- India is the hot new destination for many river cruise lines, with more ships exploring rivers throughout the country.
- There is now a huge variety of cruises on offer, from the Ganges to the Brahmaputra River.
- Jane Archer discovers Indian river cruises like no other on a voyage around the country’s striking waterways.
I have never seen anything like this. I’m watching a traditional Kathakali play featuring two men in intricate costumes and thick make-up that takes hours to apply, acting out an ancient story of good vs evil. I say acting, but rather than words it’s told using subtle movements of the hands, feet and eyes, when suddenly … But no, I’m not going to give it away.
Lucky me! I’m on an amazing week-long journey on the Kerala Backwaters in Southwest India with Adventure Resorts & Cruises, of which more later.
To say river cruising here is nothing like in Europe is an understatement. And that is true across all India’s rivers. There are centuries of history to discover and Hindu temples to visit, but so much more.
No wonder it has become the next big thing in river cruising for travellers seeking adventure off the beaten track.
In response, companies including Uniworld Boutique River Cruises and APT have added more India sailings to their programmes. APT launched on the Ganges initially in 2015 and is now back with standalone cruises on the river or longer holidays that pair the river with Varanasi, the holiest city in Hinduism.
It also has cruise-and-tour holidays pairing the Ganges with India’s Golden Triangle cities of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur, to see the Taj Mahal and Amber Fort.
Pandaw, meanwhile, has moved ships to India from Myanmar now the latter is off the cruise radar. It has cruises on the Ganges and Brahmaputra (10 nights on the latter from AUD$6,751pp) and has just launched a new riverboat to cruise the Kerala Backwaters “to meet demand for India”. The vessel, Kerala Pandaw, started sailing one-week cruises in late 2025.
“Demand [in Australia] for cruising in India is massively up, and we’re seeing 40% growth year on year,” says Uniworld managing director Australia and New Zealand Alice Agar.
The line offers cruises on the Ganges paired either with the Golden Triangle (13 days from AUD$15,399pp) or a journey on the luxurious Maharajas Express train.
“We want Australian travellers to go beyond the usual travel spots to bring another dimension to the more typical India tours and itineraries,” reveals Agar. “West Bengal is off the well-trodden path, and there are some life-changing aspects to cruising on the Ganges and the places we visit.
“We’ve seen incredible take-up for our Sacred Ganges and Maharajahs Express itinerary,” she adds. “Guests tell us it’s just incredible.”
The Ganges
Cruises on India’s most sacred river are mostly seven or nine nights and visit remote villages so far off the beaten track that westerners are a novelty and ancient mosques, and include rides in horse-drawn carts and rickshaws. If you’re lucky, you may glimpse a shy river dolphin.
Highlights include Shiva Temple, in the village of Kalna, with 108 shrines (“my personal highlight,” says Agar) and the massive 19th-century Hazarduari Palace in Murshidabad, built in the Greek Doric style with 1,000 doors, many of them fake to foil intruders.
Visits to the Hare Krishna HQ in Mayapur are surreal, while Kolkata, where cruises start and end, is fabulous, with cars, buses, food stalls, rickshaws and tuk-tuks jostling for space, a spectacular flower market and the only tram in India. APT’s city tour includes a ride on it.
Kerala Backwaters
Dubbed the Green Venice of the East, the Kerala Backwaters is a network of more than 900km rivers and canals in southeast India, lined with paddy fields, lakes and villages where life ticks along much as it did hundreds of years ago.
Abercrombie & Kent pairs two or three nights in a traditional houseboat with a land tour, but to do and see more, hop on one of Adventure Resorts & Cruises’ one-week sailings (seven nights from AUD$5,058).
Tours visit schools, rubber plantations and Hindu temples, the aforementioned Kathakali play and an extraordinary Kalaripayattu martial arts performance by warriors armed with swords, sticks and daggers.
Adventure Resorts & Cruises, which sails between Alleppy and Cochin, has a cooking demonstration and lunch with chef Anu Mathew on her island plantation where peppers, curry trees, nutmeg and other exotic plants flourish.
Brahmaputra River
The boatman suddenly cuts the engine. “Tiger,” he whispers, pointing urgently to the riverbank. There in the bushes, a face is silently watching us; annoyed at the disturbance, it bares its teeth and is gone.
Cruises on the Brahmaputra are – literally – a wild adventure. The river rises in the Himalayas and races south through Assam at such speed that sandbanks and islands are swept away before your eyes.
Trips visit remote villages, ancient temples, tea plantations, the world’s largest inhabited river island and wildlife reserves that are home to apes, elephants, one-horned rhinos, water buffalo and Bengal tigers (seeing them is very rare).
Adventure Resorts and Cruises has 10 or 11-night sailings on the 46-passenger river boat Mahabaahu. If you can wait, Viking has announced 15-day Wonders of India itineraries pairing the Golden Triangle with an eight-day cruise on the 80-passenger Viking Brahmaputra starting in late 2027.
