Keralan Houseboat: Cruising the Backwaters

(Audrey) On Tuesday, at roughly the midpoint of our week of vacation in South India, Thane and I embarked on a 22-hour private boat tour of the backwaters of Kerala. This phenomenon of renting out a houseboat to tool around the backwaters—a series of lakes and canals that run across a significant portion of Kerala—is a popular excursion amongst Indian and foreign tourists alike. According to the company we booked through, even Brittney Spears came down to Kerala for a houseboat experience recently.

To be honest, I had always doubted that the houseboat thing would be so great. After all, you’re stuck on a boat, nowhere to go, and it’s expensive. I must say, I was blown away. The houseboat-backwater experience is one of the cooler things I have ever done in India.

You begin with the boat itself. They look quite charming, something like this—

Amenities on board are pretty luxurious. You have a beautiful area at the front that’s open air and typically includes a proper table, reclining lounge chairs, and an area in the sun with cushions. We had a one-bedroom boat, a.c. in the bedroom, proper bathroom, and 2 full-time helpers who accompanied us—one to drive the boat and the other to cook for us.

We boarded a little before noon and then began our cruise. The backwaters are a mix of narrow canals—

more lake-like wide open waters—

and larger canals—

As you glide by, you see a mix of scenery. Lots of people who are living and working in the backwaters, like these guys—

And beautiful, lush trees—

We mainly stayed on the boat during our trip. Although we did stop briefly at a little village for 2 key components of our experience. First, Thane got an Ayurvedic massage and second, we picked-up dinner—

This was after already having eaten local fried-fish for lunch—

To top off our perfect experience, we had a beautiful sunset—

Finally, we couldn’t capture it on film, but after the sunset there was a serious lightening storm. The storm appeared to be about 5 miles away (judging based on the thunder) and the water was perfectly calm near us, but we got to see the sky light up again and again with these huge bolts of lightening. Pretty awesome.

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Tags: backwaters, boat, cruise, houseboat, India, kerala, South India, tourism