Fort Kochi and Mattancherry on foot

Fort Kochi is flat, compact and best walked in the late afternoon, once the heat has gone and the light is on the water. Most of what you want to see sits within a twenty-minute walk, and the rest is a short ride into Mattancherry.

The waterfront

The Chinese fishing nets are cantilever nets on teak and bamboo frames, worked by teams of four or five men who lower and raise them by counterweight. They are still fished rather than staged, and late afternoon is when there is most to watch.

Fort Kochi

• St Francis Church, the oldest European church in India. Vasco da Gama was buried here before his remains were taken to Lisbon, and the site is still marked.
• Santa Cruz Basilica, a few minutes away, with a painted interior worth going inside for.
• The Dutch cemetery, and the low colonial streets in between.

Mattancherry

• Mattancherry Palace, also called the Dutch Palace, for the Ramayana murals. There are stairs.
• Paradesi Synagogue in Jew Town, built in 1568 and the oldest active synagogue in the Commonwealth. Its floor is laid with hand-painted Chinese tiles, no two alike. Closed Friday and Saturday.
• The spice godowns and antique shops around it. The smell of the street changes as you walk it.

Practical

Many sites close for a couple of hours around lunchtime, and the synagogue keeps shorter hours than everything else. If you have one afternoon, do Mattancherry first and end at the nets for sunset.

If the Kochi-Muziris Biennale is running — roughly every two years, in the cooler months — it takes over warehouses across Fort Kochi and is worth a day on its own.