Munnar

Munnar is known as the Queen of hills. And, rightly so! Munnar is a tourist hill station nestled in the Western Ghats. It is characterized by rolling hills with sprawling tea plantations, waterfalls, winding roads, hiking trails and awe-inspiring views. It is a delight for every tourist. On your road trip from Kochi to Munnar, you will find many scenic views and waterfalls on the way. Since Munnar is a hill station the roads are serpentine. There are frequent S shaped turns and hairpin turns. It can make your head spin making you nauseous. Please carry medicines for vomiting just in case. We experienced a lot of head spins and therefore chose to relax in Munnar instead of rushing to all the tourist spots. Nevertheless, we were not disappointed by our choice because Munnar is a place to relax amidst the nature.

The tourist points in Munnar are all located mainly on three routes. First has the Tata Tea Museum, Eravikulam National Park and Anamudi View Point, second route takes you to rose garden, Mattupetty dam and Kundala dam and the third takes you to Lockhart gap view and Anayirankal lake. You would need at least two full days to cover everything in Munnar. We had only one full day, so we chose the third route to get the best of Munnar and we were not disappointed. You may follow the following plan for 3 days if you want to cover everything in Munnar.

Cheeyappara, Vallara & Athirapally Waterfalls

All the three waterfalls are located enroute Munnar from Kochi. Chiyappara and Vallara are in the same route, while, Athirapally is in a different route. Athirapally is the largest of the three waterfalls. The waterfalls dry up during summers. We visited Kerala in April. Hence, Cheeyappara waterfall was non-existent. Valara waterfall was still present but with very less water as you can see in the pictures. Athirapally has water throughout the year but since it is a longer route, you will have to specially ask your driver to take you via that route.

If you are really into waterfalls, being a hilly region with the river Muthirappuzhayar dissecting the city, Munnar has several other waterfalls for you to enjoy. Attukad, Chinnakanal, Virippara, Ripple and Lakkom waterfalls are to name a few. Unfortunately, you will have to be a bit selective as all of these waterfalls are located on a different routes.

Tea gardens

Munnar is home to many tea gardens. In fact, entire Munnar is covered with tea plantation. There are several companies that have their estates and allow tourist visits to any one of their gardens. Tata, Lockhart, Kanan Devan Hills are a few big companies that are into tea business who have their estates in Munnar. You may visit any one of them that fall on your route. Or you can stop your car by the roadside and enjoy the views of the tea gardens. We felt like stopping at so many places to enjoy the views.

However, if you really want the knowhow and experience of a tea garden, definitely, visit any one estate. The shaded tea plants with leaves that change from darker to lighter shade of green as you move up the plant, all clustered tightly to form a blanket of green hills as far as the eyes can see will mesmerise you. We visited the Lockhart Tea Estate and spent some time there. Undoubtedly, the scenes were amazing as you can see below. Therefore, we did a long photo session here. It was so peaceful that we felt like never leaving. At a distance is the Lockhart Gap viewpoint which allows you to get a full view of the estate and the gap between the two sections of the estate.

View points

As you might know by now, Munnar has rolling hills which implies that there are many small hills with continuous gentle slopes extending to a large distance. So, it forms for wonderful landscapes as you drive along. Some viewpoints are present on top of the hill that give complete view of the hills below and the expanse of the tea gardens. Photo point located on the road to Mattupetty dam, offers a gorgeous view of the serpentine roads.

Anamudi view point which is on the way of Eravikulam National Park, provides an excellent view of the Anamudi Peak, the highest peak in Western Ghats. Chittirapuram view point is just by the road with views of the distant hills. There are several view points on the route to Anayirankal lake. One has a high vantage view of the hill settlements below.

There is another view point from where you can see the rolling hills appear like huge idlis, literally. Occasionally, just stop by the places you feel like offer a decent enough view and you have a view point of your own.

Jeep Safari (Attukad waterfalls)

Jeep Safari is a quite popular activity among tourists in Munnar. Needless to say, there will be many jeep operators in Munnar. You will be taken on a private jeep along the hiking trails or off roads through the tea gardens or hills. There are several routes to choose from depending on the safari agency that you have selected. You may be taken to 3-5 points which may include waterfalls, visit to tea gardens and some viewpoints. They are not very exciting as they may sound. Nonetheless, if you really want to go for it, you should. But, of course, it depends on the individual choice.

The safari operators may lure you into taking one by showing you attractive pictures or videos of waterfalls, trails, riverside and views, but do not to be fooled by them. You can google the routes they show and then decide on whether taking the trip or not. The cost varies depending on the route and points but generally start from ₹1700. We skipped it in our trip but talked to several other tourists who took the safari and they were not very thrilled.

Tata Tea Museum

This is an iconic tea museum in Munnar established by Tata Tea in 2005. You may visit the museum to get a knowhow of the tea making process. Through photographs and display of machineries used in the tea making process, the museum informs you of the history of tea plantations in this part of the world. You can watch a simple tool as a tea roller to the modern tea factories and learn the transition of tea making here. There is a demonstration room also, where you may try tea tasting of some of the most exotic varieties of tea in the world. There is a tea garden behind the tea museum where you can get a view of the tea plantation. The museum timings are 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM and it remains closed on Mondays. For this reason, we couldn’t visit it. Do check before planning a visit.

Blossom Hydel park/ Ramaswamy Aiyar Dam

Blossom Hydel Park in Munnar is a flower park on the banks of the river with a recreation area to spend your time. From time to time, there may be a flower show depending on the season. Nearby is the Ramaswamy Aiyar Dam which is an old dam in Munnar. There is another jeep safari route from here. The dam does not have much functionality but it is a good photo point with backgrounds of tea plantations, hills and river.

Mattupetty Dam/ Echo Point

There are many lakes and reservoirs in Munnar like the Mattupetty Dam, Sengulam Dam, Anayirankal Lake, Kundala lake, Kalarakutty Dam etc. You can visit any one of them depending on your proximity to enjoy the scenes surrounding the reservoirs and enjoy some leisure time by the side or doing some water activities. Mattupetty Dam is one of the most popular tourist spots in Munnar and hence very crowded. It is a reservoir that offer some entertainment activities like boating, jet ski, kayaking etc. It is one of the most commercialised places in Munnar. There are several echo points along the length of the lake named so due to the echo experienced from these points if you call out. Overall, it is an okay place to spend some time and enjoy if you are with a family.

Eravikulam National Park

This national park is the house of the endangered Nilgiri Tahrs. You can find them a plenty here along with some elephants. But this is about it. There are some scenic views of the Anamudi peak from the park. There is not much to explore here. It would do no harm to skip it. We had skipped it

Anayirankal Dam

Anayirankal Dam is one of the many dams in and around Munnar. It is one of the largest earthen dams around 30 km from Munnar centre. The Tata Tea estate is on one side of the dam and dense forest cover on the other side. You may take a paddle boat or motor boat to go around the reservoir. You may also go kayaking if you know swimming. There is an adventure park with several rides and play area near the boating point. A park is also present with a small restaurant. Overall it is a good picnic spot in Munnar. The scenes are worth spending some time. It is less crowdy than the more popular Mattupetty dam.

Kalari Kshetra

Kalari Kshetra is a cultural theatre that runs a Kalrippayattu (Martial Arts) show and a Kathakali show. The shows are one after the other with Kathakali dance performance first followed by the Martial Arts show. There are separate tickets for both performances. The ticket cost is about ₹250/adult for one show. We went for the evening show from 5PM as the theatre was just two buildings away from our homestay. Kathakali is a traditional dance form of Kerala where performers dress up in colourful dresses and make up and narrate a story through dance using facial expressions and eye movements. You can also watch the artistes getting ready and doing make up for the performance to appreciate just how detailed every performance is. They perform any of the story from the epics of Ramayana or Mahabharata. It is a unique experience and very fulfilling too but felt a bit lengthy.

The performers also perform acts with volunteers from the audience to make it more interactive. This part was more fun. Later, you may enjoy the highly energetic and skilled Martial Arts performance. The fighters put up a display of combats, jumps and stances using swords, fire rings and other weapons. We skipped the martial arts performance as we had seen it earlier. You may get a picture with the artistes at the end of the act on a small donation on your part. It is a must visit to get a glimpse of the culture of Kerala through its state dance and the combat art if you have never experienced it before.

Spice gardens

This is one of the most touristy things that you can do in Kerala. There are many spice farms in the entire Idukki district. Munnar also has many spice farms around the city which produce spices on scale and export it to different parts of the world. They also grow medicinal plants and prepare oils for ayurvedic treatments. You will have the option to visit any such farm where they charge you a small fee of around ₹100/person and take you around the farm’s designated areas to show the different types of medicinal plants and spices they grow. The other part is where they show the ayurvedic medicines, different types of oils that they prepare and their multiple benefits. They also have shops where they sell packed spices which they claim to be fresh from their farm.

We visited one of the very popular spice farms named Kerala Farm Organic Spices Village. The guide showed us around for about 1 hr post which we were almost forced into buying something. The spices were very costly and did not seem to be organic. We found some of the packets infested. The medicines were organic but were almost thrice to four times costlier. We bought some medicinal oils for pain relief which are effective. But we detected a different company name on the bottles. Please be aware of such scams and you may politely decline buying any products after visiting the farm.