Kumarakom is a village on the eastern shore of Vembanad that has become, in about thirty years, the most expensive stretch of backwater in Kerala. It is small. There is a bird sanctuary, a line of resorts along the water, a working village behind them and a lake in front. Understanding that it is a place to be on the water rather than a place with things in it is most of the planning.
How long, and what to do with it
The realistic shape of a stay
| What | When | |
|---|---|---|
| Morning 1 | Bird sanctuary — 14 hectares of mangrove, marsh and paddy on the lake shore | First light; it is a dawn activity or nothing |
| Afternoon 1 | Shikara or country canoe into the narrow canals | Late afternoon into sunset |
| Day 2 | Aymanam and Kottayam, or the Thanneermukkom bund north across the lake | Morning out, back for the evening |
| Optional | Overnight houseboat — but read our piece on choosing one first | Any night |
Two nights is right. One is not enough to get a dawn on the water and an evening on it; three is a lot unless you are here to do nothing, which is a legitimate reason to come and the reason the resorts exist.
Season decides more here than anywhere
For birds, the winter migrants are in from roughly November to February and that is the sanctuary at its best. For weather, the same months are the driest and most comfortable. For the lake itself, the dry season is also when the Thanneermukkom shutters are closed, so the upper water is still and the hyacinth is at its worst — the flip side of the same calendar.
The monsoon, June to August, is wet in a way that is genuinely beautiful on a backwater and genuinely limiting if you wanted to be outside. Rates fall accordingly. This is one of the places in Kerala where a monsoon visit makes real sense, provided you have booked somewhere with a veranda.
What Kumarakom does not have
No beach — the sea is about half an hour west and Kumarakom is a lake shore, not a coast. No town: there is no centre to walk, no market street, no restaurant row, and if you are not eating at your hotel you will be getting in a vehicle. No monuments. No nightlife. Very little budget accommodation compared with Alappuzha or Kollam, because the strip was built for the top end.
It also has no railway station. Kottayam, about fifteen kilometres away, is the station and the nearest real town, and Kochi’s airport is roughly two hours north.
Kumarakom or Alappuzha or Kollam
They are three quite different propositions on the same water system. Alappuzha is the houseboat industry and the town, with the volume and the price competition that implies. Kollam is the cheapest and quietest, with the fewest boats and a working town attached. Kumarakom is the smallest, the most expensive, the best for birds and by some distance the best placed for the open lake at sunset.
If you want one backwater stop and you want to be looked after, this is the one. If you want to see how the backwaters actually work, Kollam or the Alappuzha canals will show you more. There is no reason a longer trip cannot do two of the three, since they are strung along one lake system a couple of hours apart.