October in Kerala; Cochin & Alleppey, Kovalam?

we are travelling to India from Sydney in Sept /Oct. We have a driver to take us through Rajasthan. We can spend about 3 weeks there. Plans are fairly loose. Then we want to go to Varanasi, probably from Agra. We will then head back to Delhi & want to fly to Kerala. I am trying to figure out the best things to do. I thought we could fly to Cochin, stay 1 night, then go to Alleppey & just do some day cruises here & there, staying 2 or 3 nights there. Anyone have suggestions for somewhere reasonable to stay? We are thinking about $50-$60 per night. Then I am thinking of staying at the Rockholm Hotel at Kovalam Beach. If this all sounds a bit confusing, you've no idea how confusing it all is to me. I seem to be the itinerary planner for us. Pete was in India in the 70's, me never. One more thing, what is the best way to get from Cochin to Alleppey, Alleppey to Kovalam? Drivers? thanks, Lesley

I am thinking of booking the Courthouse Hotel in Cochin in October for a couple of nights. We would like to just hire someone with a boat to take us cruising, rather than the very expensive houseboats. Can you do the backwater cruising from Cochin or do you need to go to Alleppey? We plan to head to Kovalam Beach where I would like to book into the Rockholm Hotel. Does that sound ok for a novice or can anyone suggest an altenative or give me some advice?

Hi Guys,

Cochin's a cool place but not great for backwater tours.

There are a few travel agents in town who will take you to 'Cochin's very own backwaters' but it's not the real deal.

Best bet is to get to Alleppey and take a tour from there - if you're pushed for time you could book with said travel agents in Cochin for a boat trip from Alleppey but general advice is don't pay your money til you see your boat!

Alternatively it's possible to take a boat trip from Kollam (30Km from Cochin).

Enjoy!

P.S. I stayed at the gowri residence (Gowri Residence.com) in Alleppey. The room was lovely, the staff were great, good food and they have 3 houseboats to rent for reasonable prices. If you choose this option, don;t go for the 'budget' houseboat as it's poretty small but the medioum and high end worked out to be £20 and £40 per person per night respectively.

Thanks so much Matt. That is exactly what I needed to know. I haven't quite grasped Cochin & whether to stay for more than a night & do just one day. We will be after a bit of chill out as we are in the north for the first 3 weeks. I looked at that site & sent a query. We seem to be on the end of the monsoon season too, so I am hoping the weather is ok & not too many mozzies. Hope someone can tell me about Rockhom at Kovalam now!!

Check the following website
http://www.ktdc.com/Tours.htm
I can recommend the Cochin Boat Tour.It goes around the harbour visiting everywhere in Cochin you could possibly want to go.
I took it when I visited a few years ago .I stayed at the Paulson Park Hotel near Ernakulam Railay station where it's about Rs900 for an A/C double room.
If you don't want to take KTDC's backwaters tour you could just take the train to Alleppy (Alappuzha) take a local ferry over to Kottayam (2-3 hours) and continue by train to Trivandrum for Kovalam.
Personally I find 8 hours in a boat staring at palm trees immensely boring but you can decide for yourself.
I recommended the Rockholm in Kovalam to someone on this forum a few weeks ago- a charming place to stay!

For a more general idea of the various backwater options, see also the indispensable Kerala Backwaters - A cruise on budgets! . Note the posting date of 2003 though.

Thanks very much for the advice. The boat around the harbour sounds fine & then more of a look when we get to Alleppey. The travel train & ferry advice is great as I didn't know the best way to do it rather than hire a driver.
I'm so glad the Rockholm gets the thumbs up as I spent ages looking at everything I could before deciding it sounded ok.
As far as booking train tickets, is it feasible to arrive in a place like Kottayam & find a train reservation easily?

If you want to travel from Kottayam to Trivandrum (for Kovalam) you don't need a reservation, just buy a ticket and enter the train.

Thanks for that info. I had heard that booking a train was difficult, but maybe that's Delhi.

As smaller the station is, as better and easier is it to book a train ticket... I can recommend places like Varkala... no long queues, only one counter, if you don't understand the system, they'll explain it to you. Quite relaxed compared to booking tickets in big cities. And you can book a ticket from station A to station B at station C. Only when you want to book under "tourist quota", you have to buy the ticket in the station where you're going to get the train.

The second option is to book your tickets online in advance. I think there is at least one thread about "how to book train tickets online" here on IM.