Abu Dhabi, UAE to Kochi, India from $219

🌍 About kochi

Fort Kochi is the old part: a working harbour where the Chinese fishing nets (cheena vala) still get lowered and hauled by hand along Vasco da Gama Square — best seen at sunset when the fishermen are actually working them, not just posing. Walk over to Mattancherry for the Paradesi Synagogue (1568) and the spice warehouses, where pepper and cardamom are still sorted by hand and you can smell it from the street. Order karimeen pollichathu — pearl-spot fish rubbed with chilli and masala, wrapped in banana leaf and grilled — with a Malabar parotta. Come October to March, when it's dry and merely warm rather than soaking. Avoid June to September: that's the monsoon, and Kochi gets the full force of it.