Twenty 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.
50
boats on the water
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Ours
the boats on this list are ours
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.
Boats have to anchor by sunset, 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, and the half of the trip a day cruise cannot give you.
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.
Group 01 · 8 entries
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
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. Boats have to anchor by sunset, 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.
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.
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 and the day boats have stopped churning the water. It is cheap and it is where your best photographs will come from.
Where
In town
Time
1 to 2 hours
Best
6am to 8am, or 4pm to 6pm
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, but you will want to be back before the sun gets high.
Where
In town
Time
2 to 3 hours
Best
Early morning, Oct to Mar
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. If you are on a houseboat you will already be moored somewhere with the same view from the deck.
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. Genuinely good if you like birds and mangroves, genuinely skippable if you do not.
Where
Boat from Muhamma, about 13 km from 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, though the date has shifted in recent years so check before you book flights around it. The Champakulam Moolam race in June or July is the oldest of them, and smaller village races run right through the season. Rooms and boats sell out weeks ahead for race weekends.
Where
Punnamada Lake and the 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, and the whole system has been worked this way for well over a century. Every overnight cruise passes through it. You can also see it from the road, or from a state ferry out of the boat jetty for the price of a cup of tea, which is one of the best cheap hours in Kerala.
Where
Starts about 10 km inland
Time
2 hours to a full day
Best
Aug to Nov, when the fields are greenest
Group 02 · 6 entries
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.
09
09
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. Come for the light and the crowd, not for a swim, since the current here is not friendly.
Where
In town
Time
1 to 2 hours
Best
5pm onwards
10
Climb the lighthouse
The red and white tower behind the beach.
It dates from the 1860s, back when Alleppey was a working port, and opens to visitors for part of the afternoon. A short spiral climb puts the Arabian Sea on one side and the backwaters on the other, which is the clearest way to understand how this town is laid out.
Where
In town, by the beach
Time
30 minutes
Best
Late afternoon
11
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, and the food is the point: karimeen pollichathu grilled in a banana leaf, duck roast, kappa, and chutneys that will find your limits. Lunch is when to go. It is rough around the edges and completely worth it.
Where
In town and along the Kuttanad roads
Time
1 to 2 hours
Best
Midday
12
Walk Mullackal bazaar
The street where Alleppey actually shops.
Gold, textiles, spices, steel vessels and plastic buckets, all shouted at once, with the Rajarajeswari temple at one end of it. An hour before dinner is enough, and it is where to buy spices and coir at town prices rather than jetty prices.
Where
In town
Time
1 hour
Best
Evening
13
See how coir is made
The industry this town was built on.
Alleppey is India's coir capital and the smell of retting coconut husk is part of the place. Small workshops around town and out along the Muhamma road still spin and weave by hand, and most are glad to show a visitor how it works.
Where
In town and towards Muhamma
Time
1 hour
Best
Weekday mornings
14
Revi Karunakaran Museum
A private family collection near the beach.
Crystal, ivory, Tanjore paintings and antique furniture, assembled by one Alleppey family and unusually good for a town this size. The obvious answer to an afternoon of heavy rain.
Where
In town
Time
1 to 2 hours
Best
Rainy afternoons
Group 03 · 6 entries
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.
15
15
Marari beach
The quiet beach Alleppey itself does not have.
Clean sand, wooden fishing boats pulled up on it, palms behind and room to breathe. About 25 minutes north by car. This is the half day to take if you want to swim, or to do nothing at all with some conviction.
Where
About 11 km north
Time
Half a day
Best
Oct to Mar
16
Ambalappuzha Sree Krishna Temple
Classic Kerala temple architecture, and the palpayasam.
Famous across the state for its palpayasam, a milk and rice payasam handed out to devotees, and for the legend about the chessboard and the grains of rice. A dress code applies and the inner temple is open to Hindus only, but the grounds and the ritual life around them are worth the drive.
Where
About 14 km south
Time
1 to 2 hours
Best
Early morning
17
Karumadi Kuttan
A broken black granite Buddha in a village enclosure.
Nobody agrees on the date, somewhere between the ninth and fourteenth century, and part of the figure is missing. It is one of the last physical traces of Buddhism in Kerala, sitting quietly at the edge of a village road. Ten minutes, but a strange and memorable ten minutes.
Where
About 3 km on from Ambalappuzha
Time
30 minutes
Best
Combine with Ambalappuzha
18
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, so you can often see a hull being worked on nearby. Getting there by state ferry through the canals rather than by road 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
19
Krishnapuram Palace
An eighteenth century Travancore palace at Kayamkulam.
Sloping tiled roofs, gables and a bathing tank, holding the Gajendra Moksha mural, one of the largest old murals in Kerala. About an hour and a quarter south by road, so it fits best on the day you are driving on to Varkala or Kovalam anyway.
Where
About 45 km south
Time
Half a day
Best
Any month
20
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. Worth a day if you have one spare, though the backwaters themselves are the same water you are already floating on.
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. For the land side in more depth, read our longer guide to things to do in Alleppey beyond the houseboats.
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, and the trade between those three is worth understanding before you pick your dates.
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. The water is as beautiful as ever.
Monsoon
Jun to Sep
Heavy bursts of rain, everything green
The cheapest and most photogenic time to be here, and the season for snake boat races. Rain tends to come in hard bursts rather than all day, and watching it hit the lake from a covered deck is its own reason to come.
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.
The five backwater trips Alleppey Green Tourism runs, compared by who they suit, how long they take, when they are good, whether you need to book ahead and what they cost.
Answered the way we would answer them on the phone.
What is Alleppey best known for?
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.
How many days do you need in Alleppey?
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, which most people do.
What is the best time to visit Alleppey?
November to February for weather, with dry days around 23 to 32 degrees and cool evenings. June to September for green countryside, the lowest rates of the year and the snake boat races, accepting that rain comes in bursts. March to May is hot and humid but quiet and cheap.
Do houseboats cruise through the night?
No. Houseboats have to stop and anchor by sunset, so the night is spent moored beside a village rather than moving. Cruising starts again after breakfast. Any operator promising night cruising is either misreading the rules or misleading you.
Is a day cruise enough, or should we stay overnight?
A day cruise from 11am to 5pm shows you the same canals and feeds you the same lunch, and it is the right answer when you only have one day. What it cannot give you is the evening: the boats mooring up, the light going, dinner cooked on board and the silence afterwards. If you can spare the night, spend it.
What is there to do in Alleppey when it rains?
A houseboat is arguably better in the rain, since you are under a roof watching it hit the water. On land, the Revi Karunakaran Museum, the Mullackal shops and a long toddy shop lunch all work perfectly well wet.
Can you visit Alleppey as a day trip from Kochi?
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. If you would rather not do the drive twice, an overnight boat and a morning return is barely more effort.
Do we need to book activities in advance?
Boats yes, especially between November and February and on race weekends, when the good ones go weeks ahead. Everything else on this list is walk-up: shikaras and kayaks can be arranged the day before, and 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 on Finishing Point Road and we run these boats ourselves. The museums and the temples are not ours, but we know when to send you.
