⭐⭐

Summary

You obviously wouldn’t plan a holiday around specifically a visit to Kochi (Cochin).  Most likely when people are visiting this part of the world it is for a trip along the backwaters (see Kerala’s Backwaters for tips) , for the beaches or to the Western Ghats. 

But . . . if you are in this part of the world, Fort Cochin is well worth the visit.  It has a heap of history, some nice views across the various waterways and the whole area of Fort Cochin itself (the northern part of the peninsular vs the rest of Cochin which is gash) is actually quite pleasant to walk around. Think huge trees, pretty alleyways, and largely traffic free spots

Top tip – stay at the Old Harbour Hotel.  Perfect location at the entrance to the alleyways, a heritage hotel with over 300 years or history, and just beautiful grounds

Highlights

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#1 Staying at the Old Harbour Hotel.  Perfect location at the entrance to the alleyways, a heritage hotel with over 300 years or history and beautiful grounds

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#2 The magnificent, giant trees that cover so many parts of Fort Cochin and really add to the more natural, pleasant vibe not typical to Indian cities

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#3 Wandering the pretty, and atypically quiet old town-style alleyways of the north point of Fort Cochin

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#4 Walking through the old bazaar district of Mattancherry and its Jew Town

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#5 The Mattancherry Palace, and in particular the amazingly well preserved murals from the 17th century in the royal bedchambers

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#6 St Francis Church, built in 1503 by the Portuguese and believed to be India's oldest European-built church

Experiences Nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences — from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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