Before coming to India, I was genuinely scared. Everything online made it feel like pure chaos — traffic, scams, noise, crowds, stress — and as a solo female traveler I had no idea if I was even going to handle it well. And to be fair, some parts of India ARE overwhelming. But Kerala completely surprised me. Fort Kochi was the first place where I actually relaxed into India instead of feeling constantly overstimulated. It felt slower, calmer, easier to navigate, and much softer than what I expected India to feel like. So if someone asked me what I think is the best place for solo travel in India, especially…

I flew into Kochi as my very first stop in India — and what was meant to be a short visit turned into almost three months. So when I say Kochi has a way of pulling you in, I mean it from experience. Like a lot of people, I arrived nervous. India had built itself up in my head as this overwhelming, chaotic place, and I didn’t really know what to expect. What I found instead was somewhere slow, calm, and surprisingly easy — a side of India that doesn’t always make it onto Instagram. Whether you’re visiting Kochi as part of a bigger trip through India or using it…