Best Bookstores in Fort Kochi: 3 Shops Worth Visiting

📚 Quick Bookstore Guide: Fort Kochi has three bookstores worth visiting. Idiom Book Sellers 📍 near Princess Street has the biggest collection including secondhand books — grab a postcard and mail it from the Post Office 📍 next door. Kochi Books 📍 on Princess Street (second floor, stairs only) has a curated selection strong on Indian history, spirituality and languages. Printed Matter 📍 is the newest, with a cafe and reading tables.

Meow! This is Ginger, historical thinker and reading enthusiast of the Cats of Kochi household and I'm back to delight my readers with more expertise and anecdotes about books! I have discovered that they’re my favorite object in the world (after treats and any surface to scratch, of course, that should be obvious!)

Last time, I went on a Library hunt in Fort Kochi which was very fun and exciting. But after talking to a kind hooman who came all the way from Germany to visit me, I realized that the library books can be used best by locals, not travellers. So I had to find places which would be loved by travelling hoomans! Here’s a guide for explorers, readers, wanderers and cats alike to browse through old and new books, sniff parchment and tear across them. Do not advise the last one for hoomans, I will not be responsible for your consequences!

Idiom Book Sellers

This quaint bookstore is tucked away cozily in Bastion Street, next to the Post Office. With a welcoming ambience, the place is a purrfect nap spot for my fellow felines! (Sorry, priorities you see.)

This bookstore has the biggest and extensive collection of books in Fort Kochi. They even have a stock of well-loved, second-hand books for cheaper rates. As a traveller who wants to read about Kochi and Kerala, the shop offers a wide range of books in all genres; from short stories to cooking recipes to travelogues to graphic comics, they have them all! As a feline, I’m a natural so I don’t see the point of reading about it but I guess humans do have their shortcomings – so to help with that there are numerous books on Yoga and Meditation. With shelves dedicated to different kinds of Yoga, such as Hatha, Mantra, and Yantra, as well.

The store also has a small collection of postcards and other trinkets which you can browse at your leisure. I sure did take my time playing with the fridge magnets.

If you want to send a piece of Kochi to your friend (or cat) abroad, grab a postcard and head to the Post Office situated right opposite! Postcards to International locations are priced at 30-50 INR.

Idiom Book Sellers 📍

The Head Post Office in Fort Kochi for all your postal needs

Kochi Books

This bookstore, nestled on the second floor in Princess Street has a small but carefully curated selection of books with a generous collection of both international and local authors. All the books are brand new and in pristine condition (very tempting for a cat like me).

You can meet a lot of fellow travellers with similar interests in this quaint store. It has an array of books on the different aspects of the country, not just Kerala and about topics that spark immediate interest in explorers. For example, books on religion, spirituality, languages and history are go-to sections for many.

"The books here are very extensive, I can find all the things I want to learn about this city and country in here. It's very helpful. Because of the post office nearby, I can send them to my friends back home too!" noted a hooman from America.

Kochi Books 📍

Dear hoomans, please do note that the bookstore is only accessible by a staircase!

Printed Matter

New Store on the block. Loved them! What sets them apart is the cafe and reading tables. I will write more about them. Here are a couple of pictures to get you started.