This was the extended weekend of 1st May 2023. We extended it by two more days and made it a Kodaikanal & Munnar road trip from Bangalore. I covered the Kodaikanal in an earlier post, and let me take you through Munnar here.
Route
We went to Munnar from Kodaikanal. The route is simple, coming down from Kodaikanal to the plane, driving towards Theni, and going uphill to Munnar.
Kodaikanal -> Theni -> Munnar
As valid for any route, Google Maps perfectly guided us in most parts. Just make sure not to give the exact hotel location from the start itself, as in that case, it shows shortcuts through not-so-good hill roads, excluding the main one. The road condition was fantastic throughout. In most parts of India, it is unimaginable that hill roads can be so broad and well-maintained. While going towards Munnar, it was raining very heavily. Even with headlights with high beams, fog lights, parking indicators, and wipers at the highest speed, visibility was very low due to fog/clouds and rain. So, nothing scenic was visible, but this was an experience in itself to drive in this condition.
If you are going from Bangalore, the following is the route I would suggest.
Bangalore -> Hosur -> Krishnagiri -> Salem -> Dindigul -> Theni -> Munnar
While returning, we took the same route, and it was sunny this time. The road goes through the beautifully maintained wavy tea gardens. The rain made the green leaves even more glossy. It made us feel as if we were driving through a massive green velvet carpet. We kept stopping at multiple places. This was the best view of Munnar. This road is called the gap road, I think. We also got presumably authentic forest honey on the way.
Food options were limited after the junction where the road towards Kodainanal and Theni was divided.
Stay
We booked Olive Brook, which is outside of Munnar, in a remote place. The road to reach the resort is in good condition. The parking was tricky, but the manager gladly helped to park every time. The room was completely wooden, remarkably sophisticated, and well-maintained.
The morning walk through the forest-hill road in front of the resort was the most refreshing. Was able to hear different birds in otherwise silence. One specific bird’s whistling was prominent among all. As per the hotel manager that it was the Malabar whistling thrush. I happen to come across a bunch of porcupine quills scattered on the road.
Places to visit
Other than the gap road, there are mainly two places to visit.
Eravikulam National Park: It is around 8km north of Munnar. The road is beautiful. We went on a weekday, and still, it was super crowded. We had to park on the roadside, as parking was also full.
We missed booking the tickets online, and end up spending more than two hours in the queue to get on the bus. The bus took us through the tea-garden roads to an uphill point. From there we walked till the last allowed point, which was around more than a km or so. The weather was sunny, and the view was amazing on the bus route and in the area we walked.
The national park is mainly kept for the Nilgiri tahr, which is an endangered species. A couple of Nilgiri tahr were roaming around in the same pathway tourists were walking. They were behaving very similarly to normal goats.
While we were coming down from the top point, the cloud started taking the stage for its upcoming extravaganza performance. It started raining so heavily that I was worried whether the bus service to take us down would be halted. The rainwater was rushing down through the rocky hills and became multiple waterfalls. After waiting in a long queue, we managed to get the bus to get down. It was so heavily raining that, the place I kept my car also became a decent water stream flowing across the road to downhill.
Top Station: It was part of the plan to visit after the national park, but due to the heavy rain, it was no more a good idea. What I read and heard was, the road to the point is not in good condition, mainly in the last part. Though the scenic beauty is good on the way, the viewpoint is not anything special. So, I hope we didn’t miss much.
Pothamedu View Point: This was on the way to the hotel. It was a view of wavy tea gardens with a part of a water stream but nothing better than the view in the gap road.
Even though lesser rainy weather would have been better, we got partially sunny days to appreciate the beauty of Munnar. Indeed Munnar was much more glorious than I initially expected, and its green trace is still left in our minds.
Published by Wriddhi Bagchi
