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Alleppey Backwaters (Houseboat Cruise)
📍 Backwater📍 Boating📍 Nature

Alleppey Backwaters (Houseboat Cruise)

Alappuzha, Kerala, India

4.9 (0)
Overview

The Venice of the East — kettuvallam houseboats drifting past paddy below sea level, toddy shops, kingfishers and coir villages.

Why visit: The definitive Kerala experience — a night afloat on green water.

History: The rice-barge kettuvallams were reborn as floating cottages in the 1990s, creating India's most iconic slow journey.

Things to do
  • ›Overnight kettuvallam
  • ›Canal shikara rides
  • ›Kuttanad paddy views
  • ›Karimeen lunches
Houseboat CruiseCanoeingPhotography
Location & MapDirections
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Travel Information

Best time

Sep–Mar; Nehru Trophy race (Aug)

Entry fee

Houseboat ₹6,000+/night

Est. budget

₹6,000–15,000

Duration

1–2 days

Nearby attractions

Within
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🏞️ Lake
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Alleppey Backwaters

Alappuzha, Kerala

A dreamlike maze of palm-fringed canals, lagoons and paddies below sea level, cruised on converted rice-barge houseboats with crew, fresh karimeen meals and nothing to do but watch village life drift past. Venice of the East and the crown of Kerala's backwaters.

Nov–Feb1–2 daysExplore
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🏖️ Beach
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Alappuzha Beach & Sea Pier

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The town's breezy shore with its 150-year-old pier skeleton, lighthouse and evening fair — the sea-side of the backwater capital.

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📍 Festival
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Nehru Trophy Snake Boat Race

Alappuzha, Kerala

The second Saturday of August on Punnamada Lake — 100-oared chundan vallams thundering to vanchipattu songs before roaring galleries.

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Marari Beach (Mararikulam)

Mararikulam, Kerala

The hammock-quiet fishing beach between Alleppey and Kochi — palm groves, ayurveda resorts and mornings of nets and butterflies.

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📍 Temple
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Ambalappuzha Sree Krishna Temple

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The 15th-century Krishna shrine famed for its ambrosial palpayasam — sweet milk pudding served daily since a legendary chess debt.

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💎 Hidden Gem📍 Island
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Pathiramanal Island

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The 'sands of midnight' — an uninhabited Vembanad islet of migratory birds reached only by boat from Muhamma or Kumarakom.

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Kuttanad (Below-Sea-Level Paddy Country)

Alappuzha, Kerala

The rice bowl beneath the sea — dyke-guarded green fields lower than the canals that feed them, threaded by country boats and duck flocks.

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Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary & Vembanad Lake

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The luxury backwater village on India's longest lake — heron rookeries, sunset cruises and the resorts that hosted presidents.

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