Kochi wears its history lightly. Portuguese cannons, Dutch warehouses and British bungalows stand within a square kilometre of Fort Kochi, while the Chinese fishing nets — possibly lowered here by Kublai Khan's travellers — still dip into the harbour every evening.

Start your morning in Mattancherry: the Dutch Palace murals retell the Ramayana in vegetable pigment, and Jew Town's antique shops hide centuries of the spice trade in their narrow lanes. By afternoon, the smell of cardamom and pepper from the spice market will follow you all the way to the ferry.

Stay for the sunset at Marine Drive, where the city's skyline glows over the backwaters, and end the day with a Kathakali performance — the eye movements take practice to read, but the drumming needs none.

Our tip: take the public ferry to Fort Kochi instead of a cab. It costs a few rupees, crosses the harbour in twenty minutes, and gives you the city's best views for free.