Kerala is known as one of the most sought-after tourist locations in India for both domestic and international tourists. However, most of these visitors were often greeted with a shocking revelation on a night of drinking. The last order at the bars in Kerala was mostly at 10 pm. And by 11 pm, promptly, the bartender would close shop, with bouncers ushering you outside.
But all those are things of the past. From today, Kerala bars open till midnight, and 5-star drinking holes have the option to be open till 3 am.
Kerala officially extended bar timings across the state, allowing many outlets to stay open till midnight and giving five-star hotels the option to serve alcohol till 3 am on select days. Why? The government said that it was aimed at boosting tourism and attracting big-ticket events.
The changes came through a notification amending the Foreign Liquor Rules, 1953, issued by the Taxes Department and published in the Kerala Gazette on February 17, 2026.
Uniform timings for bars, beer and wine parlours
Under the new rules, FL-3 bar hotels and FL-11 beer and wine parlours cannot open before 10 am and must normally close by 12 midnight.
This replaces the earlier regime where most such outlets were restricted to 11 am–11 pm, creating what the government describes in its explanatory note as “uniformity in the operating hours” across different types of licensed premises.
However, FL-4A outlets, which mostly include clubs and stand-alone beer and wine parlours in certain categories, will still continue operate between 11 am and 11 pm.
The amendments apply immediately, as the Foreign Liquor (Amendment) Rules, 2026 specified that the revised timings “shall come into force at once.”
The state government, in the order, stressed that the move was meant to simplify enforcement and provide clarity to bar owners and customers, while still keeping a clear cut-off at midnight for most establishments.
Extra hours for five-star hotels to woo MICE tourism
Under the new rules, FL-3 bar hotels with five-star classification and above now have the option to apply to stay open for an additional three hours beyond midnight—up to 3 am—if they pay an extra annual rental of Rs 5 lakh.
However, this late-close facility will not be allowed on the night before any statutory dry day; in such cases, even five-star bars must still shut by midnight.
The order made it amply clear that this flexibility was intended to support Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) tourism, destination weddings, international conferences and similar events that often run late into the night.
The state government argued that giving high-end hotels more leeway on closing times would make Kerala more attractive for global business and wedding travellers, while the higher licence fee brings in additional revenue.
With the state government finally heeding the demands of bar owners, tourism operators, and local residents in the sector, the coming months would be a litmus test. Let us wait and watch how longer hours reshape nightlife and hospitality economics in “God’s Own Country”.
