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The Kerala Backwaters, By Canoe Instead

Alleppey, IndiaTomas Lindqvist@tomas6 min readTravelled With family

Trip notes

If you are going yourself

Everything practical for Alleppey, India in one place — where it actually is, where to sleep, how to move, what to eat, what the weather does, and what to put in the bag. The story itself follows.

Travelled

With family — Two adults and a nine-year-old. The canoe was the only thing all three of us agreed about.

The route

5 stops · 4 slept in · 7 nights · 83 km by road

Stayed the nightPassed throughBy road — follows the actual roadBy boat

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  1. Kochi

    1 night · arrival

    One night in Fort Kochi to get over the flight before heading south.

    Good signal — Jio and Airtel both strong. Buy a prepaid data SIM here — it is cheap.

  2. Alappuzha

    2 nights

    The town everyone calls Alleppey. Where the boats and the negotiating happen.

    Good signal — 4G across town, and workable wifi in most guesthouses.

    By road · 54.6 km · 53 min driving

  3. Kainakary canals

    2 nights · homestay

    The dugout canoe country. Channels four metres across, water as the road.

    Patchy signal — One or two bars from the boat. Homestay wifi is real but slow.

    By boat

  4. Kumarakom

    Passed through · houseboat

    One night afloat on the wide lake, for the sunset and the cooking.

    Patchy signal — Signal comes and goes on the open lake. Houseboats have none of their own.

    By boat

  5. Marari beach

    2 nights

    Coast, fifteen kilometres north-west. Where the trip stops moving entirely.

    Patchy signal — 4G at the resorts, thin on the beach itself.

    By road · 27.9 km · 31 min driving

Alappuzha (Alleppey) and the canal network west of it9.4981° N, 76.3388° E

Open route in Google MapsOpen in OpenStreetMap

Weather

Best time to go

November to February

Nov–Feb (best)32 °C / 23 °C
Dry, bright, and the water at its calmest. Peak prices.
Mar–May34 °C / 26 °C
Hot and heavy. Canoe at dawn or not at all.
Jun–Sep29 °C / 24 °C
Monsoon. Green, dramatic, half price, and frequently soaked.

Ranges are typical daytime high and overnight low.

What to pack

Humid heat, strong sun, and a lot of time on water

  • Loose cotton or linen — synthetics are miserable at 90% humidity
  • Shoulders and knees covered for temples and villages
  • Sandals you can slip off easily and do not mind getting wet
  • A wide hat and sun cream; the water reflects everything back at you
  • A light long-sleeved layer for dusk, when the mosquitoes arrive
  • A dry bag for a camera and phone in an open canoe

Where to stay

  • Canal-side homestay

    Family home

    The best value in Kerala. Two or three rooms, home cooking, and a jetty at the end of the garden.

  • Houseboat, one night

    Converted rice barge

    Worth doing once for the sunset and the food. Book a smaller boat with one or two rooms rather than a floating hotel.

  • Marari or Mararikulam

    Beach resort

    Fifteen kilometres south, on the coast. Pair a beach base with day trips into the canals.

Getting around

  • Getting there

    Fly to Kochi (COK), then 1½–2 hours by taxi, or the train to Alappuzha station.

  • Dugout canoe

    The point of the trip. Hire with a poler for a half day, negotiated directly at a smaller jetty rather than through a hotel.

  • Public ferry

    The Alappuzha–Kottayam state ferry crosses the backwaters for pennies and takes about three hours. No commentary, all locals.

  • On land

    Autorickshaws for anything under 10 km; agree the fare first. Cars come with a driver as standard.

Food stops

  • Karimeen pollichathu

    Homestay kitchen

    Pearl spot fish, masala-rubbed and steamed in a banana leaf. Order it the day before if you can.

  • Toddy shop

    Local tavern

    Fermented palm sap and ferociously spiced fish curry. Unglamorous, unforgettable, and where the food is best.

  • Appam and stew

    Breakfast

    Lacy rice pancakes with coconut-milk stew. Every homestay makes a slightly different version.

  • Kerala sadya

    Banana-leaf feast

    A dozen vegetable dishes and rice served on a leaf, eaten with your right hand. Usually lunch only.

Day by day

8 days, start to finish · 6–13 December 2025

  1. Day 1

    6 Dec

    Kochi

    One night in Fort Kochi to get over the flight. Chinese fishing nets at dusk, and a plate of something fried by the water.

    Visiting1Kochi

    Staying Kochi

  2. Days 2–3

    7–8 Dec

    South to Alappuzha

    Two hours by taxi or train. Spend the first evening walking the smaller jetties and negotiating a canoe directly, not through the hotel.

    Visiting2Alappuzha

    Staying Alappuzha

  3. Days 4–5

    9–10 Dec

    The canals, by canoe

    Move to a homestay in the Kainakary channels. Out at six both mornings while the water is still glass, back before the heat.

    Visiting3Kainakary canals

    Staying Kainakary homestay

  4. Day 6

    11 Dec

    One night afloat

    A small houseboat on the wide lake for the sunset and the cooking — the thing the canoe cannot give you.

    Visiting4Kumarakom

    Staying Houseboat

  5. Days 7–8

    12–13 Dec

    Coast, then out

    North-west to Marari for two days of not moving, then back up to Kochi for the flight.

    Visiting5Marari beach1Kochi

    Staying Marari

The story

The standard Kerala experience is an overnight houseboat: a converted rice barge, a cook, and a very slow loop of the wide main lake. It is genuinely lovely and it shows you almost nothing, because a boat that size can only travel where the channel is wide enough for boats that size.

The canals are the point

Hire a dugout canoe with a poler for half a day and you go somewhere else entirely — channels four metres across, coconut palms meeting overhead, and villages where the water is the road. Someone is washing clothes. Someone is taking a cow somewhere. A school ferry goes past. Nobody is performing anything for you.

  • Go early — six to nine in the morning, before the heat and while the water is still glass.
  • Half a day is plenty. This is not an endurance activity.
  • Negotiate directly at the smaller jetties, not through your hotel.
  • Bring cash, sun cover, and the willingness to sit still for three hours.

You can do both, of course. One night on a houseboat for the sunset and the food, one morning in a canoe for everything the houseboat cannot reach. If you only have time for one, take the canoe.

Skip the houseboat. A dugout canoe gets into the narrow channels where the actual village life happens.

  • #india
  • #boats
  • #slow travel

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