Most towns grow outwards from a road. These seven grew outwards from a boat. Getaway South Africa rounds up settlements around the world where canoes stand in for cars, stilts hold up entire neighbourhoods, and one community literally builds its land from reeds.
In West Africa, Ganvié sits on Lake Nokoué in southern Benin, a sprawl of stilt houses, schools and markets linked by waterways and reached by canoe. It was founded by the Tofinu people in the 17th and 18th centuries, who fled out onto the lake to escape slave raids — attackers unfamiliar with the waters couldn't follow. The name is often translated as 'we are saved'. Boats leave from Abomey-Calavi near Cotonou.
Brunei's answer is Kampong Ayer, a centuries-old cluster of water villages across the river from the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan. Wooden houses, schools, mosques and shops stand on stilts, joined by walkways, with water taxis ferrying people to and from the gleaming modern city opposite. A cultural and tourism gallery on site helps put the history in context.
On Myanmar's Inle Lake in Shan State, the Intha people grow vegetables on floating garden beds pinned down with bamboo, and their fishermen are famous for rowing standing up with one leg, freeing both hands for nets. The surrounding villages produce unusual crafts, including textiles spun from lotus fibres — though travellers should check current advisories before planning a trip.
Cambodia's Kampong Phluk, near Tonle Sap Lake, shows how dramatic the seasons can be: in the dry season the tall wooden stilts under the houses stand bare and exposed, while the rains turn the nearby forest into channels you explore by boat. It's an easy trip from Siem Reap, and each season offers a completely different scene.
South America's entry is the Uros floating islands on Lake Titicaca in Peru, where entire islands are layered from totora reeds and topped off regularly as the material rots. The same reed builds homes, boats and handicrafts, and some families demonstrate the construction to visitors arriving from Puno. Note the altitude — the lake sits around 3,815 metres, so build in time to acclimatise.
Closer to a big city skyline, Tai O on Hong Kong's Lantau Island is a historic Tanka fishing village of 'pang uk' stilt houses along tidal creeks. It's easy to reach by public transport, and the draw is the combination of seafood stalls, heritage architecture and boat trips through the creeks. And in Vietnam's Ha Long Bay, Cua Van was once a full floating fishing village of raft homes tucked among the limestone karsts; resettlement has moved most families ashore, but cruises still stop to show what remains.
What makes these places worth a detour isn't just the photogenic stilt houses. Each one is a working answer to a problem — floods, refuge, trade — solved over generations, and most are genuinely easy to add to an existing trip: a boat ride from Cotonou or Siem Reap, a water taxi from central Bandar Seri Begawan, a stop on a Ha Long cruise. Go with a local guide where you can; the stories are the point.
