Backwater tour

Hi There, my boyfriend and I are staying in Kovalam next week for two weeks..during our stay we want to book one night on a backwater tour..can anyone let me know how much they have paid recently for this trip. Last time we were in India we booked a tour with a fantastic company based in Delhi. I contacted them to ask what they would charge for the backwater tour and they have quoted ￡90.00 per person inc transfers from Kovalam for one night. Just want to guarantee a great backwater tour as mixed reports on the net....just interested if this is a good deal. Also bit worried myself about Malaria even though low risk! especially on backwaters. Any advice?

thank you....

Backwater tour

My view of backwater tours from Allepey is that they%26#39;re rather commercialised. We went on an overnight trip and found it a bit of a waste of time. We should have done a day trip, and perhaps elsewhere. They just took us round in a circle and we berthed overnight an hour from where we started. We hardly saw any wildlife, a few villagers washing clothes and some children going to and from school - that was about it.

When it gets dark you can%26#39;t see anything anyway and the insects swarm in where there%26#39;s a light. I think it cost ￡150 for three people on a 2 bedroom boat, which we thought was quite reasonable. This included aircon 4 wheel drive cab from Kovalam and back. If I were you and you really want to do this trip, I suggest you do a day trip and go to Cochin to stay overnight. I wish we%26#39;d done that!

I was only bitten once by a mozzie on that particular trip, but we smothered ourselves in Odomos and sprayed the bedrooms beforehand. Just take sensible precautions and you%26#39;ll be fine.

Other people love backwater trips, perhaps we were just unlucky....

Have a great holiday whatever you decide.

Backwater tour

Hi Emiline,

Thank you for your reply, we may take your advice on the day trip and I think we have decided to wait until we get there to book anything. Apparently the smaller boats get to see the more interesting routes anyway....how far is the drive from Kovalam to Allepey? I think staying in Cochin for the night sounds like a great idea! thank you again and we can%26#39;t wait now....

The drive is about 3 1/2 hours , though there are also plenty of trains running on that route-cheaper, probably faster, and more comfortable.

Hi there...have just returned from Kovalam did a full day backwater tour from a place called Kolam about 1 and half hour drive from Kovalam...It cost approx 150 pounds for 4 people....This included air con private car wonderfull lunch inc tiger prawns,beers and afternoon tea...The trip started on a massive lake and then into the backwaters...Even the drive there and back is quite interesting... The whole day lasted about 8 hours...Hope this helps

I%26#39;m with Emiline. I would not stay overnight on one of these boats again. It was unbearably hot and sticky and the Aircon was only available when we went to bed.(But thank God for AC, I would have died without it.) Before that the bedroom was an oven. We saw very little except paddy fields. I wouldn%26#39;t worry about malaria as there were no mosquitos (last week)... I don%26#39;t know how they do it. There were other insects which get attracted to the lights at night. The shower in our boat was filthy. On another boat, some of our group had large cockroaches in the bedroom. I would happily do a daytour around Alleppey, because that was were the interest was in the life going on around the canals, but the overnight trip was actually quite boring as we only saw this kind of thing for the last 20 mins. It has become VERY commercialised.

Hi

There is a local backwater tour close to Kovalam which all of the local taxi drivers know called Blue Sea resort, it is also an area that processes coir.

They only do 2-3 hour trips through the day but will give you some idea of the back waters, also hire boats are available from the Bridge on the main highway between Kovalam and Trivandrum.

Hope this helps

Ian

Thank you all for your tips...really looking forward to our holiday now...just hope the thunderstorms stay away...

ICe2

Don%26#39;t talk about aircon! We made sure we had it on the boat, it was put on at 9pm in the bedrooms, and we went to bed at 10.30. It was like the Arctic - this freezing cold air just kept on coming, and there was no way to either turn it off, or adjust it in any way. Also, the crew had left the boat! We had to keep all our clothes on during the night and hardly slept a wink - didn%26#39;t think I%26#39;d ever feel so cold in Goa, it was worse than Edinburgh in February (and that%26#39;s saying something).

Emiline, when we stowed our stuff in the bedroom, I joked with my OH that there was a blanket on the bed (the temperature was about 93F) but you%26#39;re right. Given a couple of hours and the small room was freezing and I had to get up and put the blanket back on. All the same, rather that than than melt in the heat. We could actually have opened the windows, as there were no mosquitos.

You%26#39;re lucky you had a blanket - we just had a sheet - it was awful.

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