I travelled to Alleppey in June first week, 2008 with my family . Took train from Bangalore ( Kochuveli express ) which runs on alternate days and has convenient timings . I had only 2 days to explore the area. So I decided to stay one day in a resort and another in "speciallity" houseboat.
One of my friend suggested Coir Village Lake Resort which is ATDC property . So I booked 3 A/c cottages ( they have only a/c cottages with tariff of Rs 3000 including breakfast ) . The day we reached Alleppey, there was a bandh announced due to hike in petrol prices ( Aarrgh is it something new I am telling :| ) . So we were really scared how will we reach the resort as its 40 kms from the Alleppey city, but the resort guy sent an Innova to the station and we finally reached the resort. And what a resort it was ..
Its in the most serene places you can ever imagine, with nature in its 200% full force. They have some 30 cottages all facing the narrow backwater channels running through the resort. You have to use the boat to go from reception to your rooms or from rooms to the restaurant. The backwater serve as a natural swimming pool in front of your cottages which adds to the charm of the place. And the best part ( atleast for me ), they have hammocks spread in the whole resort to laze around, coz that’s what the best you can do there . Life stops by and moves frame by frame, so much in contrast to the fast life we have in city.
Cottages are basic and clean.They have a sitout in front of them. The manager is a nice person to talk to and caters to most of your needs. However one thing I will like to mention that we were the only family in the whole resort. So it was peak off-season for them and restaurant guy asked us to order 1 hour in advance. Food was basic and tasty , nothing too much to talk about. But isnt it what you expect in such an isolated place.
OK, enough about Coir Village . Next day I had booked a 3 bedroom houseboat ( with upper deck )with Pulickattil houseboats. I had read a lot about them on internet that they are the leading houseboat operators in Alleppey and provide good service. I did get good response while booking where all my enquiries were promptly answered. So I had lot of expectation and specially after lovely time in Coir Village.
OK, so the boat provided to us was an old one, may be ages old. But I thought that thats how most of them will be like . There was a Captain, cook and helper on boat. Let me tell you one thing, you will be mesmerized by the sight around you. So we took 1 hour to admire the scenary . And then we stopped for lunch. Thats the time I had a look at the rooms. They were basic and clean but lighting was too bad. We stopped by a nice church built on a small man-made island. Lunch was really tasty with fried frish being the highlight. Captain was really helpful in catering to our needs . He also regularly briefed about the places we were visiting. On our way, we saw other boats , 90% of them being brand new with LCD tv, good sofas or lounge like setting, and then we realized that we have been cheated. For 8000 bucks, we were given some 20 year old boat. Even the upper deck wasnt good, and was a mere platform to stand, in contrast to other boats which had nice upper deck lounge siiting.
Then came the dreadful evening. They parked the boat near to their office from where we had checked-in. The bad part was that there were other boats parked there in which there were no guests, only workers which added to the discomfort. However on objecting strongly, he moved a bit so that we were not in direct sight of other workers. This was in huge contrast to what the website normally says " In the night houseboat will be parked in the centre of the lake " . And the moment lights were switched on, thousands of insects and mosquitos came in the front part where the sitout was there. Although there were mosquito coils arranged , but still you know it cant stop such a huge force of insects. So we decided not to have dinner in the sitout, instead in one of the closed rooms . Food again was tasty and had a good spread. And then we had to call the day off. All-outs were provided only in 2 of the 3 rooms. With their office being near, and 3 other boats parked, they still cudnt arrange for 3rd one. The weather was fine and so fan was sufficient .
We checked-out in the morning at 10am at the Nehru Finishing point . And gosh , there were 100’s of houseboats parked there. The moment we got there, tens of agents started flocking us for the boat deals.
*So in nutshell , I will like to suggest people going to Kerala backwaters with these tips :
Houseboat experience is really amazing. But only in the day time.Once boat gets parked in the night time, insects/mosquitos start their warfare. So either you should get a boat which has a covered dining place along with an open lounge or you should take a day’s boat tour and stay in ur resort at night. There are lot of day’s boat tours where you can have a private boat for 5-6 hours and that will take you through the same waterways which a normal houseboat does.
If you happen to ignore advice given above, I strongly suggest that dont book a housboat online. Go to the Nehru Finishing point, see the boat, choose it according to your taste, strike a deal there and then only board it . There are 600+ houseboats in Alleppey, so even there will be plenty of them in peak season.*