Thinking of visiting the beautiful Keralan backwaters on a houseboat and not sure what to expect or where to start? Yes, us too! Here's our experience which we hope can improve and inform yours. We had long wanted to visit the lush Indian state of Kerala, and when there, were interested in renting a houseboat to explore the backwaters. It was an experience that had been personally recommended to me, and, to be frank, the idea of eating fantastic food while drifting peacefully along the river banks certainly appealed - especially after a hectic few weeks of ever-changing travel plans. That said, despite hearing and reading a lot about Kerala before arriving, I still wasn’t quite sure what the backwaters were and how and what cruising them on a houseboat entailed. Does this sound familiar? If you're in this position, read on, and we’ll try to fill in some of the gaps and help you make the right decision.
Ok, so what are the backwaters?
The Keralan backwaters are a network of interconnected rivers, lakes, and lagoons that lie parallel to the Arabian Sea coast. The hundreds of kilometers of channels, some natural some man-made, provide a unique environment that has historical, cultural, and ecological significance. Imagine a wetland-scape where roads are replaced by rivers, cars by boats, and days are spent traversing a labyrinth of grey channels flanked by palms, paddy fields, and rural villages. Whilst not birders ourselves, the backwaters are a paradise for our feathered friends whose songs and dances come alive as the sun sets and rises over the water.
And where are they?
The backwaters cover a significant portion of the entire state of Kerala and there are multiple entry points to explore them from. Alleppey is one of the most popular jumping-off points and is where we hired our boat from. Alleppey lies about 50km south of Kochi and is accessible by rail and road. On our way to Alleppey, we took the train from Ernakulam station in Kochi, and on our return, we decided instead to take a Rickshaw back to central Kochi. The train, which was supposed to be an hour, was very delayed, and all the AC carriages were full (we had yet to understand the importance of early booking for Indian train travel!), so the 2.5 hours sweating in sleeper class did not seem worth it for such a short journey. We also learned on the way back (a bit late for us but maybe not for you!) that the road from Alleppey takes you straight onto Fort Kochi Island. So if you are staying on Fort Kochi (as recommended in our beginner's guide to Kochi), it really isn’t worth your time and money getting to the mainland to Ernakulam station when you could probably haggle at a very reasonable price (under £10) from a Rickshaw.
What do I do when I get there?
Explore the backwaters! I say this because there really isn’t much else to do in the town itself. We arrived a night before our booking because a) we were getting a train and embankment was at 12 and b) we thought we might explore Alleppey, but there really wasn’t much other than the waters themselves. So if we were to do it again, I would probably recommend staying in Kochi and heading directly to Alleppey the morning you're ready to embark. The other option is to stay in Allepey as a base to explore the backwaters by day. There's a good range of accomodation from hostels to traditional guesthouses to larger 3 and 4 star hotels.
What are the options for boating?
You don’t have to rent or stay on a houseboat to explore the backwaters. Some travellers opt to sleep on dry land in a guest house or hotel and either hire a small boat for day trips or, for the very budget-conscious or adventurous, you can even spend the day taking the local ferries for mere pennies from village to village. There are valid environmental concerns with thousands of people staying, eating, and drinking on diesel-fueled boats in these unique wetlands, so you may want to look into all the options. That said, the local communities rely on houseboat tourism and there are new initiatives such as the sustainability ratings of boats, so it’s important to read reviews and ensure you are choosing the right company for you, and that takes its impact on these unique surroundings seriously.
The other thing to note is that renting a houseboat you sleep on doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll see more of the waterways or sail for longer. The bigger boats can only travel on wide channels, and, to limit emissions and pollution, all boats have to park up and turn their engines off from 6 pm to 8 am, so you're only sailing for part of the day.
If you are going to stay on a boat, there is also the choice of private boats or rooms on bigger boats and varying costs. We did a fair bit of research on Booking.com and Agoda (simply search for Alleppey and filter by ‘boat’) before we arrived and actually found many of the rooms on the bigger boats per night were more expensive than hiring a 2-man private smaller boat.
So, what did we decide on?
At first, when we saw the very high prices on Booking.com, we were facing the reality that this particular activity was completely out of our budget price range, so we likely wouldn’t be hiring or staying on a boat, and we would opt for a guest house and self-explore. Perhaps this was due to the fact it was a school holiday in India, but the prices were upward of £200 per person per night, even on a shared boat. I was a little disappointed as I had decided I would like to stay on the waterways if at all possible. Then, thanks once again to the help of a travel blogger, we were pointed in the direction of a private boat on Viator and this much more reasonably priced small boat looked like it ticked all the boxes for us in terms of needs, food and sustainability. Our hotel informed us that morning that the boats were hugely varying in quality and implied we’d made a mistake booking online, so I will be honest I was a bit nervous we’d booked the budget version and wondered if it was too good to be true… (spoiler alert; it wasn’t!)
The experience itself, what to expect
The night before we were due to embark, we were contacted by a company who confirmed our pick-up location and asked if we had any dietary requirements. I requested vegetarian food, which, as we’re in India, was no problem at all.
On the morning of departure, we made our way down to the dock by Rickshaw (about 15 mins from our hotel) and peered out onto the lake awaiting our vessel. As our boat, the Ganga, made its way to our pick-up point, all my worries melted away. The wooden vessel was stunning, spotless, well-maintained, very spacious but not too. There was a fully wood-furnished master bedroom with a comfortable large double bed and ensuite shower, and one wall of the room was mainly a large window so you could enjoy views out the windows onto the river. To my surprise, the boat had air conditioning that worked perfectly. The other area for guests was the deck area at the front of the boat that included large lounge chairs for relaxing in and a dining table to eat your meals. Perhaps the boat would be simple for the more lavish traveller but for budget-mid range backpackers it was luxury.
As travellers who are usually used to walking, hiking, generally enjoying exhausting themselves all day, it was a bit daunting at first to think we would do nothing more than sit and stare, relax, watch the world go by, and eat.
The boat set off at midday on the dot and ‘sailed’ for about 3 or 4 hours before we disembarked for an one-hour cruise on a smaller vessel, which is fully included in the price. This was a highlight as we explored the much narrower channels past the villages and villagers getting on with daily life on the water. There’s also a small shop should you need anything, or you can buy local river prawns for your chef to prepare as part of your dinner (if you're not veggie!). This is followed by another couple of hours leisurely floating back on the houseboat before you dock for the night at around 6 and watch the incredible bird formations dance across the river as the sun sets. Having heard about the congestion on the river I was impressed at how secluded and private the whole experience felt, despite there being thousands of boats on the water.
The food
Unsurprisingly, as foodies, one of the highlights of the trip was the private chef and plentiful food. A private chef is not the sort of experience people with our kind of budget are used to, well, ever. Whilst all the meals (lunch, dinner, and breakfast the next morning) were incredibly tasty, the star for us was definitely lunch. The variation of the spread reminded me of a Sri Lankan feast with a rich selection of dishes that varied in texture and style, from green beans, crispy okra to more traditional curry veg. The evening meal was a selection of (fantastic) veg curries, and breakfast was eggs and coconut pancakes. There’s no alcohol on the boat nor in the shop, and for us, that was fine as we weren't planning on drinking, but if you do want to watch the sun go down with a beer, you will need to BYOB before you embark from an alcohol shop.
The morning after
After a beautiful night watching the birds and then the bats, we retired early to bed when the crew closed the shutters to keep the mosquitoes off the boat. There are a lot of bugs around so bring repellent if you're susceptible to getting bitten. We slept soundly and enjoyed an early waking, watching the dawn from our bedroom window.
We were back on the deck by 7:30 for our pancake breakfast, and the boat set off at 8 am to have you back at the lake harbour by 9 am.
After disembarking and saying farewell to crew, we walked up to the main road and jumped in the first Rickshaw we came by, asking him to take us to the station but when he offered us a good price to take us all the way back to Kochi, we agreed and it was a lovely way to travel back into town.
So, what’s the verdict?
All things considered I would definitely recommend cruising the backwaters. You don’t ‘do’ much, but peacefully watching the world and wildlife go by is a fantastic experience and forces us to actually relax. As active travellers I don’t think we needed more than one night on the boat. Although there are thousands of kilometers of waterways to explore, there’s only so much pure relaxation we can take!!
We also couldn’t fault the company we went with; the boat and crew exceeded our expectations. In the end, we paid about £130 per night for the whole boat, two crew, and full board for both of us. Although this took us slightly over our budget that day, it felt like really good value for money and worth the splurge.
Let us know if you end up booking or have found another gem of a way to explore the backwaters!
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