A first-timer's guide to the Kerala backwaters

The Kerala backwaters are a 900-kilometre network of canals, rivers, lakes and lagoons running parallel to the Arabian Sea. They are not a single destination: the system stretches from Kollam in the south to Kochi in the north, and where you board changes the trip completely.

What a kettuvallam is

The word means "tied boat". The hull is built from anjili planks stitched together with coir rope and sealed with cashew-nut resin — no nails in the traditional construction. They were rice barges until the 1990s, when the first were converted for tourism. A modern boat keeps the shape and the thatch but adds a diesel engine, a generator, en-suite cabins and a galley.

Kumarakom or Alappuzha?

Both sit on Vembanad Lake, about 30 km apart, and both are worth doing — but they are different days out.

• Kumarakom opens directly onto the widest part of the lake. Around 120 boats operate here against more than a thousand at Alappuzha, so the water is quiet. The bird sanctuary is three kilometres from the jetty.
• Alappuzha runs through narrow village canals with houses, schools and shops on both banks. It is closer, cheaper and far busier. If you want village life at arm's length, go there.

There is a fuller side-by-side at Alleppey or Kumarakom?, including the cases where Alappuzha is the better booking.

What the day looks like

Boarding is at noon and check-out at 9:30 the next morning — call it 21 hours on the water, of which roughly five are spent cruising. Kerala's Inland Vessels rules stop all houseboat movement at 5:30 PM so that fishermen can lay nets in the channels overnight, so every boat moors somewhere quiet by dusk and restarts after breakfast.

Meals are cooked on board and included: lunch shortly after boarding, tea and fritters in the afternoon, dinner at the mooring, breakfast under way. Tell the desk about dietary needs when you book — the chef shops that morning.

When to come

October to March is the dry, cool season and the best window for the sanctuary. June to August is the south-west monsoon: heavy rain, spectacular green, and a far quieter lake. April and May are hot but quiet. The Christmas and New Year fortnight books out weeks ahead and costs the most; festival dates such as Onam and Vishu carry a smaller loading. The rates page has both.