A sliver of dense greenery sandwiched between the Arabian Sea and the forested Western Ghat mountains, the state of KERALA runs down the southwest coast of India, around 550km long and 120km wide at its broadest point. It is blessed with unique geographical and cultural features and the overpowering tropical landscape, with 41 rivers and countless waterways, fed by two annual monsoons, intoxicates every newcomer. Equally, Kerala's arcane rituals and spectacular festivals stimulate even the most jaded imagination, continuing centuries of tradition that has never strayed far from the realms of magic.

Travellers weary of daunting metropolises will find that Kerala's cities are small-scale and more relaxed than elsewhere. For visitors, the most popular is undoubtedly the great port of Kochi (Cochin), where Kerala's extensive history of peaceable foreign contact is evocatively evident in the atmospheric old quarters of Mattancherry and Fort Cochin, hubs of a still-thriving tea and spice trade. The capital, Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), almost as far south as you can go and a gateway to the nearby palm-fringed beaches of Kovalam , provides visitors with varied opportunities to sample Kerala's rich cultural and artistic life.

However, more so than anywhere in India, the greatest joy of exploring Kerala is the actual travelling - above all, by boat , in the spellbinding Kuttanad region, near historic Kollam (Quilon) and Alappuzha (Alleppey). Vessels, from cruisers to wooden longboats, ply the backwaters in day-long voyages, well worth taking for the chance of a close-up view of village life in India's most densely populated state. Furthermore, it's always easy to escape the heat of the lowlands by taking off to the hills . Roads through a landscape dotted with churches and temples pass spice, tea, coffee and rubber plantations, and natural forest, en route to wildlife reserves such as Peppara or Periyar , roamed by herds of mud-caked elephants.

 

Kerala is short on the historic monuments prevalent elsewhere in India, mainly because wood is the building material of choice. Moreover, what ancient temples there are remain in use, and more often than not are closed to non-Hindus. Nonetheless, distinctive buildings throughout the state eschew grandiosity in favour of elegant understatement. Following an unwritten law, few buildings, whether houses or temples, are higher than the surrounding trees; from high ground in urban areas this can create the miraculous illusion that you're surrounded by forest. Typical features of both domestic and temple architecture include long, sloping tiled and gabled roofs that minimize the excesses of both rain and sunshine, and pillared verandas; the definitive example is Padmanabhapuram Palace , just south of the border in neighbouring Tamil Nadu and easily reached from Thiruvananthapuram.

Phenomenal amounts of money are lavished upon many, varied, and often all-night entertainments associated with Kerala's temples. Fireworks rend the air, while processions of gold-bedecked elephants are accompanied by some of the loudest (and deftest) drum orchestras in the world. The famous Puram festival in Thrissur is the most astonishing, but smaller events take place throughout the state - often outdoors, with all welcome to attend.

Theatre and dance styles abound in Kerala; not only the region's own female classical dance form, Mohiniattam ("dance of the enchantress"), but also the martial-art-influenced Kathakali dance drama, which has for four centuries brought gods and demons from the Mahabharata and Ramayana to Keralan villages. Its 2000-year-old predecessor, the Sanskrit drama Kutiyattam , is still performed by a handful of artists, while localized rituals known as Teyyattam , in which dancers wearing nine-metre-tall masks become "possessed" by temple deities, continue to be a potent ingredient of village life in the north. Few visitors ever witness these extraordinary all-night performances first hand, but between December and March, you could profitably spend weeks hopping between village festivals in northern Kerala, experiencing a way of life that has altered little in centuries.