Kerala is an ideal place for holidaymaker as it is the most sought after tourist destination. The place is blessed with the nature’s bounty full of dense tropical forest, beautiful beaches, backwaters, still bays, rocky coasts and cliffs. One such pristine beauty in Kerala is Cochin. The Portuguese, Dutch and English had once ruled this place and all have made their presence felt in Cochin.

There are some of the oldest existing, churches and palaces which were once owner’s pride. But now they are the pride of the city. St Francis Church built by Portuguese is the first European church to be built in India and the Portuguese sailor, Vasco Da Gama was buried here, later it was moved to Portugal but the sepulcher still remains.

The Jewish synagogue, built by the Jewish Community has been preserved very well and the tourist can see the religious scrolls and hand painted tiles from China. Cochin has some of the finest Dutch palaces built by Portuguese like Matancherry Palace with an impressive auditorium once used by the king for coronation ceremonies.

Other palaces have transformed into hotels like Dutch Palace located on an island off the coast is now a heritage hotel. One more example is the Bolghatty palace which is now Kerala Tourism development corporation Hotel. There are two museums in the city; the Pareekshith Thampuram Museum has myriads of sculptures, paintings and coins. The Hill Palace Museum was initially the residence of Kochi Royal Family but now a heritage Museum.

Other important sites are Santa Cruz Basilica Church, Cherai Beach, Willingdon Island , Vypeen island, Gundu Island and Chinese Fishing Net In cochin harbor.