was been there wit ma girlfriend for a week...we have been to the boat house..it was really awesome and inimatable.......we had a great time house which resembles like a palace on water with all the modern amneties.......every one should go there for atleast once..........pls always select a Aircon Boat house bcos when they anchor in the night there is some problem of mosquitoes and flies..thanks to vinayak, john, neeraj and all the team of lekeralaholidays.........go ahead for the fiesta

It is an important pilgrim centre of Roman Catholic Christians and is famous for well known St. Andrews Church, popularly known as 'Arthunkal Church' situated 8 km south-west of Cherthala town facing the sea coast. Hindu pilgrims from Sabarimala used to visit Arthunkal and take bath in a tank in the Church premises to formally conclude their penance. The tank is not in existence now.
Arthunkal (22 km north of Alappuzha): The St. Sebastian's Church here is an important Christian pilgrim centre. Annual festival: Arthunkal Perunnal - the feast of the patron saint (January)

This is not your typical resort/hotel review but then the place is also not something ordinary. It is the backwaters of Kerala, God’s Own Country and India’s Venice!

We travelled in the not-so-perfect summer but we got rewarded handsomely in terms of amazing off-season rates as well as off-season crowds and off-season sites. For the famous backwater cruise, we chose the ATDC’s house boat after enquiring with various other operators. For our group of 10 adults and 3 children, ATDC offered us a 4 A/c Bedroom houseboat with additional 2 beds thrown in for free and the package included all meals too. It was a drooling offer at almost 50% discount compared to season rates. The best part was that all the enquiries and transaction was done on the internet and ATDC was extremely professional in terms of giving information, processing payment and sticking to what was promised with no hidden cost.

The boat and the rooms were well-kept and the staff was extremely efficient; the steward acted as a local guide while the cook ensured that we were stuffed when we were on board. We could decide the itinerary ourselves and could do all kinds of things we could have only dreamt of – take a dip in the waters whenever we wanted, angled for fish in the night with wheat balls as bait, anchored in a place with no life visible around us in the night, and what not! The ride offers very unusual sites and experiences. The scenery was so beautiful and peaceful and it was an once-in-a-lifetime experience!

Truly recommend the trip for all nature lovers and for those who want to take a break from chasing time-lines; chase a cow or fish here and enjoy Nature’s bounty visually and otherwise.

Sumathy,
Bangalore
12th July 2010

We spent a night in the houseboat. It was nice for the first hour, but after that, it became rather awful. The heat was too intense, mossies everywhere , the pillows stink, the mattress was thin. And I kept bumping my head of the ceiling in the upper deck.

It was so hot that I had to go around in my bikini,and then the mossies came attacking. My husband spent a large part the day chasing away mossies while I read.

The staff were very friendly. While they were very eager to please, they were refused to turn on the AC during the day, saying that it was a rule given by their boss.It got worse at night when it rained and one cockroach jumped onto our bed.

Beside the tremendous heat, the ride was nice and calm, and the cook that prepared our lunch and dinner did an excellent job.

There wasn't any TV, which was fine by me, as I usually have books and my Ipod with me on trips.