The birds of Vembanad in the early morning
Kingfishers, darters and purple herons: what you might see from a country boat at six.
What your houseboat price includes
Crew, food, fuel and the generator: a costing of a ₹15,500 night.
Houseboat prices on Vembanad vary a great deal, and it helps to know what goes into them. Here is how our two-bedroom overnight cruise, at ₹15,500 for four guests in winter, breaks down.
The crew is the largest cost: a driver, a cook and a deckhand for 22 hours, with their food. That is about ₹4,000 a night. Food for four guests, with four meals and tea, comes to about ₹2,500, more if you add karimeen. Fuel is next. The boat burns diesel for the engine while cruising and for the generator that runs the air-conditioning from 9 pm to 6 am. Together that is about ₹3,000 a night, and it is why air-conditioning is not available all day on our standard boats.
Mooring fees, the annual permit, insurance and cleaning add about ₹1,500 a night across the year. The rest, around ₹4,500, goes to repairs, the two-yearly dry-dock, replacing roofs and mattresses, our office, and our margin. GST is included in the price.
Our monsoon rates are lower because more boats compete for fewer guests, not because anything is left out. You will get the same crew, the same meals and the same route. We do not add charges on board.
