A houseboat is a boat designed to be lived in as a home. Unlike regular boats built mainly for traveling across water, houseboats are built for comfort and daily living, with bedrooms, kitchens, bathrooms, and living rooms just like houses on land.

Some houseboats stay permanently moored in one spot, essentially floating homes tied to a dock. Others can motor slowly from place to place, combining home and travel. You might find houseboats lined up along canals in cities like Amsterdam or floating on lakes in Kashmir, India. In the United States, Lake Union in Seattle and certain areas of California have famous houseboat communities where people live year-round on the water.

Living on a houseboat means adjusting to gentle rocking, dealing with limited space, and learning special skills like managing water tanks and maintaining the boat's hull. But houseboat residents often love being surrounded by water, watching sunsets from their decks, and having ducks or fish as neighbors.