Kochi Private Tour : Backwater Cruise in Aleppey

Don't miss seeing the backwaters.

A trip to this part of India without a visit to the backwaters would be incomplete. My driver Shaneer showed up early to pick me up, which was highly appreciated. His auto is extremely comfortable which made for an enjoyable ride to the Alleppey boat jetty. Shaneer’s mastery of English made the long ride educational and fun. When we arrived at the jetty the boat diver, Manu was waiting. I was happy i booked the canoe boat because this allowed us to go into some of the smaller canals which are more interesting then the larger ones. Manu told me about like in his village, about the rice farming and other interesting points along the way. I highly recommend both Scanner and Manu for this trip if they are available. I would like to come back in the future and do the ride just before sunset, I think the would make for beautiful lighting for photography.

Overall good experience but bit costly

We booked 9:40am timeslot for 3/31 and were told by TripAdvisor team that Shikara will start at 9:40am and cab driver will pick us from hotel couple of hours before that. We planned for the day accordingly. We later realized that cab driver came at 9:40am to pick us from hotel, which subsequently delayed the entire plan by 2 hours, and impacted our evening plans. The charges are bit expensive compared to directly renting the Shikara Canoe on spot. Booking helps during peak season i.e., Nov-Feb but for remaining months it’s better to directly rent after going there which will be much cheaper. Vegetarian food was provided at nominal charges and we loved that. The Shikara driver Manu was quite interactive and helpful. The cab driver took us from interior roads from hotel to Aleppey, although I would have appreciated covering some scenic path to Aleppey. We paid additional Rs. 200 to driver to drop us at Marine Drive instead of Hotel, which was just 3 kms diversion. Anyways, we were with the family in new place and just went with the flow without any arguments to avoid spoiling the trip.

Great way to visit the Kerala backwaters

We really enjoyed this! The driver picked us up from our hotel in Kochi on time, and when we arrived in Aleppey, our boat was already waiting for us. We had the boat all to ourselves. The guide/boat driver was very friendly, and we spent about 3 hours enjoying the beauty of the backwaters. The boat is a sort of motorized canoe, much smaller than the famous houseboats, but still perfectly comfortable, with the added advantage that you can go into the smaller/narrow canals (definitely the prettiest part of the backwaters as far as we are concerned!). We had some doubts about booking this trip since it did not have many reviews on Viator, but we are so glad we did. Definitely recommended.

Fantastic

Boat ride and stopover at island for lunch. Overall a fantastic experience. But a bit costly maybe because of onset of season. At a reduced price it would be even more attractive

Unmissable Allapuzha Backwaters Cruise

We had a wonderful one night backwater cruise in Allapuzha with Lakes and Lagoons, organized for us by Carnival Tours. From the pick up by car in Cherai to the collection by same the following morning, everything was so well organized, everyone involved was professional, kind and courteous, and all thanks to the good people of Carnival. Faultless, and a magical experience at a very reasonable price.

Backwaters

Unser Driver-Guide Martin holte uns pünktlich am Hafen von Cochin ab und brachte uns sicher nach 1 1/2 Stunden Fahrt zum Boot nach Aleppey. Die 3 Stunden dauernde Bootsfahrt war geruhsam und schön. Danach brachte uns Martin auf einer anderen Route wieder zurück nach Cochin.