N.Z.
Mtnr.
Mtnr.
“A gracious old house, imbued with timeless charm.”
Sir Edmund Hillary
On the banks of the Pampa · Alleppey, Kerala
A century-old home, still keeping the porch light on.
Pooppallys is a heritage family home turned homestay on the quieter backwaters near Alleppey — wooden rooms, a garden thick with spice trees, and Kerala cooking the way Cicely Joseph has always made it.
Est.
1890s
1890s
Our story
Raised on the Pampa, kept in the family ever since
This ancestral house was built in the 1890s and still stands on its original ground on the lower waterfront at Nedumudy, on a gentle bend of the slow-flowing River Pampa. It is home to retired principal Dr. Joseph Pooppally and his son, Dr. Paul Pooppally — the same family that has looked after it, and its guests, for generations.
The rooms are mostly finished in wood, a reminder of the era the house was built in, and several of the cottages are themselves rescued 150–200-year-old Kerala homes, bought and rebuilt rather than demolished. The whole property sits inside three acres of nutmeg, cinnamon, pepper, clove, cashew and coffee — enough to draw more than thirty species of birds home every season.
More about the house and family →
What awaits you
Three reasons guests stop planning and start packing
Cicely's kitchen
Meen pollichathu, Kerala duck roast, chicken curry, appam, aviyal, theeyal — cooked the way it's always been here, with cooking classes on request.
See all services →Backwaters & boats
Canoe the narrow canals, take a small boat or full houseboat out across Alleppey's backwaters, or simply watch the river traffic from the garden.
See all services →Ayurveda & garden walks
Ayurvedic treatments and herbal beauty treatments on request, plus a guided walk through the medicinal-plant garden, often led by Dr. Joseph himself.
See all services →
From the guestbook
A few lines, left by people who stayed
DE
2006
2006
“It's a 150-year-old house right on the backwaters. Every room has a special character. The owners are amongst the nicest people we have ever met.”
Sabine Nierhoff
Germany, January 2006