[swarnava.ch]

I loved your pictures. This is one thing I have not yet tried and now I will definitely add this to my bucket list. Loved your travelogue @petrolhead

I was just wondering, if i am driving down from Bangalore, i will still have to put my car somewhere to park for those 2 or 3 days - may be a paid, secured parking somewhere ?
Do you know if such a thing would be possible ? Are there such options possible ?

Off Course best idea is to just fly down to the nearest airport and take a taxi. but as you know we road guys always like to take our own cars

[Epic]

Originally Posted by petrolHead_1609

We got to Alleppey, a very beautiful, scenic and peaceful town in Kerela. Every bit being worth of it being called as 'God's own Country'.

Originally Posted by Justin

A picture of sailing through Kuttanad Backwaters

Originally Posted by sharatravan

Of all the places that we visited in Kerala, Allepey and its houseboats stood out as one of our best experiences.

I actually was to do the Wayanad-Kochi-Kumarakom-Alleppey trip this September but unfortunately had to cancel due to the pandemic. So really happy to see this thread and all your posts but at the same time disappointed that I can not experience the backwaters this year. Next year for sure though.

But this also makes me ask, which is the better backwater experience - Kumarakom or Alleppey? I have been getting mixed reviews but by all your posts above, it seems Alleppey seems to be the choice? Please do let me know.

[petrolHead_1609]

Originally Posted by ABHI_1512

The morning start after the night is the most fascinating part of the ride when you get to see the sunrise from a moving boat. Thanks for sharing, adding two pictures from my trip few years back, hope you won’t mind.

Couldn't agree more about the next morning start, although our boat didn't move until 7:30 AM, it was a delight from stationary boat as well. Can only imagine how wonderful would that be from a moving boat (almost like a scene from movie, a closing out drone shot).
Lovely shots added by you.

Originally Posted by mmxylorider

An interesting travelogue/experience. This is one thing I have not done, an extended boat/ship ride. A question though, even while the boat is moored, there would be swaying - Does that cause problems while sleeping?

I'm sure there is a crew on board, but how many?

Actually when the boats are stopped for the day, they aren't on waterways and are on bylanes, so didn't feel any swaying. Aa a matter of fact, when they were moving throughout the day, sometimes side by side, even then there wasn't any swaying significant enough to make you uncomfortable. Ours was a one bedroom houseboat so for the crew, there were 2 with us, one caption and one cook.

Originally Posted by swarnava.ch

I was just wondering, if i am driving down from Bangalore, i will still have to put my car somewhere to park for those 2 or 3 days - may be a paid, secured parking somewhere ?
Do you know if such a thing would be possible ? Are there such options possible ?

So mostly the houseboats operators do have hotels also. We reached hotel directly, were given our welcome kits there and escorted to the jetty. Those who arrived by car, parked in hotel premises, better to confirm this before booking. As a matter of fact, we booked rooms at the same hotel post our houseboat experience for going around Alleppey and saw the same thing next morning as well.
On a separate note, I think booking a houseboat for 1N or 2N wouldn't exactly translate to going far in backwaters comparatively.
Totally agree with you about driving part, especially with that BlueHippo in garage

Originally Posted by Epic

this also makes me ask, which is the better backwater experience - Kumarakom or Alleppey? I have been getting mixed reviews but by all your posts above, it seems Alleppey seems to be the choice? Please do let me know.

Same was the dilemma with us, went through lot of reviews online and decided to go Alleppey and it was a great experience. Haven't really been to Kumarakom.
Let's hope this pandemic ends soon, you have a great trip and we'll be eagerly waiting for your travelogue

[ABHI_1512]

Originally Posted by swarnava.ch

I was just wondering, if i am driving down from Bangalore, i will still have to put my car somewhere to park for those 2 or 3 days - may be a paid, secured parking somewhere ?
Do you know if such a thing would be possible ? Are there such options possible ?

Off Course best idea is to just fly down to the nearest airport and take a taxi. but as you know we road guys always like to take our own cars

You can park your car at the designated place from where the houseboats start their journey. Usually there are resting places for the drivers and secured parking for the cars and it is usually free if the house boat is expensive.

[sharatravan]

Originally Posted by Epic

I actually was to do the Wayanad-Kochi-Kumarakom-Alleppey trip this September but unfortunately had to cancel due to the pandemic. So really happy to see this thread and all your posts but at the same time disappointed that I can not experience the backwaters this year. Next year for sure though.

But this also makes me ask, which is the better backwater experience - Kumarakom or Alleppey? I have been getting mixed reviews but by all your posts above, it seems Alleppey seems to be the choice? Please do let me know.

From my research back in 2017, what I could gather was that Alleppey and Kumarakom are situated on the opposite sides of the same backwaters. So the routes that the houseboats take would more or less be the same since the owning resorts are all located on the banks of these backwaters. But I found the quality of the resorts to be better on the Alleppey side across different budgets. The ones on the Kumarakom pale a little in comparison, unless you're going for luxurious ones in which case there's no difference in the quality of resorts at either of the places.
Normally people choose between the two places depending on availability of their preferred resorts. Doing both would be kind of redundant, unless someone is specifically going there to spend time on the houseboats.
Hope you get to enjoy this next year! One trip to Kerala is never enough.

[samee_arian]

Nice write up about your experience with houseboats in Kerala. Reminded me of my visit to Alleppy a couple of years ago. Had heard some horrible experiences from a couple of my friends when they had been to Kerala and was a little skeptical about it, but our experience although nothing out of the world was really fun and one of its kind. We had been in a large boat with multiple room and large deck, I think there were 5 to 6 families and I was wondering how the experience of renting a smaller boat be, appears not much of a change. Especially liked the next morning when all boats were returning to jetty and it appeared like a race of sorts. All in all, I would definitely encourage everyone who is yet to experience this to try it out.

[Epic]

Originally Posted by sharatravan

From my research back in 2017, what I could gather was that Alleppey and Kumarakom are situated on the opposite sides of the same backwaters. So the routes that the houseboats take would more or less be the same since the owning resorts are all located on the banks of these backwaters.

This is exactly what I have understood as well from the research I did earlier this year. It is the Vembanad lake that separates the two. So this is definitely true then.

Originally Posted by sharatravan

But I found the quality of the resorts to be better on the Alleppey side across different budgets.

I had booked my stay at Marari Beach Resort in Alleppey and Kumarakom Lake Resort in Kumarakom. The houseboat experience was booked at Alleppey only. Did not plan to do houseboats at both locations as it would make no sense. So I believe I had planned correctly.

Originally Posted by sharatravan

One trip to Kerala is never enough.

I had actually spent 03 years in Kerala during my Hotel Management course in the early 2000s so yeah it's never enough.

[Raghu M]

Originally Posted by ABHI_1512

There is no security issue per say as far as I know.

Ah, now I get it. Makes more sense now. The ACs and other equipment definitely need power after a full day of running. Thank you.

Originally Posted by kutts

Primary reason is that the fishermen cast their nets in the night. The larger boats can damage the nets.

Thank you Kutts. Spreading nets at nights is a common practice and the larger boats definitely can ruin them. It's safe to be docked at night.

[SnS_12]

Even though I hail from Kerala, I have been on the houseboat in Alleppey only once in my life.

We did this trip back in 2014 in May, where we stayed at Lake Palace Resort for two nights and did a half day experience on the houseboat as we had a room to stay for the night.

Things to be careful, while booking a houseboat in Alleppey

a) Preferably do the booking through a known travel agent as you might encounter many surprises while booking one through one of the many ads that pop on google search.

b) Do ask for pictures of the boat that would be allocated to you, so that you are sure you will get what you have paid for.

c) Get a list of things that come along with your booking. For eg mineral water could be charged extra or the air conditioning in the living area is allowed full time only in luxury boats and not on premium boats.

d) Confirm the timings when the house boat would sail during the day. Usual timings are 13:00 - 17.30 Hours & 08:00 – 09:00 Hours as the check-in time is 13:00 Hours and check-out time is 09:00 Hours.

Some pictures from our trip...

[Aviator_guy]

Planning a 4-5 days trip to Kerala from Bangalore in April first week (2 adults+ 2 kids 10 yrs). Houseboat experience is our primary objective and we are ok to stay one or two nights for the experience. Looking for recommendation for 2BR houseboat and also possible things to do around Alleppey /Kochi apart from the houseboat.

Hill station like Munnar visit is out of scope for this trip as I plan to do it some other time.

Would highly appreciate good and reliable reference from our fellow BHPians

[RoadFiend]

Originally Posted by Aviator_guy

Planning a 4-5 days trip to Kerala from Bangalore in April first week

Did you go? How was it given the April heat?

[Aviator_guy]

Originally Posted by RoadFiend

Did you go? How was it given the April heat?

I did the trip in April first week. It was not that hot and given it was not so crowded, we had a great time and good deals on houseboat and hotels. I wanted to avoid the peak season rush so early April worked out well. I'd suggest to take full AC houseboat (rooms plus dining area deck) for the whole duration (day and night) for a comfortable stay and to avoid mosquito problem at night.

[Fillmore]

Hi All,

Planning a trip to Bangalore > Thekkady > Alappuzha.

If any of you have any guidelines / pointers / contacts on how to go about getting a decent House Boat at Alappuzha please do let me know here

My wife and 2 kids 8rs and 16yrs
Would prefer a single boat than a sharing boat.

This thead has great info, but would like some direct contact #'s in case anyone has.

Thanks
Fillmore.

[Aviator_guy]

Originally Posted by Fillmore

Hi All,

Planning a trip to Bangalore > Thekkady > Alappuzha.

If any of you have any guidelines / pointers / contacts on how to go about getting a decent House Boat at Alappuzha please do let me know here

My wife and 2 kids 8rs and 16yrs
Would prefer a single boat than a sharing boat.

This thead has great info, but would like some direct contact #'s in case anyone has.

Thanks
Fillmore.

This is the agent who was very helpful in finding perfect houseboat as per our requirement (Reena 88474 35284)

House boat owner (Saji 9061492012) if you prefer to directly contact him. Very well maintained houseboat.

General guidelines : There are multiple combinations of houseboats available based on budget, group size, AC preference, sharing vs single, single deck vs upper deck etc.
Please make sure to ask for exact photos of the houseboat before you finalize. Also check for TnC, pick up and drop points, Air conditioner coverage/ timings etc.