Taking Kids to Kochi: Nine Places That Hold a Seven Year Old's Attention

Kochi has plenty for adults and a shorter list for a seven year old. The difference between a good day and a miserable one is knowing which places hold a child's attention for real and which are twenty minutes of politeness followed by complaining.

The short answer: pick things that move. Boats, animals, fish being unloaded, an elephant in a procession, a performer putting on makeup. Static museums and heritage buildings are the ones that fail. Below are nine places that work, with the practical details that decide whether you can actually use them.

The nine

1. The public ferry between Fort Kochi, Vypin and Ernakulam. The single best thing on this list. It moves, it is short, it costs almost nothing, and container ships pass close enough to count. Covered deck. No toilet on board, so go before. Holds attention for the whole crossing.

2. The fishing harbour and the nets at Fort Kochi. Not the tourist photo, the actual working side. Fish coming off boats, ice, gulls, ropes. Good for twenty to thirty minutes. Nothing here is child proofed, so hold hands near the edge.

3. Marine Drive, Ernakulam. A long paved walkway on the water with an open space to run. Easy for prams, benches, food carts, and a good sunset. Toilets exist at nearby malls rather than on the walkway itself. Best in the last two hours of daylight.

4. A Kathakali makeup session. The performance itself is long and slow for a child. The makeup preparation before it is not. Watching a face be painted green over an hour is genuinely interesting to most children. Sit for the makeup and the fight scenes, and be ready to leave early. Many venues in Fort Kochi run a fixed evening slot.

5. A Kalaripayattu demonstration. Kerala's martial art, with jumps, staffs and fire in some routines. Loud and fast. Sessions are usually under an hour, which suits a short attention span. Front row is better than centre.

6. Mangalavanam bird sanctuary. A small patch of mangrove in the middle of Ernakulam with a walkway. Short, shaded, and manageable in half an hour. Take mosquito repellent, seriously.

7. Cherai beach, on Vypin. Shallow in stretches, and a proper beach day with a drive attached. Check local conditions before letting anyone into the water, because the safe stretch changes and the currents along this coast are not to be guessed at. Facilities are basic.

8. A spice godown walk in Mattancherry. This sounds like an adult thing and it is not. The smell is the attraction. Sacks of pepper and cardamom open at the top, in a working warehouse. Ten minutes, high impact. Stay out of the way of loading.

9. Any temple festival or church feast happening while you are there. Elephants, drums, lights, fireworks and food stalls beat everything else on this list. The catch is that you have to know one is on, though the central Kerala festival season between January and May shortens the odds.

What to skip with a young child

• The Dutch Palace murals and the Indo Portuguese Museum. Both are good and both are quiet rooms with things behind glass.
• Long guided heritage walks with a fixed route.
• Any evening programme that starts after eight and runs for three hours.

Practical notes for a Kochi day with kids

• Distances. Fort Kochi and Mattancherry are walkable, roughly a couple of kilometres end to end, but there is little shade in the middle of the day. Break it with an auto ride.
• Toilets. Plan around restaurants, hotels and cafes rather than public facilities. Buy a drink and use theirs.
• Timing. Out early, back in by noon, out again after four. The middle of the day is for a room with a fan.
• Water and food. Carry water. Bakeries and tea shops are everywhere and are usually a faster fix than a restaurant with a menu.
• Rain. From roughly June to September, assume a downpour will land at some point. It passes.
• Cost. Ferries, beaches and walks keep the day cheap, in the same spirit as three days in Kannur under five thousand rupees.
• Beyond Kochi. If the trip carries on south, there is an order worth seeing Trivandrum in.

Finding the festival that makes the trip

The best day you can have with a child in Kochi is the one where you stumble into a procession. Stumbling is not a plan, though, and most of these events are announced by poster and word of mouth rather than anywhere a visitor would think to look.

EventifyPlus is a hyperlocal event discovery service for Kerala, live in production, that covers temple festivals, Onam, Kochi carnivals, Kathakali and Theyyam and backwater boat races. It exists because organisers and audiences in Kerala have never had a shared place to meet, and because a family with two days in the city has no way of knowing that the temple three streets away starts its festival tomorrow evening.