By
Laura Hyde |
Asian river cruise specialist Pandaw will debut its fourth ship, the 10-cabin Kochi Pandaw, on the Kerala Backwaters in India in October 2025.
The ship will include the classic Pandaw cabin and wraparound promenade decks, with four cabins on the upper deck and six on the main deck. The ship will also feature a saloon, a guest relations deck and a library.
Kochi Pandaw will operate a new seven-night roundtrip itinerary from Kochi in India, calling at main towns and remote areas of the Kerala Backwaters, a network of connected waterways covering 900 kilometres in southwest India. In Kochi, guests can visit Fort Kochi, St Louis’s church and Jew Town with its old Paradesi synagogue, museums, the Shiva temple, markets and more.
The ship will visit Thanneermukkom, a village with traditional Syrian Christian culture and heritage, architecture, historic churches and local customs, as well as Thanneermukkom Bund, a 1,400-metre-long mud regulator that acts as a bridge and divides Lake Vembanad into two. In addition, guests will visit the Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary and the Craft Museum in Kumarakom, the Munroe lighthouse in Nattakom, traditional fishing village Kavalam, and Kettuvallam, where guests can watch craftspeople build wooden boats using traditional methods.
Other ports of call will include Allappuzha, Thottappally and Perumbalam Island, which is located on the Vembanad Lake and accessible only by boat. From here, guests can visit the Perumpalam Bhagavathy Temple and the village of Mannar.
Kochi Pandaw will be Pandaw’s fourth ship in India, which the company believes reflects the increasing demand for river cruises in India