Stories

Diwali usually means a loud, crowded house. Cleaning that started a week ago, relatives in and out, a table that never gets cleared, and fireworks until the neighbors give up. Plenty of families love every minute of it. Others, quietly, … Read More

One night or two? It’s usually the first question once the boat is picked, and the answer people get is “it depends.” Fine, but it depends on very little. For most trips, one night does it. A second only matters … Read More

Most Christmas pictures come with snow attached. Kerala’s version has star lanterns hung outside houses, a church bell somewhere across the paddy fields, and a plum cake that went into its rum around the end of November. Put a houseboat … Read More

Ask ten people planning a Kerala trip and most will say the same thing: they want a houseboat, and they can’t decide between Alleppey and Kumarakom. Fair enough. Both sit on the Vembanad backwaters, both have houseboats, and both have … Read More

Ask someone who’s cruised Alappuzha’s canals what stuck with them, and you’ll usually get the same handful of images back. Palm trees leaning low over the water. A houseboat that never seems in any particular hurry. Maybe a kingfisher diving … Read More

Ask someone who’s cruised Alappuzha’s canals what stuck with them, and you’ll usually get the same handful of images back. Palm trees leaning low over the water. A houseboat that never seems in any particular hurry. Maybe a kingfisher diving … Read More

Every Alappuzha brochure shows the same shot. Green fields, coconut trees, a houseboat catching the afternoon light, maybe a fisherman silhouetted against a sunset for good measure. Nobody puts the night on the cover, which is a shame, because that’s … Read More

A houseboat moves slowly enough that you notice things a car would blow past. A spire here, a temple gopuram there, half hidden behind coconut trees, showing up every few kilometers along the same water everyone comes for the scenery. … Read More

Cruise through Alappuzha long enough and you’ll pass right through Kuttanad without anyone on board mentioning what’s underneath the boat. It’s the only place in India where farmers grow rice below sea level, and one of just a few spots … Read More

Plenty of houseboat operators build a name through word of mouth, one satisfied family at a time. Spice Routes has done that too, but it’s also been tested on a much bigger stage repeatedly, and it keeps passing. Hosting US … Read More