By air
The new international airport (tel 0484/610050, 610115, or 610116) at Nedumbassery near Alwaye (aka Alua), 26km to the north of Ernakulam, has been designed to attract international flights especially from the Gulf. Jet Airways has two flights a day to Mumbai, and Indian Airlines operates daily flights to Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, and Thiruvananthapuram . Indian Airlines flies six days a week to Chennai , and twice weekly to Goa, Coimbatore, Hyderabad and Calicut . If you want to fly to the Lakshadweep Islands , contact Casino Hotel , Willingdon Island (tel 0484/666821). Indian Airlines flies twice each week to Doha, Sharjah, Kuwait and Muscat .

The Indian Airlines "red eye" flight to Mumbai every Tuesday at 2.30am gets you there in time for the 7.10am Air India flight direct to New York or London .

By bus
Buses leave Ernakulam's KSRTC Central bus stand for virtually every town in Kerala, and some beyond; most, but not all, are bookable in advance at the stand (reservation enquiries tel 0484/372033). Travelling south, dozens of buses per day run to Thiruvananthapuram ; most go via Alappuzha and Kollam , but a few travel via Kottayam . It's also possible to travel all the way to Kanniyakumari (9hr). However, for destinations further afield in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, you're much better off on the train: both KSRTC's "super express" and private "luxury" buses travel to these destinations, but you have to cope with the extremely fast, dangerous driving. Travelling to Mysore , go early to book a seat on the 8pm bus (10hr).

By train
Kochi lies on Kerala's main broad-gauge line, and sees frequent trains down the coast to Thiruvananthapuram, via Kottayam, Kollam and Varkala. Heading north, plenty of services run to Thrissur, and thence northeast across Tamil Nadu to Chennai, but only a couple run north to Mangalore, where a poorly served branch line veers inland to Hassan and Mysore in Karnataka.

Although most long-distance express and mail trains depart from Ernakulam Junction , a short way southeast of the city centre, a couple of key services leave from Ernakulam Town , 2km north. To confuse matters further, some also start at Cochin Harbour station, on Willingdon Island, so be sure to check the departure point when you book your ticket. The computerized reservation office - good for trains leaving all three stations - is at Ernakulam Junction (call 131 for general enquiries).

The trains we've listed are recommended as the fastest and/or most convenient services from Kochi. If you're heading to Alappuzha for the backwater trip to Kollam, take the bus, as the only train that can get you there in time invariably arrives late. With the opening of the Konkan Railway, only a handful of superfast trains travel along the coast to Goa and beyond.