13 Best Shopping in Kerala, India

This outlet of the popular and sophisticated Rajasthani handicrafts and clothing shop carries beautifully tailored women's clothing and linens for the home.

This branch of the chic Bangalore boutique stocks stylish ethnic and modern housewares, silk scarves and purses, jewelry, and Indo-Western designer clothing.

Local hotels often get their antiques here. The store is crammed with stone and wood carvings, pillars, and doors as well as such portable items as painted tiles, navigational equipment, and wooden boxes. Crafter's also has a café upstairs.

Stop here for a range of colorful hand-printed cotton garments—skirts, pants, tops, kurtis, kurtas, men's shirts, and saris. The white tops are lovely.

This is an expensive all-in-one shop with goods from all over India. You can find brocade work, marble inlay boxes, and Kashmiri carpets, plus local handicrafts and precious and semiprecious jewelry.

Whether you're looking for a little information on Kerala or a little something to while away the hours, stop by Idiom Books, a small bookshop opposite the synagogue (there's also a branch in Fort Kochi, on Bastion Street). You can find an intriguing collection of recent Western and Indian fiction, as well as books on history, culture, cooking, and religion.

This is one of Kerala's oldest and most reliable curio shops.

John Korula and his family have been running this shop since 1945. This shop's name is far more pedestrian than its contents—it's a virtual Aladdin's cave of curios and antiques—masks, statues, sculpture, Christian artifacts, and much more. And no one will follow you around the shop insisting you buy this or that, as does happen elsewhere. Note that it closes for a lunch break from about 1:30 to 3 pm.

A mind-blowing selection of saris (including the Keralan style), lehangas (long skirts with fitted blouses), and the like are on offer here, as well as Indian and Western clothes for men and children.

A fixed-price government shop, Kairali has a good selection of local handicrafts and curios.

Try this small shop for silks by the meter. You can also buy a gorgeous Kerala sari or veshti (the men's wraparound skirt) and have a nearby tailor make it into a top or dress for you in a day or less, especially in you have a good sample for him to follow.

Run by the state's Handicrafts Cooperative Society, Surabhi has an impressive selection of local products.

Indian tribal artisan work is sold through this cooperative store, which benefits the crafters directly. There's an unusual selection of crafts, including clothing and knickknacks.