Periyar Lake
6:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Monday
6:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Tuesday
6:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Wednesday
6:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Thursday
6:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Friday
6:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Saturday
6:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Sunday
6:00 AM - 3:00 PM
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Meets animal welfare guidelines
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  • Pratham
    9 contributions
    3.0 of 5 bubbles
    Waste of money
    Waste of money. You will be sitting in boat for 1 and half hour just waiting to see one wild animal. Also, don’t book from KTDC it’s bit costly. If possible book from government website which is not that expensive but you need to book prior as very few seats are available.
    Visited November 2023
    Travelled with family
    Written 8 December 2023
  • jaya30
    New Delhi, India65 contributions
    3.0 of 5 bubbles
    Beautiful lake, very well maintained. But crowds are killing.
    Managed by Forest Dept, it’s well maintained. But crowd management leaves much to be desired. Only with luck you spot wild animals. We saw at a distance, wild boar, deer and bisons. Not a single elephant. Suggest you go for the cruise, not for sightings.
    Visited December 2023
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 22 December 2023
  • Katherine
    7 contributions
    3.0 of 5 bubbles
    Experience depends on the season, seat, and other passengers
    The lake is beautiful, but the boat ride really depends on luck. Going in December, the guide on the boat said right away we were unlikely to see many animals. He did mention going in the dry season was a better idea. In addition to the season, the experience depends on the seat you get (the boats are 8 abreast), and the other people on the tour. Stuck in the middle, surrouded by an extremely chatty and quite boisterous group meant seeing very little. Even when the guide asked multiple times for the group to be quiet, they continued. However, I could see that it could be really enjoyable if you snagged an outside seat and went with a good group. There is no bathroom on the boat; be sure to go beforehand. The process of getting there by bus was very easy and simple to navigate.
    Visited December 2023
    Travelled solo
    Written 3 January 2024
  • Sandy S
    Albuquerque, New Mexico1,038 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    A fine way to see wildlife
    Even the wait for our boat was fun, thanks for a little playground for monkeys set up near the dock. Little gray primates slid down transparent mesh chutes and swung from tree limbs. Once on the water, we spotted lots of herons, egrets, and Indian eagles and three wild bison grazing in a field.
    Visited January 2024
    Travelled with friends
    Written 15 February 2024
  • Jay Shah
    Ahmedabad, India2,372 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Beautiful
    We visited around 11:00 am. First buy a entry ticket at the parking area then wait for the forest bus to pick up and then the journey starts. Once you reach the forest you have to buy boating tickets for ride, if u don't want to ride then you can also visit surrounded areas of the lake by other ways like trekking or walking. We reached late and by the time there was no boat for the ride and the next ride was after one hour so it was not worth the ride. So we take pictures at the entry point of the lake and nearby surrounding areas.
    Visited March 2024
    Travelled with family
    Written 12 May 2024
  • Venkat Ramaswamy
    Chennai (Madras), India16 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Periyar Lake is enjoyable place go and have fun !
    First of all you have buy ticket and then forest bus will pick you up for the destination Excellent great place to stay for a vacation and that was so good. Places all make this place an enjoyable one. We had a great fun.
    Visited March 2024
    Travelled with family
    Written 29 May 2024
  • doaamurad
    24 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    I loooove the place 😍😍❤️❤️❤️❤️
    The lake is beautiful, very clean and large Surrounded by wonderful forests I saw some beautiful monkeys in the trees, elephants, and another animal whose name I don't know There are many birds that I think are rare. The disadvantage of the place is that while waiting for the boat there are a lot of monkeys that disturb the tourists, and I am afraid of monkeys
    Visited January 2024
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 21 August 2024
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4.0
4.0 of 5 bubbles2,030 reviews
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Preethi B
Chennai (Madras), India43 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2019 • Family
This was the most disappointing part of our Thekkady tour. We were told there are only 5 boat rides per day- at 7.30,9.30,11.30 am,2.30 pm and 5.30 pm. And if we reach the lake by 6.30 am, we may get the 7.30 ride and some animals may be sighted. To reach the lake, private vehicles are not allowed; there are government buses from Thekkady every 5 min. When we reached the bus stand at 6am, some 300 people were waiting in queue before us. We took bus tickets, boarded the bus and reached Periyar lake. There was another big queue there. The ticket counter for boat ride opened at 7.30 am; 2 families (8 -10 people) were given tickets. Then it was announced that 7.30 ride was full and tickets for 9.30 ride will be given at 9.30 am. There were still around 200 people in the queue and nobody had any clue what was happening. There was no board there or no one knew the number of tickets available for each boat ride. We had a small kid, we decided it was not worth waiting in the queue. We didnt know if we would get a ticket at all.
It was a pathetic maintenance. Also, the waiting area was full of monkeys which would take away people's belongings without any fear. One monkey tried to pull my bag out of my hand; if I hadn't held it hard I would have lost my bag. Totally, this place is a waste of time. I had heard that there were good boat rides around 20 years back with good animal sightings. But now, it is not worth it. So, we returned after taking a few snaps to enjoy other places in Thekkady.
Written 4 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

TheHimalayanGuy
Bengaluru, India33 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2019 • Family
The lake is AWesome and have great views all around. The access to the lake is through private bus run by the govt. and you have to take that to reach there. The bus ride is short ride of 20-30mins and is not bad. The boating Center is really crowded and there are people everywhere spoiling the charm of this place. I would recommend going here on a weekday and avoid public holidays. Boating in itself is very uncool and uncomfortable specially when there are loads of unruly and loud people. This is just a tick box stuff if you’re in Thekkady.
Written 4 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Steve M
Auckland, New Zealand838 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020
The boat ride was pleasant enough although we were fortunate to be sitting on the side of the boat so at least we had a good view of the lake. Those sitting in the centre of the boat would not get the same view.
What little wildlife there was to be seen could only be viewed at a considerable distance away.
The bus trip down to the boat and the embarkation could best be described as chaotic with very little guidance or signage to assist.
We got much more value from the walk in the reserve than the boat trip.
Written 9 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Subhashis
Bangalore, Karnataka, India31 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2019
We visited Elephant junction with family with one kid (4 years). It was a very nice experience. One can have elephant ride, can take bath with elephant and have some paid show with elephant. We opted only for the elephant ride. They took us inside jungle for 5-10 mins walk. Experience was good. Kid enjoyed a lot. Place is maintained well..
Written 6 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Jane G
Canberra, Australia69 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020
A group of 20 of us took the boat ride for the afternoon on the lake. We were required to put on very bulky life jackets and I could hardly move or see over the top of the life jacket.
I was sitting in from the rail and could see nothing and you are not allowed to move about so sat for an hour and a half in total discomfort.
The guides on board the boat said nothing and called out nothing so the trip was a total failure even though otters were seen. My advice is to not even consider this boat ride and take a jeep out to the park.
Our group was spending three weeks visiting the south of India and this was the only activity I thought was a disaster on the trip. Had the guides called the animals it may have been better but they were disinterested and could not be bothered. We were one of many boats on the lake that day and I worked out at 5 PM at least 500 people disembarked from five boats and then we needed to bus back to the town so that took a long time as well. Forget this trip!!!
Written 22 February 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

arunerd
Erode, India15 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020 • Family
We went on Jan 18 2020 for boat ride. We had booked 3.30 pm ride online at ktdc-boating.com. The ride was pleasant and serene. We were lucky enough to see few deer, bison and an elephant.

Online tickets costs 500 rupees whereas onsite booking is 255 rupees. KTDC should be seriously consider reducing this. We booked online as we were visiting on a long holiday weekend. So no guarantee for onsite tickets.

Toilets at boat landing point were not clean. Accommodation inside the tiger reserve at periyar house and aranya nivas also available. Lack Lack palace resort is a luxury bungalow located in an island within lake.

But for poor booking facilites and lack of proper maintenance at boat landing place, boat ride for 90 minutes was a pleasant experience.

Written 24 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Harshshah1212
Godhra, India446 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2019 • Family
There is 1 hour ride in Periyar lake through which we can see the animals on lakeside.
Nothing to do in boat.
Animals, if seen, are also very distant.
Binoculars are available on rent but of no use.
One should definitely avoid this place in Thekkady.
Written 27 February 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

john m
Keswick, UK141 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020
We took a walk in the early morning that involved crossing an inlet on a dodgy raft (not for everyone - I was a bit intrepid!). A small group of 6 was led round the lakeside path by a very knowledable local guide who seemed to know everything! and even took fantastic photos for you using your camera. Lots of bird life and small mammals and Elephants. Chance of a tiger is very remote though.

Later in the afternoon we took a boat trip and saw lots of animals, but you needed to sit on the outside to beefit from this as crew insisted you remain seated waring very uncomfortable and ineffective life jackets. The walk was better.
Written 13 February 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

morrisvibes
Bridgwater, UK27 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020 • Couples
The boat tour on Lake Periyar is to be avoided. This is not a gentle trip into the wilderness reserve of Periya Tiger Reserve - instead you are crammed onto a boat with up to 100 other sightseers and your view is more likely to be that of a life jacket worn by the person in front or besides you. Very few animal sightings on the ‘tour’, which finishes with a stampede to get a seat on one of the transit buses. A deeply disappointing experience and not recommended. Instead go on a jungle guided walk - virtually the same cost but a far better experience.
Written 30 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

OldPaperino
Italy944 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2023 • Couples
A long preparation, between purchasing the ticket, queuing for the bus, queuing once you arrive because you have to wait for the boats for the tour on the artificial lake. Good thing the seats are assigned. We stayed at the time closest to sunset which should be the most favorable for seeing the animals in the reserve, since they come to water at that time. We saw some elephants (from a distance so as not to scare them) and many buffaloes, deer etc. If you have never been to a park in Africa it is worth it, otherwise so-so.
Bring a sweatshirt because in the evening it cools down a lot and despite the hot day you risk catching a cold like what happened to me.
Google
Written 13 September 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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PERIYAR LAKE (2024) All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

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