Alleppey — Kerala's 'Venice of the East' — is shaped by its intimate relationship with water. The backwaters are a working transport network of ferries, canoes and rice barges threaded through a landscape that has farmed below sea level for centuries.
The essential experience is the overnight kettuvallamKettuvallamThe traditional cargo barge of Kerala, its hull built of planks stitched together with coir rope rather than nails.Read in the glossary cruise: sunset and sunrise on the water, dinner cooked aboard, and the villages going about their business on either bank.
Signature Experiences
- ◆Overnight houseboat cruise on Vembanad
- ◆Canoe rides through palm-lined canals
- ◆Village life along the waterways
- ◆Sunset over the rice paddies
Optional, By Arrangement
- ◆Shikara ride in the quieter channels
- ◆Coir-making village visit
- ◆Alleppey beach and lighthouse
- ◆Backwater cycling through paddy fields
Where We Place Our Guests
- Private luxury houseboat on Vembanad Lake
- Punnamada Resort
The Table
- Kerala Sadya served aboard
- Fresh backwater seafood
- Coconut-rich coastal cuisine
Curator's Advisory
The overnight cruise is the whole point — and ask your captain to favour the narrower canals over the open lake in the afternoon; that is where the life is.
In & Around Alleppey
Alleppey sits within our Kerala region guide.
Experiences
Journeys Through Alleppey
The Journal
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