Once upon a time there was Fort Kochi: an Indian spice-trade port, a former colonial city with Portuguese and Dutch influences, and the starting-point for your Royal Enfield motorcycle trip. Immerse yourself in an endearing, bucolic region bursting with flavours and treasures. Ride roads that twist through tea plantations, explore wildlife in national parks, and relish the cool air of the Nilgiri Mountains. Kerala will charm you with its spicy cuisine; its lagoons and its magical backwaters; its relaxing massages and smiling residents. A motorcycle trip through Southern India is a dream come true for all nature-lovers seeking a complete change of scenery and an easy-paced introduction to India’s diversity.

Your Motorcycle Tour in South India 12 stages - 784 miles

D1 / Arrive in Kochi

You’re met at the airport and transferred to the hotel. Your room is available from midday. We’ll explore the charming old town, historic Fort Kochi (where we’ll stay). It is one of the most pleasant neighbourhoods to live in.

D2 / Kochi - Backwaters - 50 miles

We start off gently with an easy leg to get used to our bikes and the Indian way of the road. We spend this first day of riding cruising on Malabar’s pretty coastal road, passing numerous beaches and taking in its notable Christian influence. Overnight stay in the backwaters.

D3 / Backwaters - Kumily - 93 miles

We head for Kumily, a small town in the Periyar National Park, a fantastic stretch through spice gardens and mountainscapes. We cross some backwaters, surrounded by idyllic coconut trees, turquoise waters and colourful saris galore, until we reach the foothills of Western Ghats, a long mountain range that runs along the whole of the southwestern coast.

D4 / Kumily - Munnar - 78 miles

We take a winding road to Munnar. We find ourselves on the highest mountain in south India, which stands at an impressive 2,700 m altitude (Anamudi, Kannan Devan hills). Munnar is a commercial centre in the heart of some of the highest tea plantations in the world. At the end of the day, we can take an extra bike ride on very narrow, windy roads through the tea plantations.

D5 / Munnar - Munnar - 43 miles

You will enjoy this day around Munnar, in the midst of its abundant tea plantations and bountiful nature. Since we are on the border of the Eravikulam National Park, you will be presented with many options to fill your afternoon - there are so many possibilities here! According to your wishes and preferences this superb, relatively short loop, will be arranged by your tour leader.

D6 / Munnar - Kodaikanal - 106 miles

We enjoy many more mountain roads with views over spectacular bodies of water. We briefly drop back down to the warm Tamil plains, only to climb back up to the Kodaikanal region, with the welcome fresh mountain air of the Palani hills. An English hill town, popular for its large cedar and eucalyptus forests.

D7 / Kodaikanal - Palakkad - 134 miles

Heading north back down the Palani hills we enjoy some wonderful views, especially overlooking Palar dam. We pass through Palani, a small holy town where scenes of religious fervour are commonplace. We take another series of beautiful mountainous roads, passing remote villages on our way as we push on through the Tamil Nadu plains north of the mountain range surrounded by lush, peaceful countryside.

D8 / Palakkad - Ooty - 100 miles

We continue our adventure through farmlands and skirt around Elivai Malai. Dense forests and tea plantations surround us once more as we climb towards Ooty, another ancient hill station beloved by the English, set at the foot of the Doddabetta, the highest peak in the Nilgiri range (2,637 m). We make a crazily steep ascent on a series of 35 hairpin bends over only 12 miles!

D9 / Ooty - Thrissur - 118 miles

We take in impeccable views as we slowly but surely descend through Mukurthi National Park on our way back to the plains. The route is peppered with forests and plantations and some stretches are just as steep as the previous day. Then, we descend onto the plains to reach Cheruthuruthy (Thrissur) and make the most of our hotel, a haven of peace.

D10 / Thrissur - Vypin Island - 78 miles

We head towards the coast and Guruvayur, a spiritual Hindu town, which abounds with religious paraphernalia shops and thousands of Hindu pilgrims visiting each day. Lunch in the area, then we take the coastal road to Vypin Island and its numerous beaches that have only just begun garnering the attention of tourists.

D11 / Vypin Island - Kochi - 37 miles

You can spend the morning relaxing on the palm tree-lined beach, where we can walk between the salt ponds. To finish our journey, we enjoy a feast of narrow roads through some more backwaters, over tiny bridges, passing fishing and farming villages, rice paddies and tropical fruit plantations until we reach our final destination.