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Alleppey Backwaters
🏞️ Lake📍 Nature📍 Honeymoon📍 Boating

Alleppey Backwaters

Alappuzha, Kerala, India

4.7 (0)
Overview

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.

Why visit: An overnight houseboat here is the definitive Kerala experience.

History: The kettuvallam houseboats are traditional rice barges of coir-stitched jackwood, reborn for tourism; Alleppey also hosts the famous Nehru Trophy snake-boat race each August.

Things to do
  • ›Overnight houseboat cruise through Punnamada and Vembanad
  • ›Canoe the narrow village canals a big boat can't enter
  • ›Watch the Nehru Trophy snake-boat race (Aug)
  • ›Cycle the Kuttanad paddy bunds below sea level
  • ›Toddy-shop lunch of spicy backwater fish
Houseboat CruiseCanoeingVillage Walk
Location & MapDirections
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Travel Information

Best time

Nov–Feb

Entry fee

Houseboats ₹8000–25000/night

Hours

Year-round; best Sep–Mar

Est. budget

₹3000–15000

Duration

1–2 days

Nearby attractions

Within
0 km
📍 Backwater
4.9

Alleppey Backwaters (Houseboat Cruise)

Alappuzha, Kerala

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

Sep–Mar; Nehru Trophy race (Aug)1–2 daysExplore
2.2 km
🏖️ Beach
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Alappuzha Beach & Sea Pier

Alappuzha, Kerala

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

Sep–Mar2–3 hrsExplore
3.7 km
📍 Festival
4.6

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.

Aug (race day)1 dayExplore
12.4 km
💎 Hidden Gem🏖️ Beach
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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.

Sep–Mar1–2 daysExplore
13 km
📍 Temple
4.4

Ambalappuzha Sree Krishna Temple

Ambalappuzha, Kerala

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

Sep–Mar; Arattu (Mar)1–2 hrsExplore
14.3 km
💎 Hidden Gem📍 Island
4.2

Pathiramanal Island

Muhamma, Kerala

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

Nov–MarHalf dayExplore
15.7 km
📍 Nature
4.4

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.

Sep–MarHalf–full dayExplore
16.5 km
📍 Bird Sanctuary
4.6

Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary & Vembanad Lake

Kumarakom, Kerala

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

Sep–Mar (migrants Nov–Feb)1–2 daysExplore