Housed in an eighteenth-century Dutch colonial trader’s mansion on a quiet street right in the heart of old Cochin, Malabar House was one of Cochin’s first boutique hotels, and makes a seriously civilised and stylish haven of calm removed from the noise and traffic of the city. Home to a fabulously inventive restaurant and a pampering spa, Malabar House is set on a quiet street ideally located for experiencing the sights, sounds and Oriental spice-laden scents of this historic port.

The 17 individually styled en-suite rooms and suites at Malabar House are all decorated in a fresh and colourful minimalist style picked out with tasteful heavy wooden furnishings and tasteful antiques and objets d’art. The roof garden suites are particularly lovely, and have outdoor terraces with a sitting area overlooking the courtyard and its small outdoor swimming pool. Dining at the house restaurant Malabar Junction is a real treat, and when the weather is dry you can savour heavenly seafood dishes and imaginatively spiced curries served by the pool to the accompaniment of flickering oil lamps and live Indian music. A wine lounge offers the best emerging wines from India and delicious fusion tapas dishes, while the Ayurvedic spa is the perfect place to decompress after an intense day’s exploring.

Fort Cochin is compact enough for you to easily discover the key sights by foot, or the hotel will happily lend you a bike. You can shop for spices, fabrics or antiques in the go-downs of Jewtown, stroll past the Chinese cantilever fishing nets, unearth the city’s history through its museums and synagogues, cross the causeway into Ernakulam to watch a traditional kathakali dance or simply find a waterfront bench and watch the boats endlessly plying to and fro. Whatever you do, it is hard not be seduced by this colourful and eclectic port city, and Malabar House makes the perfect base for enjoying the very best of Cochin.