Free Things to Do in Kochi That Are Not the Chinese Fishing Nets

You have seen the Chinese fishing nets, taken the photo, and now you have most of a day and no budget for it. The best free things to do in Kochi are the public ferry, the church interiors in Fort Kochi, the Marine Drive walk at dusk, the public gardens, and whatever gallery happens to have an open show that week. Between those you can fill two days without paying an entry fee.

Here is how each one actually works.

The ferry is the cheapest sightseeing in the city

The state ferries between Ernakulam, Fort Kochi, Vypin and Willingdon Island are public transport, not a tour. They cost very little, which is close enough to free that most travellers treat them that way. Fares are set by the operator and change from time to time, so check the board at the jetty rather than trusting an old blog post.

What you get is a working harbour at eye level: container ships, fishing boats, the naval side, the shoreline of three parts of the city. Sit on the open side. The Fort Kochi crossing at sunset is the one people rave about, and it is genuinely better than a paid cruise because you are surrounded by people going home from work. The same principle scales up on the eight hour public ferry from Kollam to Alappuzha.

Walk Marine Drive in the last hour of light

Marine Drive on the Ernakulam side is a pedestrian walkway along the backwater. It is free, it is flat, and the whole city goes there in the evening. You get the Rainbow Bridge, the boats, the ice cream carts and the view back to the water.

Two practical notes. It gets busy after work, which is part of the point. And it is one of the better places in the city to just sit for an hour without anyone trying to sell you a houseboat trip.

Church and synagogue interiors in Fort Kochi

Fort Kochi's older buildings are its main attraction and most of the religious ones let you in without a ticket.

• St Francis Church, one of the oldest European built churches in India, with the site of Vasco da Gama's original burial.
• Santa Cruz Basilica, worth entering for the painted ceiling.
• Smaller parish churches around Mattancherry that are open around service times.

Some sites nearby do charge, and the Jewish Synagogue in Mattancherry has a ticket and its own opening days, so plan around it rather than assuming. Dress modestly, keep your voice down, and check whether photography is allowed before lifting your phone.

Gardens and public spaces

Subhash Bose Park near Marine Drive and the smaller green spaces around the city are free to enter and mostly used by families in the evening. Mangalavanam Bird Sanctuary sits in the middle of Ernakulam and is a small patch of mangrove with birdlife; entry rules and timings vary, so ask before making the trip across town.

The Fort Kochi beach and the parade ground are the other two spaces where nothing is asked of you except that you show up.

Galleries and free show days

Kochi has an art scene that runs all year, not only during the Biennale. Small galleries in Fort Kochi and Mattancherry open shows regularly and gallery openings are almost always free to walk into. During Biennale months the number of collateral shows goes up sharply and many of the smaller venues do not charge.

The catch is that you cannot plan this from home. Openings are announced days ahead, sometimes on a poster on a wall. EventifyPlus was built partly for this problem: small organisers in Kerala who otherwise rely on word of mouth can list what they are putting on, so a visitor can see it without knowing anyone in town.

A rough free day

• Morning: breakfast before 8am, then the ferry from Ernakulam to Fort Kochi, and a walk along the beach and the parade ground.
• Late morning: St Francis Church, Santa Cruz Basilica, the streets around them.
• Afternoon: walk into Mattancherry, look at whichever galleries are open.
• Evening: ferry back, then Marine Drive until the light goes.

Nothing on that list is a secret. The reason it works is that Kochi is a city where the free version of the day is often the better one. Stretch the same instinct over more days and you get a long weekend combining Kochi and Alappuzha.