A houseboat moored among the palms of the Kerala backwaters at dusk

Fishing boats pulled up on a palm-lined beach in Goa

Stepped rice terraces below a temple in the hills of Bali

Coast, Spice & Wellness

Slow Down Where The Spice Ships Sailed

Houseboats in Kerala, tea country in Sri Lanka and the dhow harbours of Zanzibar — journeys paced by the tide.

Coastal Journeys Build A Coast Route

Where

When

Travellers

Style

From — per person

Now Showing The Kerala Backwaters Alleppey, India

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Hosts, Not Handlers

The same local host meets you, calls you and waves you off.

A carved sandstone pavilion standing in Gadisar Lake at Jaisalmer

Tea terraces rolling away under a pink sunrise

Never The Coach

A private car and driver, or the train when the train is better.

About Hibotour

Journeys Paced By The Tide, Not The Clock

Along the coasts of India, Sri Lanka and East Africa, the best days are the ones with nothing planned between breakfast and the evening boat.

We have planned slow journeys since 2008: fewer places, longer stays, and hosts who have fished, farmed or cooked in the same village all their lives. You will not be woken for a 6 a.m. coach, and you will never be taken to a shop you did not ask to see.

Our Story Meet The Hosts

The Spice Route

Follow The Pepper Across The Ocean

Four ports on the old monsoon trade, each one a journey of its own. Keep scrolling and the route draws itself from Kerala to Marrakech.

Kochi, India
Kerala Backwaters & Spice Hills

Pepper and cardamom from the Western Ghats, loaded here for a thousand years.

9 Days · From $2,290 Next: Colombo
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka Tea Country

Cinnamon from the south coast, tea from the hills above Kandy.

10 Days · From $2,480 Next: Stone Town
Stone Town, Zanzibar
Zanzibar & The Spice Coast

Cloves on every breeze, and dhows still sailing on the monsoon.

7 Days · From $2,150 Next: Marrakech
Marrakech, Morocco
Marrakech To The Sahara

Where the caravans ended: saffron, cumin and ras el hanout by the scoop.

9 Days · From $2,390 The End Of The Route

Slow Water

Houseboats, Dhows & The Art Of Doing Nothing

A rice barge on the Kerala backwaters, a dhow off Stone Town at sunset: the days on the water are the ones travellers remember longest.

5 Coastal & Island Journeys

12⁺ Nights On The Water

38⁺ Houseboat & Dhow Crews

Sail The Backwaters

A houseboat moored under coconut palms on the backwaters

Ayurveda & Wellness

Six Rituals Worth The Journey

Fourteen days in a Kerala retreat, prescribed by a resident doctor. These are the rituals guests talk about afterwards.

01
Abhyanga

Warm herbal oil worked in by two therapists moving as one, every morning of the retreat.
02
Shirodhara

A slow, steady stream of oil across the forehead. Most guests are asleep in minutes.
03
Sunrise Yoga

On the beach or the temple steps, led by a teacher from the village.

Warm oil poured across a guest's forehead during shirodhara

04
Pranayama

Breathing practice before breakfast: the part guests take home and keep.
05
A Sattvic Kitchen

Food cooked for your constitution, from a garden you can walk through.
06
Sound & Silence

Singing bowls at dusk, then an evening without screens by the water.

Fourteen days from $3,290 per person An Ayurveda Retreat In Kerala

Culinary Journeys

Cook It, Taste It, Take It Home

Food & Market Journeys

A Thali Trail In Old Delhi
$65 pp

Eleven bowls, four lanes and the paratha stall that has not changed its recipe since 1875.
Delhi, India · 3 Hours
Spice Farm & A Syrian Christian Lunch
$85 pp

Pepper vines, cardamom sheds and a lunch of appam and duck roast in a planter’s kitchen.
Kerala, India · Full Day
Street Food After Dark
$55 pp

Tuk-tuk between the night markets: boat noodles, crab omelette and mango sticky rice.
Bangkok, Thailand · 4 Hours
Souk Tastings & A Tagine Class
$75 pp

Olives, msemen and snail broth in the souk, then a tagine you cook yourself on a riad roof.
Marrakech, Morocco · 5 Hours

Pasta With A Sicilian Nonna
$90 pp

Market shopping at the Capo, then busiate and caponata in a family kitchen.
Palermo, Italy · 4 Hours
Kaiseki & A Tea Ceremony
$140 pp

Eight seasonal courses, then the tea ceremony explained by a teacher of forty years.
Kyoto, Japan · 3 Hours
Stone Town Night Market
$45 pp

Forodhani Gardens at dusk: urojo soup, octopus skewers and Zanzibar pizza.
Zanzibar, Tanzania · 3 Hours
Mole In Seven Colours
$80 pp

Toast, grind and simmer a mole negro with a cook who learned it from her grandmother.
Oaxaca, Mexico · 5 Hours