Goalleppey Houseboat Choose Your Experience

Alappuzha · Kerala · 2026

Things to do in Alleppey

Twenty-eight things worth doing in Alappuzha, written by people who live here and run boats on this water. What each one actually is, how far it is, when it is good, and which ones you can skip.

On the water 08 In Alleppey town 06 Day trips from Alleppey 06
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On the water, and what it costs

The five you can book through us

Everything else on this page is walk-up, free, or someone else’s to run. These five are ours.

All 28 things →

A night on a houseboat

Noon to 9am. Lunch, dinner and breakfast cooked on board, moored beside a village overnight.

Per boat, per night ₹8,999 See the boats →

Day cruise

11am to 5pm with lunch on board, back on land in time for an evening train out.

Per boat ₹7,499 Compare cruises →

Shikara ride

One to two hours in the narrow canals a sixty-foot houseboat cannot enter.

Per boat ₹800 We’ll arrange it →

Kayak at first light

Village canals barely wider than the kayak, before the big boats start moving.

Per person ₹499 We’ll arrange it →

Speedboat run

Fast, loud and short. The one thing nobody comes to Alleppey for and everybody enjoys.

Per ride ₹1,000 We’ll arrange it →

If you only do one thing

Stay the night on the water

Houseboats stop cruising at about 5:30pm and moor for the night, so the evening is spent beside a village with nothing but frogs and water for company. It is the one thing in Alleppey you cannot get a version of somewhere else, and the half of the trip a day cruise cannot give you.

Boards
Noon, in town
Back
9am next day
Best
Nov to Feb, or Jun to Sep for value
From
₹8,999 per boat
See our houseboats
Houseboat moored on the Alleppey backwaters at sunset
Alleppey backwaters at sunset. Photo: Sravanbaddi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Alleppey is a town built around a lake, so the best of it happens on the water: an overnight houseboat through the Kuttanad canals, a shikara into the narrow waterways the big boats cannot reach, a kayak at first light, and the snake boat races in August.

On land you have the old pier and the beach at sunset, a toddy shop lunch, the Mullackal bazaar, and half day runs out to Marari beach, the Ambalappuzha temple and Krishnapuram Palace. One night is enough for the headline. Two lets you do it properly.

On the water

Alleppey is a town built around a lake and a thousand canals. Everything below happens on the water, and it is the half of the list people remember.

01

Spend a night on a houseboat

The reason most people come here.

You board around noon, cruise the open lake and the narrower Kuttanad canals through the afternoon, and the crew cooks lunch, dinner and breakfast on board. Cruising stops at about 5:30pm, so the evening is spent moored beside a village with nothing but frogs and water for company. It is the one thing in Alleppey you cannot get a version of somewhere else.

Where
Boards in town
Time
Noon to 9am next day
Best
Nov to Feb, or Jun to Sep for value
See our houseboats →
02

Take a day cruise if you only have one day

Same boats, same food, back on land by evening.

A day cruise runs roughly 11am to 5pm with lunch and evening tea on board, which leaves you time for an evening train out. This is the right call if you are passing between Kochi and Kovalam, or travelling with people who would rather not sleep on the water.

Where
Boards in town
Time
About 6 hours
Best
Any month
Compare cruise types →
03

Ride a shikara into the small canals

The narrow waterways a 60-foot houseboat cannot enter.

An hour or two in a small covered boat, low and close to the water, past washing steps, kids swimming, dip nets going down and toddy tappers up in the palms. Go at first light or after 4pm when the light is soft.

Where
In town
Time
1 to 2 hours
Best
6am to 8am, or 4pm to 6pm
We’ll arrange it →
04

Kayak the village canals at first light

Quieter than a shikara and closer still to the water.

Morning paddles set off before the big boats start moving, through canals barely wider than the kayak. The village routes are flat and calm, so no experience is needed.

Where
In town
Time
2 to 3 hours
Best
Early morning, Oct to Mar
We’ll arrange it →
05

Watch the sun go down over Punnamada Lake

The wide water east of town where the snake boats race.

Half an hour, free, and the best half hour of the day. From the finishing point road you get the whole sheet of the lake going orange.

Where
In town
Time
30 minutes
Best
Any evening, clearest Dec to Mar
06

Get out to Pathiramanal island

An uninhabited island in the middle of Vembanad lake.

Reachable only by boat, usually from Muhamma jetty, and small enough to walk in an hour. Migratory birds arrive from November and thin out by March.

Where
Boat from Muhamma jetty, about 13 km north of town
Time
Half a day
Best
Nov to Feb for migratory birds
07

Time your trip around a snake boat race

A hundred rowers a boat, and the whole district watching.

The Nehru Trophy on Punnamada Lake is the famous one, traditionally the second Saturday of August. Rooms and boats sell out weeks ahead for race weekends.

Where
Punnamada Lake and Kuttanad villages
Time
Most of a day
Best
Jun to Sep
08

See Kuttanad, where the farming happens below sea level

Paddy fields sitting two metres under the waterline.

Bunds hold the lake out of the fields. Every overnight cruise passes through it. You can also see it from a state ferry for the price of a cup of tea.

Where
Starts about 10 km inland
Time
2 hours to a full day
Best
Aug to Nov, when fields are greenest
09

Take a country canoe through the village canals

Paddled by a local boatman, no engine at all.

A vallam is the plain wooden canoe Kuttanad families still use to reach school, church and the shop. Sitting low in one while a boatman paddles or poles from the back, you move at walking pace past homes, coir yards and paddy bunds, and can stop wherever something catches your eye. It is the quietest way onto the water here.

Where
Kuttanad villages, near town
Time
2 to 3 hours
Best
Early morning or late afternoon
10

Ride the public ferry to Kottayam

The backwaters the way locals commute them.

State Water Transport boats run from the Alappuzha boat jetty across Vembanad and the Kuttanad canals to Kottayam in roughly two and a half hours, calling at village landings on the way. Tickets are cheap. Departures change, so check the current timetable at the jetty the day before.

Where
Boat jetty, in town
Time
About 2.5 hours one way
Best
Any month
11

Cycle the bund roads of Kuttanad

Flat, green and almost free of traffic.

The raised embankments between the paddy fields make for easy, level riding, with a canal on one side and rice on the other. Go early before the heat, carry water, and expect to share the path with ducks, herons and the odd scooter.

Where
Starts about 10 km inland
Time
2 to 4 hours
Best
Early morning, Aug to Feb

In Alleppey town

Everything here is a short walk or an autorickshaw ride apart, which makes it the natural way to fill the afternoon before you board or the morning after you get off.

12

Alappuzha beach and the old pier

Not a swimming beach. A proper local evening.

The ruins of the nineteenth century sea pier still walk out into the water, and at sunset half the town comes out with them: fish fry stalls, cricket, kids in the shallows.

Where
In town
Time
1 to 2 hours
Best
5pm onwards
13

Climb the lighthouse

The red and white tower behind the beach.

It dates from the 1860s. A short spiral climb puts the Arabian Sea on one side and the backwaters on the other.

Where
In town, by the beach
Time
30 minutes
Best
Late afternoon
14

Eat lunch at a toddy shop

Fresh palm toddy and the best fish in Kerala.

A kallu shappu is a working local bar, not a restaurant. Karimeen pollichathu, duck roast, kappa — rough around the edges and completely worth it.

Where
In town and along Kuttanad roads
Time
1 to 2 hours
Best
Midday
15

Walk Mullackal bazaar

The street where Alleppey actually shops.

Gold, textiles, spices, steel vessels — with the Rajarajeswari temple at one end. Where to buy spices and coir at town prices rather than jetty prices.

Where
In town
Time
1 hour
Best
Evening
16

See how coir is made

The industry this town was built on.

Alleppey is India’s coir capital. Small workshops around town and out along the Muhamma road still spin and weave by hand.

Where
In town and towards Muhamma
Time
1 hour
Best
Weekday mornings
17

Revi Karunakaran Museum

A private family collection near the beach.

Crystal, ivory, Tanjore paintings and antique furniture — the obvious answer to an afternoon of heavy rain.

Where
In town
Time
1 to 2 hours
Best
Rainy afternoons
18

Book an Ayurvedic massage

Kerala’s traditional medicine, in its home state.

Alleppey has plenty of Ayurveda centres offering oil massage (abhyanga), head massage and herbal-pouch treatments such as kizhi. A single massage fits easily into an afternoon; longer treatment courses start with a doctor’s consultation. Choose a government-certified centre with qualified therapists.

Where
In town and at most resorts
Time
1 to 2 hours
Best
Jun to Sep, the traditional season
19

Walk the old town canals

Vadai and Commercial canals, and the bridges across them.

Alleppey grew as an eighteenth century port town laid out along canals that carried cargo down to the sea. Walk either bank, cross the old bridges and you pass the warehouses and trading streets that earned the town its “Venice of the East” nickname.

Where
In town
Time
1 hour
Best
Early morning or evening

Day trips from Alleppey

All of these work as a half day by car or autorickshaw, and the southern three string together into one easy run down the coast road.

20

Marari beach

The quiet beach Alleppey itself does not have.

Clean sand, wooden fishing boats, palms behind and room to breathe. About 25 minutes north by car.

Where
About 11 km north
Time
Half a day
Best
Oct to Mar
21

Ambalappuzha Sree Krishna Temple

Classic Kerala temple architecture, and the palpayasam.

Famous for its milk and rice payasam. A dress code applies; the inner temple is open to Hindus only.

Where
About 14 km south
Time
1 to 2 hours
Best
Early morning
22

Karumadi Kuttan

A broken black granite Buddha in a village enclosure.

One of the last physical traces of Buddhism in Kerala. Ten minutes, but a strange and memorable ten minutes.

Where
About 3 km on from Ambalappuzha
Time
30 minutes
Best
Combine with Ambalappuzha
23

Champakulam church and boatyards

One of the oldest Christian congregations in India.

St Mary’s Forane Church sits in a Kuttanad village that also builds and races snake boats. Getting there by state ferry is most of the reason to go.

Where
About 16 km inland, better by boat
Time
Half a day
Best
Jun to Sep, around the races
24

Krishnapuram Palace

An eighteenth century Travancore palace at Kayamkulam.

Holds the Gajendra Moksha mural, one of the largest old murals in Kerala. Fits best on the day you drive on to Varkala or Kovalam.

Where
About 45 km south
Time
Half a day
Best
Any month
25

Kumarakom

The same lake seen from the other shore.

Quieter than Alleppey, more resort than town, with a bird sanctuary on an old rubber plantation.

Where
About 30 km by road
Time
Full day
Best
Nov to Feb
Alleppey or Kumarakom, compared →
26

Mannarasala Sree Nagaraja Temple

A serpent temple inside a sacred grove.

Thousands of stone snake images line the paths under the trees at this temple at Haripad, one of the best known centres of serpent worship in Kerala. Unusually, its main rituals are led by a woman priestess from the family that runs it. A dress code applies.

Where
About 32 km south, at Haripad
Time
1 to 2 hours
Best
Early morning
27

Arthunkal St Andrew’s Basilica

A seaside church with a famous January feast.

The church at Arthunkal traces its origins to Portuguese missionaries in the sixteenth century, and its feast of St Sebastian each January draws pilgrims from across Kerala. The beach is a short walk from the church.

Where
About 22 km north
Time
1 to 2 hours
Best
January for the feast
28

Kakkathuruthu island at sunset

A sliver of land on Vembanad reached only by canoe.

A narrow island with no road, where families still cross the water by canoe. It is known for its sunsets over the lake, so plan to arrive in the late afternoon and take a canoe across from the Ezhupunna side.

Where
About 40 km north, near Ezhupunna
Time
Half a day
Best
Late afternoon, Oct to Mar

We run the houseboats, day cruises, shikaras and kayaks on this list, and we can arrange the rest around your boarding time. Distances are approximate and measured from the boat jetty. Photos on this page, via Wikimedia Commons unless noted: Mohanrangaphotography, Sravanbaddi, Devender Goyal, SidhardhRamesh, Nazrinashraf, Akhilan, Ganesh Mohan T, Bricaniwi, Vis M, Vijayanrajapuram, T M Cyriac, Varghesepunnamada, Fotokannan, Dpj1990 (CC BY-SA 4.0); Adam Jones, Ranjithsiji, Sourav Niyogi, Manoj Karingamadathil, Dr. Ajay Balachandran, Sanandkarun (CC BY-SA 3.0); Saad Faruque, Challiyil Eswaramangalath Vipin, Kerala Tourism (CC BY-SA 2.0); Vyacheslav Argenberg (CC BY 4.0); Paul Arps (CC BY 2.0); P.K.Niyogi, Vijay Shankar, Zacharias D’Cruz (public domain); K S Aravinda Kashyap and Yogendra Singh via Pexels.

Pick your dates

When to visit Alleppey

There is no closed season on the backwaters. What changes is the weather, the crowd and what you pay.

Peak season

Nov to Feb

Dry, around 23 to 32 degrees, low humidity

The best weather of the year and the reason rates are highest. Migratory birds are in, evenings are cool enough to sit out, and boats book out weeks ahead over Christmas and New Year.

Hot and quiet

Mar to May

Humid, up to about 35 degrees

Fewer people and softer rates. Cruise in the morning and after four, keep the middle of the day for shade or an air-conditioned room.

Monsoon

Jun to Sep

Heavy bursts of rain, everything green

The cheapest and most photogenic time, and the season for snake boat races. Rain tends to come in hard bursts rather than all day.

Shoulder

October

Rain easing, still green

The quiet sweet spot. Monsoon rates, post-monsoon countryside and none of the peak season crowding.

Fit it to the time you have

How long have you got?

Most people give Alleppey a night, and most people are right. Here is what each length of stay actually buys you.

One day

Day cruise from 11am to 5pm, then the pier and the beach for sunset. You can still make an evening train out.

Day cruise options → One night

Board a houseboat at noon, cruise Kuttanad, moor for the night, and step off at nine the next morning.

Overnight details → Two nights

A night on the water, then a night on land at Marari beach, with a shikara or kayak at first light in between.

See packages → Three days or more

Add the hills. Munnar is four hours by road, which makes tea country and the backwaters a comfortable single trip.

Munnar and Alleppey together →

Side by side

The five, compared

The five backwater trips Go Alleppey runs, compared by who they suit, how long they take, when they are good, whether you need to book ahead and what they cost.

Experience Best for How long When it’s good Book ahead? From
Overnight houseboat Anyone with one night to spare Noon to 9am Nov to Feb, or Jun to Sep for value Weeks ahead in season ₹8,999
Day cruise One-day stops between Kochi and Kovalam About 6 hours Any month A few days ahead ₹7,499
Shikara ride The canals the big boats cannot reach 1 to 2 hours 6am to 8am, or 4pm to 6pm Walk-up ₹800
Kayaking Early risers and photographers 2 to 3 hours First light, Oct to Mar Day before ₹499
Speedboat Teenagers, and the impatient Varies by ride Any dry day Walk-up ₹1,000

Read next

Before you book anything

All articles →
Travel Tips

Best Time for an Alleppey Overnight Houseboat

3 min Planning Guide

Day Cruise vs Overnight Houseboat

4 min First-Timer Guide

Packing List for a Backwater Cruise

4 min Planning Guide

Kerala Tour Packages: 3–8 Day Itineraries

5 min

Asked constantly

The questions we get on the phone

Answered the way we would answer them on the phone.

The backwaters, and specifically the overnight houseboat. Alleppey sits on Vembanad, the longest lake in India, with the Kuttanad canal network running inland from it. The snake boat races, the beach, the coir industry and the temples around town are all real reasons to stay longer, but the water is why people come.

One night covers the thing you came for. Two nights lets you add the beach at Marari or a Kuttanad day trip without rushing. Three or more only makes sense if you are pairing Alleppey with Munnar or Thekkady.

November to February for weather. June to September for green countryside, the lowest rates and the snake boat races. March to May is hot and humid but quiet and cheap.

No. Houseboats stop cruising at about 5:30pm and moor beside a village for the night rather than moving. Cruising starts again after breakfast.

A day cruise shows you the same canals and feeds you the same lunch. What it cannot give you is the evening: boats mooring up, the light going, dinner on board and the silence afterwards. If you can spare the night, spend it.

A houseboat is arguably better in the rain. On land, the Revi Karunakaran Museum, Mullackal shops and a long toddy shop lunch all work perfectly well wet.

Yes. Alleppey is about 55 km south of Kochi, roughly an hour and a half by road, which makes a day cruise a comfortable day trip.

Boats yes, especially between November and February and on race weekends. Everything else on this list is walk-up; if you are cruising with us we can set them up around your boarding time.

We run the boats

Tell us what you want to see, and we’ll build the day around your boarding time

We are based in Alleppey and we run these boats ourselves. The museums and the temples are not ours, but we know when to send you.

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