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Kerala Houseboat Cruise: Traditional Experience on Kochi Backwaters
4.3
12 Ratings
Kochi
Experience the beauty of Kerala’s backwaters on a traditional houseboat cruise from Kochi. Enjoy a buffet lunch and explore Fort Kochi on this shore excursion.
Experience the beauty of Kerala’s backwaters on a traditional houseboat cruise from Kochi. Enjoy a buffet lunch and explore Fort Kochi on this shore excursion.
Duration:
7 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
- Kochi (Cochin) - When your cruise ship is in port in Kochi , meet your guide at the port side. Then, travel by comfortable, air-conditioned coach through Kerala’s countryside to Alleppey (Alappuzha), the main gateway to the area’s inland rivers and canals. After roughly an hour and 45 minutes on the road, arrive at a waterway where your…
- Kochi (Cochin) - When your cruise ship is in port in Kochi , meet your guide at the port side. Then, travel by comfortable, air-conditioned coach through Kerala’s countryside to Alleppey (Alappuzha), the main gateway to the area’s inland rivers and canals. After roughly an hour and 45 minutes on the road, arrive at a waterway where your charming wooden-and-bamboo houseboat awaits. Step aboard the traditionally built craft, find a spot on deck, and drink in the scenery as you cruise the placid waters past paddy fields, coconut groves, and rustic villages. Savor a delicious Keralan buffet lunch as you sail, enjoying dishes like fish, chicken, vegetables, and rice against the rolling backdrop of greenery and return to Kochi for a tour of Fort Kochi, the city’s waterfront colonial-era quarter. View the Chinese nets as you discover their exotic history, and admire St. Francis Church, India’s oldest European church, and Santa Cruz Basilica Your shore excursion then finishes with a port drop-off at about 4 pm
What's Included
- Round-trip transfer by air-conditioned coach
- Lunch
- Professional guide
- All taxes, fees and handling charges
- Port pickup and drop-off
- Round-trip transfer by air-conditioned coach
- Lunch
- Professional guide
- All taxes, fees and handling charges
- Port pickup and drop-off
What's Not Included
- Gratuities
- Souvenir photos (available to purchase)
- Gratuities
- Souvenir photos (available to purchase)
Additional Information
When your cruise
ship docks
at Kochi , make the most of your time with a Kerala houseboat and Fort Kochi shore excursion. Board a traditional houseboat on Kerala’s backwaters, and savor an onboard buffet lunch as you sail by palm groves, villages, and fields. Afterward, tour colonial-era Fort Kochi, seeing the Chinese nets, St. Francis Church, and more….
When your cruise
ship docks
at Kochi , make the most of your time with a Kerala houseboat and Fort Kochi shore excursion. Board a traditional houseboat on Kerala’s backwaters, and savor an onboard buffet lunch as you sail by palm groves, villages, and fields. Afterward, tour colonial-era Fort Kochi, seeing the Chinese nets, St. Francis Church, and more. Round-trip coach transport with
port transfers included.
- At time of booking, Cruise ship passengers must provide the following information at time of booking: ship name, docking time, disembarkation time and re-boarding time
Location
Office of the Asst. Engineer (Civil), M/Wharf, Cochin Port Trust
Indira Gandhi Road
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.3
(12 Ratings)
5 stars
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1 star
X3011xvwilliamp
Dec 2, 2025
The best organized trips I have ever experienced. - I have been on 3 tours created by Lijo Jose. He does an incredible Job managing the tours. He helps you decide if the tour is right for you, He helps with problems with credit card companies, he is patient and forgiving with booking issues. He personally showed up at each tour and made sure everyone got on the right bus. He rembered both mine and my wife's names. If any problems came up during a tour he was immediately available to help his guide and driver solve the issue. He also made sure the tours ran on schedule. His tours are the best run I have ever experienced in over 50 years of traveling.
The tours themselves are also exceptional. My experience was on small comfortable busses - 20 or less. The drivers ( sometimes 2) were professional. The tour guides were personable, educated, knowledgeable local people. The tour guides I had spoke English clearly and answered questions satisfactorily.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Avram3
Feb 28, 2024
We will never forget this shore excursion. We went to many places met the locals! - To be blunt...when we cruisers book independent shore excursions that takes us miles and hours away from port, we wonder...this far away, are we risking returning to our cruise ship on time or will something happen that will cause us to be stranded in port? Tina and I have hired over forty local tour companies that take us miles from our ship and we've never had an issue about returning on time. And Muziris Heritage shore tour continued our confidence that we can travel hours away from our ship and be assured that we will be returned safely. Of course things can happen, so we always insist on returning a hour ahead of debarkation. And we did this time as well. And we saw everything we expected to see in so many places.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Rmichele315
Jun 8, 2019
Day Visit - FABULOUS Day Tour!! Highly recommended. Lijo was very knowledgeable and provided a very safe, educational and fun day exploring Cochin! 5 Stars Plus!!!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Osprey11
Mar 25, 2019
A relaxing boat trip around the Kerala back waters - We were met by a bus at the cruise terminal and left around 9:00.
We then drove through the countryside to Alappuzha, which took about an hour and 45 mins, and where we then embarked onto a houseboat. The extremely comfortable houseboat, provided a relaxed tour of the idyllic Kerala back waters and lakes, which lasted almost 3 hours. Towards the end of the cruise, the crew provided a delicious freshly cooked traditional Indian buffet lunch, together with drinks.
After disembarking, we then drove back towards Fort Cochin, where we first stopped at the famous Chinese fishermen’s nets for a photo stop. We then continued on to the Matancherry/Dutch Palace, where there was time for either a quick visit, or shopping opportunities at the roadside stalls.
We returned to the cruise terminal just before 17:00.
Altogether a great value tour, a bit different and more relaxing than a normal land tour.
Review provided by Viator
Redrocks07
May 23, 2018
Good shore excursion and excellent customer service - We booked shore excursions in both Cochin and Goa and they were very good. We would book with them again. Customer service was excellent. I accidentally left my camera on the bus when we returned to the ship. By the time I realized it I was in our cabin and the bus was gone. I called Lijo Jose from the ship, he located the bus/driver and the camera was returned to me before our ship left. We were more than impressed with their responsiveness. Five owl eyes for Muziris Day Tours
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Maureen
Apr 24, 2018
Cochin, Goa and Mumbai Tours. - We were on Celebrity Constellation. 7-21April We booked 3 tours, the Cochin backwaters, Goa and the Spice Plantation and Mumbai City Tour.
We had excellent, good quality transport, with air conditioning and good guides. All very informative.
The lunches in Cochin on the houseboat, and the lunch in the Spice Plantation were excellent. No complaints at all. The tours were very well planned and carried out. We would recommend anyone visiting India to use this tour company.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Dundeeuktraveller
Mar 14, 2018
Backwaters with Muziris Heritage Tours - Excellent trip. Left as soon as small bus was filled up. Great guide. Bus not crowded. Cost a third of the price the ship was charging. Lijo always texted immediately back on any questions prior to going. Highly recommend. Did Mumbai with same company. Had fantastic lady guide.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Kalinkathleen_c
Dec 23, 2018
Backwaters Trip is a Must - This trip was well arranged and gave us an interesting insight to life in Cochin. Well worth the visit. Would be better if it can be shorter. The food was surprisingly quite good
Review provided by Viator
Robski888
Sep 8, 2019
tour in the Cochin area including small river cruise and local industry - Tour was very poor. the areas for local industry they tour were so filthy that I have been turned off anything Indian manufactured. The river cruise was just around the local area and the food offered was not appealing. Better keep your money and look at Sri Lanka
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Len
May 29, 2018
Cochin Shore excursion - Recently cruised from Singapore to Barcelona and stopped at Cochin. Whilst the churches and historical sights were OK we could not get over the rubbish along roadsides, train tracks and around "homes" and in the water ways including fish farms. Appears very few take any pride in keeping clean homes and we raised this with our tour guide. He advised it is a cultural issue and the population accept this as normal. Even saw rats around the rubbish dumps.
Could not live like that.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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