Periyar accommodation – Periyar Inn Homestay

Rs1500 £18
Our accommodation for our 2 night stay near Periyar National Park is in the nearby town of Kumily where most accommodation seems to be. Periyar Inn is a small block of three rooms built in the back garden of a local family’s house, with breakfast served in the main house. I really like the idea of staying in places like this which see money go to local people rather than large multinationals.
On TripAdvisor at the time of booking it was 12th out of 113 B&Bs in the area, receiving 5 stars from its modest 40 reviews.

 
STOP PRESS:
It’s Saturday, we’re meant to stay here for our second/last night but…
We love it so much here that rather take a taxi to Madurai tomorrow we are going to stay here another night and go to Madurai early in the morning the day after. We’ll use the cloakroom at Madurai’s station to store out rucksacks whilst we do some sightseeing.

Kochi accommodation – Walton’s Homestay

Rs2500 £30
Our longest stop of 5 nights on the trip is Kochi (Cochin) and we’re staying at Walton’s Homestay, a small hotel in Fort Kochi and within easy reach of the local sights such as the much photographed Chinese fishing nights. The place has a five-star rating from 304 guest reviews on TripAdvisor, many of whom are repeat customers, and at the time of booking was 11th out of 429 B&Bs.