If you are thinking about getting a houseboat in Kerala, then we would certainly recommend services of Iris Holidays. We saw lot of houseboats in alleppey and one we stayed was the best we saw by far(and we saw hundreds). Some were very tired-looking and outdated.
We opted for a two-nights stay, and it was the highlight of our whole trip. The boat was only six months old (Feb 11), so had modern amenities, but was built in the traditional Keralan style, which added to its charm. It has two bedrooms – one twin and one double each with their own en suite bathroom and must-needed mosquito net. The only slight disadvantage was there was no air-con, but there was a fan above the bed.
On the roof of the boat was an open sundeck with two chairs and a covered chill out bed in the shade, something we noticed was quite unique(there was only one other boat we saw like this).
We had three members of staff to look after us, a driver, a chef and a helper and they really couldn’t do enough for us, from bringing us drinks to making us fishing rods out of bamboo!
We wasn’t expecting too much from the food but Prince the chef was the most amazing cook and served us Thali-style dishes on a banana leaf. We also picked up some prawns from a hut on the river backwaters he cooked for us. If you like Indian food and seafood you will be in heaven.
If you want to save a bit of money, take your own beer with you and they will store it in the ice box. If you get it from the hut on the backwaters you’ll end up paying double, but its still only 100RPS per bottle. Thanks Iris Holidays for a wonderful holiday and a houseboat experience