Kerala Backwater Day Tour (Private) with Lunch from Cochin

The tour does not go through the backwaters, only round an open lake. You travel on poorly maintained houseboat with no licence to access the canals, ending near a heavily travelled bridge highway. One of the most disappointing tour experience in our travels through many countries around the world!

Firstly, it transpires, the water levels are too low at this time of year to navigate the backwaters! Instead we went out on a large lake. There were no lush paddy fields, or scenic local villages. Not quite what we had been looking forward to. We then stopped to pick up the fish for our lunch, where we were offered more fish or prawns at a price. Good job we did as the fish they included was very small! Should have had a choice of fruit juice or coconut milk on arrival - just got the latter. The meal provided was very, very, disappointing. We could smell it cooking about an hour before it was actually served. Tuna fish biriyani was overcooked and dry. Prawns that we had paid for, were exceedingly spicy and some were burnt. Small fish was actually very nice, just not enough of it, and it was accompanied by a miniscule amount of dried up tomato and cucumber. Also had some pickle and 6 small poppadums'. Tea/coffee served just before we disembarked and we weren't offered South Indian snacks. Nothing was served on a traditional banana leaf!!! Overall we were extremely disappointed. It certainly didn't match the other reviews! No-one on board pointed anything out to us. Certainly not value for money.

An excellent day tour with a wonderful peaceful lake cruis and plenty of delicious freshly cooked food provided at lunchtime. The option of stopping to “pick your fish” at a very high extra cost is certainly not one that you will need. Otherwise very highly recommended.

Fantastic day on a lovely houseboat, the crew was great and the food was phenomenal. Highly recommended

Very relaxing day in a beautiful part of the world, watching the world go by. Good crew, good food, good experience

We had a great time on this trip. The pilot of the boat would point out animals and plants while we were moving, which was nice. The food was excellent and in great quantity. The only thing we didn't like was the unannounced stop at a store on the way to the boat. The prices were high and it was obvious that our driver was going to be getting a cut. Since the prices were high, we didn't get anything other than delayed on our trip.