We flew from Hyderbad to Kochi (also spelled Kochin, Cochi, and Cochin), there are a ton of airlines that fly here, some non stop, and some will stop along the way in Bangalore. The best option is to fly out Friday night, stay the night in Kochi, then get up early Saturday morning and drive two hours to where the house boats are. Most major cities will have flights to Kochi.
We took a house boating tour via Eco Tours Kerala http://www.ecotourskerala.com/Houseboats.htm and it was FANTASTIC!! You can check out the rest of our pics by clicking on the photo below.
The guy in charge of this tour is named Kencey George +91-481-252-4447 or Mobile +91-944-643-9252, just give him a call, he was very responsive. We couldn't get a flight Friday night so we flew in Saturday morning, Kencey arranged a ride for us from the airport in a nice air conditioned car that fit 5 people and the driver.
The houseboat tour we did last 22 hours, from 10am Saturday to 12 noon on Sunday. The boats in Kerala are all pretty much the same but before you book one have them send you a picture of it so you know it is good quality. Our trip was great, they made Kerala style lunch when we arrived, it was very tasty, and they caught fresh prawns and fish for dinner along with rice, veggie dishes and a few other things. We had some people that didn't like seafood with us and they were fine eating all the side dishes. They also serve tea and coffee when ever you want it and have bottles of water on board. The served omelets and toast for breakfast which was great. We wanted some beers so Saturday morning on the way there we called Kencey and he went out and got us beers, it was amazing service!! On the boat there were 3 men that cooked for us, cleaned up and just took care of us, they were great.
The rooms on board were very comfortable, had AC and private baths and showers (although the water was cold).
Cruising in the houseboat was great, we could lay out on the sun deck, or sit in the shade and read. Very peaceful. It was really pretty seeing all the birds swooping down at the water and watching all the fisherman in the villages. At around sunset they docked to make dinner and we were parked for the night. The sunset was gorgeous as well!
There were a ton of mosquito's so be sure to bring repellent, a sweatshirt, sweatpants and running shoes to cover up. They had the candles that chased the bugs away, but there were a lot at first. At night it can be a little boring if you don't have playing cards or a book, but it was really nice to be out of the city. We had a lot of fun since there were 5 of us to hang out at night.
The best part about this was that the price was amazing, it ended up only costing around $75 (3000 INR) per person even with all the beers and food.
On Sunday Kencey had his driver take us back to Kochi and with time to kill since our flight wasn't until 6:30 he took us to Fort Kochi. This was awesome. It's not a fort like Golconda in Hyd where you walk around an enclosed army base. The fort is just a large area that has a market to shop for jewelery and handicrafts and where people actually live. It is close to the water so there is a fishing village (really cool to watch) and there was a snake charmer on the street with 3 cobras and a python that danced for us. Fort Kochi was a really good time. You only need like 2 hours there until you are bored though.
After that we went to the Kochi airport (there is a sit down restaurant there that has amazing fries) and we were back in Hyd by 8 pm on Sunday. Not a bad weekend at all!
Some other cool things you can do in Kerala are bamboo rafting and elephant bathing or actual elephant safari's. http://www.india-wildlife.net/indian-wildlife-tours/bamboo-rafting-elephant-bathing.html
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