Your first night on a houseboat, hour by hour
From boarding at noon to the jetty at nine: what a 22-hour cruise actually looks like.
Onam on the water: sadya, boats and the race season
August and September on the backwaters, and how to plan around the boat races.
Onam falls in August or September, and on the backwaters it is the busiest and loudest time of the year. It is also when the snake boat races are held, and the biggest of them, on Punnamada lake, starts a short walk from our jetty on the second Saturday of August.
On race day the lake is closed to houseboats from early morning, and the town fills with visitors. If you want to watch, book a ticket for the stands well ahead; our boats do not run that day, and we close bookings for the night before and after.
The days around Onam itself are different. Villages along our route hold their own smaller races and boat processions, and you may pass practice crews rowing in time to songs. Our cooks serve a full Onam sadya on board on the day of Thiruvonam, on banana leaf, with three payasams, at no extra charge for guests on an overnight cruise.
Prices in the Onam weeks are at our winter rate rather than the monsoon rate, and the two-bedroom boats book out early. If your dates are fixed, book by June. If you can move them, the week after Onam is quieter, and the paddy is green after the rain.
