A night on an Alleppey houseboat is the reason most people go to Kerala, and it is the part of the trip that is easiest to get wrong: there are about 1,500 boats on the Vembanad backwaters, from bare wooden barges to floating suites, and the price you are quoted says nothing about which you will get. This guide explains what a houseboat night is, what the three price bands buy, the routes, the food, the timings, and the questions to ask before you book. Every Kerala plan on our pages that names Alleppey or Kumarakom includes the boat, so this is also what those plans give you.
What a houseboat night is
A kettuvallam is a converted rice barge with one to four bedrooms, a deck with a dining table and chairs, and a crew of two or three (a captain, a cook, sometimes a helper). You board at Punnamada in Alleppey at about noon, cruise the canals and the open Vembanad lake past paddy fields below sea level, churches, village jetties and other boats until 5:30 pm, moor in a quiet stretch for the night, and disembark at 9 the next morning. Lunch, evening tea with snacks, dinner and breakfast are cooked on board and included. The boat is private: your group, your crew.
The three price bands, September 2026
| Band | One bedroom, per night | Two bedrooms | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | ₹7,000 to ₹10,000 | ₹11,000 to ₹15,000 | Air-conditioning in the bedroom from 9 pm to 6 am, attached bathroom, an open deck, a basic Kerala menu |
| Premium | ₹12,000 to ₹18,000 | ₹18,000 to ₹25,000 | Full-time air-conditioning, a larger deck with loungers, better bedding and bathroom, karimeen and prawns on the menu, a newer boat |
| Luxury | ₹20,000 to ₹40,000 | ₹35,000 and up | Glass-walled bedrooms, an upper deck or a plunge pool, a chef, wine on request, the newest boats |
Prices are for the whole boat with meals, at September 2026 rates outside the December fortnight, when they rise 30 to 50 percent and the good boats are gone by October. The 5 Days Munnar Alleppey Thekkady plan at ₹14,500 uses a standard boat; the honeymoon plan a premium one; the luxury plans the luxury band. The 4 Days Munnar Alleppey at ₹12,250 is the shortest plan with the boat.
Day cruise or overnight?
A day cruise (11 am to 5 pm, about ₹4,000 to ₹6,000 for the boat with lunch) shows you the canals and the lake. The overnight is a different thing: the evening on the deck after the day boats have gone home, dinner on the water, the dawn over the paddy fields. If the budget allows one, take the overnight. The shikara, a small covered canoe with a boatman, ₹800 to ₹1,500 an hour, goes into the narrow village canals the houseboats cannot, and is the best second morning if you have one.
Alleppey or Kumarakom?
Alleppey is the classic: more boats, more choice, the finishing point of the snake-boat race, and the wider canals. Kumarakom, across the lake, is quieter, with fewer boats and the lake resorts (Kumarakom Lake Resort, Coconut Lagoon) as the alternative to a boat night; many couples do one night on a boat and one at a Kumarakom resort. The 8 Days Kerala with Kumarakom plan does exactly that. Boats can be boarded at either and moored between the two.
The food
Lunch is the meal of the trip: rice, sambar, thoran (a vegetable stir-fry with coconut), avial, pappadam and, on the premium boats, karimeen pollichathu, the pearl-spot fish grilled in a banana leaf. Evening tea comes with banana fritters or pakoras. Dinner is chicken or fish curry with chapati and rice. Breakfast is appam and stew, puttu, or dosa. Vegetarian, Jain and no-onion menus are fine if told at booking; alcohol is not sold on board, and you may bring your own on most boats. Drinking water is provided.
Timings and the practical bits
- Board at noon, cruise until 5:30 pm, moor for the night, disembark at 9 am. The crew do not cruise after dark by rule.
- Air-conditioning on standard boats runs from 9 pm to 6 am; premium and luxury boats run it all day.
- Mobile signal is patchy on the open lake and fine near the villages; there is no Wi-Fi on most boats.
- Mosquitoes come out at dusk; the bedrooms have nets or screens. Carry repellent for the deck.
- Life jackets are on board; children under five are fine with supervision; the decks have railings.
- Tipping the crew ₹300 to ₹500 is usual and appreciated.
- Monsoon: the backwaters are calm even in rain and the boats run all year; the lake is at its fullest in September.
Questions to ask before you book
- Which band is the boat, and how old is it? Ask for photographs of the actual boat, not the fleet's best one.
- Is the air-conditioning full-time or night-only?
- Where does it moor? A quiet stretch of the lake beats a line of forty boats at Punnamada.
- Is it a private boat, or a shared one? Shared boats (one bedroom each, common deck) are cheaper and are what some "₹3,000 houseboat" offers mean.
- Are all three meals included, and is karimeen on the menu?
- Is it licensed? Kerala Tourism grades boats gold, silver and green star; ask for the grade.
Where the houseboat fits in a trip
The boat is the fourth day of the classic five-day circuit, after Munnar and Thekkady and before the flight home from Kochi, 85 km away; the 5 day Kerala itinerary has the timings. On a six or seven day trip the boat is followed by Varkala or Kovalam and the flight home from Thiruvananthapuram. What the whole trip costs, boat included, is in Kerala trip cost from Hyderabad and Bengaluru. Every plan with a houseboat night is on the Kerala tour packages page.
