One of Southern India's most prosperous and go-ahead states, leaf-shaped Kerala spans 15,000 square miles of contrasts that both stimulate and soothe the senses. On its long western shore the lush Malabar coastline is the setting of a succession of spectacular and largely empty beaches washed by the warm Arabian Sea. Inland, Nature has framed an equally vibrant backdrop, much of it also fashioned by the movement of water. For here are the famous Kerala Backwaters - an intricate lacework of peaceful palm-edged waterways, whose languid and somehow timeless beauty can be absorbed to the full as you drift gently by aboard a slow-moving houseboat.

Explore further inland and you come upon an exotic natural world of trim paddy fields, shady coconut groves, neatly regimented rows of rubber trees, deep forests and a patchwork of plantations - from coffee and tea to a host of spices. These surrender in turn to a tall eastern skyline dominated by the cool heights of the Western Ghats.

Kerala remains firmly in touch with its historic traditions, and herein lies its special charm. Its mood of tranquillity and harmony offers the visitor countless ways and locations in which to escape the pressured lifestyles of the outside world. And as the magic of Kerala has become more widely known, new hotel upgrading and construction, as well as improved infrastructures, are now able to offer a good range of accommodation and much enhanced travel freedoms for the visitor from abroad.

Whatever brings you to Kerala - its sun-drenched beaches or a palm-fringed hotel pool, its cool hills or shady waterways, its fascinating cultural heritage or mouth-watering culinary temptations, or perhaps its outstanding Ayurvedic therapies - this is a corner of the world to escape utterly from the everyday. In short, a place for effortlessly refreshing the mind, body and soul!