Nature unplugged at Munnar

Munnar is one of our favorite destinations. It is so stunning that each time we go there; we get lost in its beauty.

Munnar is usually the first destination when you land in Cochin. Cochin to Munnar is around 130 km (3.5-4 hrs. drive). We started early in the morning to avoid traffic jam. After crossing Cochin city, we enjoyed every bit of our journey. Especially the stretch where tea plantation covered the whole place. OMG! It was spectacular. We reached our hotel in almost 3 hrs. as we had started early.

Tea Plantations

We felt that the main attraction of Munnar are the tea plantations. Most of the roads are along the plantations. Our favorite time in Munnar was driving between the plantations. We stopped at few plantations to enjoy the nature and for many photos (obviously!).

Tea Museum

We chose to go to tea museum early as it opened till 4 pm. The tea museum has guided tour of the museum for tourists. The tour was interesting at the start but it became little tiring later as the guide stretched with his descriptions towards the end. But overall it was insightful. They explained the proper method of making green tea among other things. We bought different types of tea from there. It looked so fresh. Later when we tasted the tea, definitely a good decision to buy tea from the museum.

Rajamalai National park

Rajamalai (Eravikulam) National park is one of the famous tourist spots in Munnar. After reaching there, we had to wait in a long queue for tickets, as you have to go uphill in a bus to see the national park. Generally, you have huge crowd there because of its popularity. So, again after waiting for an hour, we got into bus and reached at the top. There are only Nilgiri Tahr in national park which are sometimes rare to spot. But the view from the top is so awesome; that it compensates for lack of sighting and all the waiting.

Mattupetty Dam

Our next destination was Mattupetty Dam. We went down close to the dam itself and we were actually stunned by the view. Enormous lake surrounded by hills covered entirely with trees. It was the perfect setup for a long photo session.

Down the other side of the reservoir, you can reach the boat point. The place has speed boat tour to enjoy the scenic reservoir. We hired a couples’ boat. They also had larger family-sized boats separately. The boat ride lasted only for 10-15 min but was worth doing it. If you go further down the way you find yourself in a beautiful valley. You have stream down below with mountains and trees around.

Echo point and Viewpoints

Similar to other hill stations, Munnar also has a number of viewpoints and echo points. Generally, they come on the way to other places. So whenever we got the opportunity we stopped our car to catch a good view of valley from these points.

Apart from these places, we also caught a glimpse of few small waterfalls on the way.

Stay

Our hotel was nice and clean. There was an awesome view of valley from the room window. Room was clean and well decorated. Breakfast was good with mostly south Indian dishes. We stayed in a hotel but our suggestion would be to stay in a resort to enjoy complete beauty of Munnar. But yes, generally resorts will be little far from the city. So, there is a trade-off between staying in hotel or resort.

Things to miss

There is one famous Elephant ride in Munnar. We went for the same but got stuck in a long queue and waited for 1.5 hrs. with no luck. Then it was suggested by our driver to do Elephant ride in Thekkady as it would be less crowded. And it was totally worth to go with that. You can enjoy riding and feeding elephant in Thekkady with almost no crowd. So we will suggest not to wait for elephant ride in Munnar.

Do you have a story to tell about your Munnar experience? Drop in a comment or send us a mail. We will definitely reply. All the interesting tales will be published in a special feature.