South India Unleashed (Kerala/Tamil Nadu)

Eleven nights in a loop from Kochi, guided, through Kerala and Tamil Nadu on a Royal Enfield Himalayan.

Fort Kochi opens it, a port the Portuguese, Dutch and British each took a turn at running, where a synagogue, a Chinese fishing net and a Dutch cemetery sit within a few minutes’ walk.

Munnar follows in the hills, with two nights for the tea: a traditional factory at Kolukkumalai and a tasting, and the misty lake views from Top Station. Periyar comes next on the gap roads, with a spice garden and a performance of Kalaripayattu, a Keralan martial art with a documented history going back centuries and a claim to being among the oldest in the world. Kodaikanal follows across the Tamil Nadu border on hairpin roads, at two thousand metres among the coffee and avocado farms, then Ooty in the Nilgiris, Wayanad through eucalyptus forest and Mudumalai, and Nattika beach by the pepper and nutmeg plantations. Alleppey closes the loop with a night on a traditional houseboat on the backwaters.

The bike hire is included; the full inclusions are not itemised on the operator’s page and are worth confirming at booking. October to March is the season, since the monsoon reaches Kerala in June and the state gets a great deal of it. Twelve days at this price makes it the cheapest tour the operator sells, and the shape is gentler than the Himalayan expeditions: short days, sealed roads and a good deal of the time spent off the bike in plantations, on the water or watching something happen.