Private holiday villas and vacation rentals in Kerala Kerala, is a state in India's tropical coast of Malabar. Kerala has a very long shoreline with the Arabian Sea. It's known for its palm-lined beaches and its backwaters, especially the backwaters of Alappey and a network of narrow canals in the villages popular for cruises. It is also famous for its Ayurvedic treatments and massages. In the inland are the Western Ghats, a mountain range which brings the monsoons and whose slopes support tea, coffee and spice plantations as well as abundant native wildlife.