The houseboat can offer the benefits of modern civilization in the full embrace of nature. Even a short stay on the water can change your perspective on living

I'll start with a personal experience that was so intense that, despite its brevity, it made me start thinking about moving to a houseboat. And yet it was a completely random rental offer found on the internet. And since I had a vacation planned for that exact date and didn't know what to do with my free time, I figured a new experience wouldn't go amiss.

The first thing I feared was, of course, seasickness. Although my aquatic home was only perched on a dam, it did not, of course, prevent a clash with the waves created by passing boats. But after a short stay, I got used to the slight rocking (the boat was very well anchored) and only perceived it slightly in the evening before falling asleep. So that solved my biggest concern within a few hours.

I will add to this the fact that the houseboat doesn't have to be placed just loose, but you can anchor it stably and bring conventional power connections to it, giving you a full-fledged non-rocking fixed house. But more on that later.

If you've chosen a really remote location, like I had, where there's nothing within at least 10 kilometers, you'll discover another advantage. Supplies are limited, which forces you to think carefully about what food supplies to make long in advance and how to dispose of them. Which is good to control even in the hustle and bustle of our normal lives. Of course, it depends on the size of your new home, but even here the space is not unlimited. In my case, it wouldn't matter, as I spent a week on my houseboat, however, if I were to live here, the purchase would involve a roughly 30km journey on foot. And I really wouldn't want to walk several times a week.

But don't expect me to describe all the details here, because there's no need. Whatever your ideas, if you've never been on a houseboat, know that in basic mode it basically functions like a small cabin (preferably) in the countryside. You have everything you need in it - a kitchen, a bed, possibly a toilet and shower, and some relaxation space for daytime activities if you're just out on the water, for example.

My houseboat was of a more modest nature, it didn't include a toilet. A caddy on shore was used to perform necessities. The galley contained a gas stove, a sink and a couple of cupboards with utensils, with tap water running from a reservoir in the bowels of the boat. The bedroom hid two bunk beds, or four sleeping places, and aft was a small lounge with a table and two sofas. Lest I forget, along with the galley there was a helm and a simple dashboard. There was also a piece of the bow for staying in the sun, something like a summer terrace. And that's all. As I said, a functional cottage in a secluded place.

But there was a kind of charm to it. Staying on the water, probably subliminally convenient for some people (some psychoanalyst would surely explain this to us), gave me a very special kind of rest. The water and its surroundings are full of life. You get up in the morning and the first thing you feel is the light rocking and the smell of the water. The same in the evening and at any time during the day. You watch the fish fighting, the birds swimming by, the wild animals coming to the shores to drink. I was constantly surrounded by greenery and rocks, which can be incredibly attention-grabbing when you'd otherwise be paying unnecessary attention to social media.

After the first three days I didn't want to go back to the hustle and bustle of the city, I had everything I needed. And my houseboat was for recreational purposes only, meaning the owners only came here occasionally, otherwise they rented the place out. They were still connected to civilization in their classic housing. There were no power or water connections, and they could leave at any time and dock their boat elsewhere. This was matched by the amenities, which were pretty basic. But everything worked. In other cases, which we'll talk about now, the equipment of my temporary housing would probably have looked very different. Basically, compared to recreational use, there are only two other ways in which a houseboat can be used and lived in.

A stable barge

Let's start with the least complicated route, which essentially makes the houseboat "just" a fixed house set in a slightly unconventional environment. I'm talking about the case where you decide to connect it to conventional power grids, making it a classic immovable property. But at least you have a choice of two options, so you can choose to live somewhere in a natural environment on the shore by the forest, or in the harbour of the city you want to continue living in and enjoying all its benefits.

This style most often leads to the best amenities that your finances and the surrounding area allow. The boat in the marina is likely to be smaller because there are other boats around you, but the interior may be that much better equipped. Houseboat amenities, and the houseboats themselves, run the gamut from the most ordinary to the most luxurious due to demand.

On the other hand, there is the classic house somewhere in the wild, so there you don't have to limit yourself and have everything fully to your liking and capabilities. You can set up a fully smart and modern home and as an added bonus, you are surrounded by nature not only around you but below you. The perfect combination.

So the biggest problem you will have is the mooring. Yes, there are laws here too. It's not enough to just get a houseboat and place it on your designated area. You have to buy or rent a mooring, and of course selling that is much more complicated. I myself searched for a suitable place when I got home, but found virtually nothing, just all rentals and in places that were hardly attractive. The more solitude and cleanliness you require, the more difficult the search will be, as anchoring is strictly forbidden in some natural locations.

Owning a houseboat does not necessarily mean that you will be going down all the rivers in it. You can have it as an alternative to living in the city, renting or buying a mooring costs similar to today's apartments.
Photo: Adobe Stock

Simply summarized, if you don't want to deal with energy sources, access to drinking water and lack of social contact, but at the same time don't want to live "only" in a conventional apartment or house somewhere on the outskirts of the city, then a stable houseboat is the ideal solution for you, although it will probably be the most financially challenging of all.

The life of an adventurer

The second way is often the complete opposite. It doesn't have to be the complete flip side of luxury, of course, but after all, if you choose to live the full houseboat life with the added bonus of cruising rivers and reservoirs and experiencing life from a new perspective, you won't need the most expensive boat at all. Nor the most expensive equipment. By the very logic of the matter, you can be surprised by all sorts of problems and collisions with whatever is floating in the river. There are also currents, dams and other obstacles that can more or less damage and wear out your boat. And the more you travel, the greater the risk.

Unlike a city mooring, you don't have such limitations with space, so you can spread your financial resources not only in equipment, but also in the size of the "terrace", or by adding an extra room.

As for the financial requirements, they are not necessarily several times smaller than in the first case, but you can save a lot. Each anchorage you decide to stop at has a different financial burden, plus you don't have to anchor in the same place every day, every time. By not having to have a stable mooring pre-paid for the whole year, you can rent a different one each time. On the other hand, if you don't have steady nerves and eternal peace of mind, be careful when choosing this option. You won't always be able to find a place to stay right away and you'll have to move on or come back.

Therefore, if you are considering this form of use and intend to go around the whole Vltava or the whole Elbe on a houseboat at some point in the future, or if you want to go around other areas in the long term, always have at least one berth in your own inventory that you have pre-paid for any extended period of time. You never know when it might come in handy.

But whichever of these options you choose, even if it's that marina in the middle of town where cars stream down the road in endless rows just a few dozen yards away, you're still at least partially cut off from the standard environment that is much more likely to be a trigger for stressors. Living in a houseboat also teaches you a minimalist mindset, which has implications for other aspects in life.

But until you try houseboat living, until you experience falling asleep in a rocking bed and the captivating morning smell of evaporating water, don't judge this type of living. Because you can never be sure it's not the lifestyle for you. I, too, as a city kid, would never have thought about ever living on the water before living there. All it took was a week and everything changed.