Alleppey/Alappuzha.. Venice of the East

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Alappuzha or Alleppey is known for its beautiful backwaters, beaches and seafood. While travelling to the city, we were kind of puzzled as we did not see any water bodies except the Vembanad lake which we crossed on the way. The city is crowded bustling with with lots of hotels, restaurants, tourists, shops etc but when you decide to take a boat and head towards the backwater canals, you seem to forget everything. It is so serene and mesmerizing that the entire trip becomes worth coming here.

How to Go: Alleppey is 1.5 to 2 hour journey from Cochin Airport. As per our itinerary, we traveled from Munnar to Alleppey, so it took us around 5 hours including our stoppages for lunch and tea. Connectivity is very good if you want to take a bus and roads are also good for self drive or a cab hire.

When to Go: Well.. best time is during winters and the backwaters are most enjoyable during mornings and evenings. We went during early March, the weather though sunny was not too hot so we were able to enjoy the canals and beaches very well.

What to Do: Well.. Houseboats, Shikara, Beaches and fishing etc can be done. Here are a few activities that we enjoyed -

Shikara Ride - We had decided not to stay in an overnight houseboat since they anyway park it after evening hours and the smell of diesel and mosquitoes can be unbearable if you are stuck in a houseboat. So we booked a nice resort instead and decided to take a Shikara to enjoy the backwaters. Shikara is basically a small motor boat for one family. A two people small boat will cost around Rs 400 for an hour and a 3-4 hour ride is sufficient.

Our boat left from the boat jetty and within minutes we were far away from the hustle bustle of the city with water and palm trees on both sides. You can see giant houseboats sailing through the water... village people washing clothes... palm trees by the banks.. and local fishermen. In fact there are some local dhabas by the canals where the boat guy will stop.

The dhaba guy will catch fresh fish and fry it for you. The veg meals is typical kerala style on a coconut leaf and it is yummy.

Alleppey Beach - Just 2 kms from the boat jetty point. The beach was crowded and there was no shade to sit. It is just like another beach.

Marali Beach - This is around 6 kms from the Alleppey beach and kind of a detour. People told us that this is an awesome beach and much cleaner since it is a private property. So we decided to go there to watch the sunset. Beach is cleaner than other beaches but much to our surprise this one was also crowded, may be because we went on a Sunday. There were not many eateries or hawkers around but I felt this beach is overhyped.

Vembanad Lake - We did not go specially to watch this lake since our resort was situated just by the lake. Someone told us that this is one of the longest lakes in the country.. not sure if this this true.. but surely the sunrise and views were beautiful.

Since this was just by the resort, I also did some fishing there, but unfortunately all my fish took the bait and ran away. did not get to catch any of them :(

Where to Stay - We stayed in Deshadan resort which is just by the Vembanad lake. However, this is ~18 kms away from the Alleppey town, and there is nothing much outside this resort. But if you want to just relax and enjoy the lakeside views and have a peaceful holiday, you can choose to stay there. The lake view cottages are good, swimming pool is awesome, food is good. They offer shikara rides for Rs.800 per hour but you would get the same shikara for 400/- in Alleppey. Moreover, if you take a shikara from the resort, it will take 45 mins to cross the lake and to reach the backwater canals, so the time spent in the canals is much lesser. All in all, a good stay.