GuideAlappuzha, Kerala, India7 min read
Kochi to Alleppey on the Public Ferry
The backwaters for the price of a bus ticket
Easy$
Skip the houseboat. The State Water Transport ferries cross the same lagoons and canals for a few rupees, stop at villages no tour reaches and leave from a jetty you can walk to.
Why the ferry
A houseboat costs more per night than most Kerala hotels and spends the day moored beside other houseboats. The State Water Transport Department runs the same water as a bus service: wide wooden boats with a tin roof, a conductor and a bell. The long route from Kochi to Alappuzha (Alleppey) takes most of a day with a change at Vaikom; the short Alappuzha to Kottayam crossing is the classic two and a half hours across Vembanad Lake and down the canals.
You buy the ticket on board, sit where you like and get off at any jetty. Nobody will sell you anything.
Before you board
- Check the morning departures at the jetty the day before; the printed timetable is more reliable than any website
- Bring water and something to eat, there is nothing sold on board
- Sit on the shaded side: south-facing in the morning, north-facing after noon
- Carry small notes, the conductor rarely has change
- Get off at Nedumudy if you want to walk the canal paths before the last boat back
The ferry does not go where the tourists are. It goes where the people are, which turns out to be the same water, seen from the other side.Priya Raman
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