Visiting Kerala: a note on drinks

Kerala does drinks differently from the rest of India, and it catches people out on the first evening. This short note explains what to expect and what to pack. It is part of our series on the essentials for an India holiday, alongside the e-Visa, e-Arrival Card and Air Suvidha form and getting your data at the airport.

Beer and wine, often no spirits

A full licence to serve spirits costs a Kerala hotel a great deal of money every year. Many hotels, including very good ones, decide it is not worth it and hold a licence for beer and wine only. Some smaller places and most houseboats hold no licence at all. It says nothing about the hotel. It is the price of the licence.

In practice that means beer and wine with dinner at most of the hotels on our Kerala holidays, and no gin and tonic at the bar. Ask at check-in what the hotel can serve, so there is no surprise later.

Carry your own spirits

You are free to bring your own. Each adult can bring two litres of spirits or wine into India duty free, and the airport duty-free shop at Kochi sells on arrival as well as departure, so there is no need to carry bottles from the UK. Hotels are used to guests keeping a bottle in the room. A few charge corkage if you bring it to the restaurant table, so ask first, but a drink on your own balcony is nobody's business.

If the hotel has no licence

Where a hotel cannot serve anything, the hotel or your driver can arrange beer for you. Ask in the afternoon rather than at nine in the evening, because it has to be fetched. On a houseboat the crew will chill whatever you bring aboard, so buy it in town before you board.

The state's own liquor shops exist, but they have long queues and no charm. Leave them to the locals.

Dry days

Bars and shops across India close on a handful of national holidays, including Republic Day on 26 January, Independence Day on 15 August and Gandhi's birthday on 2 October. Kerala keeps these strictly. If one falls in your trip, buy the day before.

If drinks matter to your evenings, tell us when you book and we will check what your hotels can serve. For the rest of the trip, read our guide to Kerala, or browse our holidays to India.