Kochi Private Tour: Backwater Cruise in Aleppey

Pickup at cruise port was a breeze. Driver and manager waiting with a sign. Modern aircon car to houseboat. Driver had limited English so just a driver not a guide. Transfer to houseboat smooth. Exceptionally clean boat, especially the kitchen. Food was plentiful and great.

The driver was waiting at the port gate on time. In fact, the tour company accommodated a late request to change the start time to an hour earlier. The drive to the boat took 1hr 45mins and the boat was waiting for us at the dock. The boat was clean and comfortable, giving us a very relaxed 3hr cruise around the backwaters. When the cruise was complete, the car was waiting to collect us and take us the 1hr 45mins back to the port. A very well organised tour and really relaxing cruise. Thanks to the drivers of both the car and the boat.

The whole experience was wonderful from beginning to end end, we were picked up at our hotel and upon arriving we boarded our boat cruising through the backwaters was wonderful, gave us welcome drink, stopped to buy fresh tiger shrimp, also had a tase of toddy. We were served with sumptuous lunch of 3 vegetables, chicken,fish n shrimp and dessert. I was very delicious. We had tour of 4 hrs with lunch it was perfect for us.

Driver was waiting for us. Nice air conditioned vehicle. It was a long drive - nearly 2 hours and we were a bit worried about getting back to the ship later. The driver and the canoe guide agreed a time to come back to give us plenty of time. Tge cruise round was very relaxing and our guide/driver lived in the village and shared lots of info with us. Well worth the long journey

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.

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.

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.

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

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.