Munnar, Kashmir of South India. Review on Munnar

We had visited Munnar on 26th of Jan 2012. We had been there for a 3day- 2 night trip. We booked AC sleeper bus from KPN travels. But the condition of the bus was very bad. The bus arrived at around 12 at night instead of 10:30 pm. To our shock we were asked to change our bus at Udumalpet around 80km from Munnar. We were asked to board a small crapped non AC bus.

Despite this initial trouble we hoped that our trip would be a good one. Anyways we reached Munnar at around 12 in the noon. From the bus stop we took an auto rickshaw to our hotel. We had made an advance booking at the Royal Retreat Resort. We had booked a garden facing deluxe room for around Rs2500. The resort is around 2km form the main city and is easily accessible by autos. They generally charge you Rs 30 for travelling anywhere within the town.

After a quick refresh we decided to do a bit of site seeing that day. One can book either a cab or an auto rickshaw for the site seeing. Cabs usually charge you around Rs1200 for a whole day trip. Auto rickshaws are much cheaper. We opted to take a auto rickshaw at a bargained price of Rs 500 for a half day tour. It was decided that he would take us to Rose garden, Mattupatty Dam, Kundala Lake, Echo point.

The rose garden is not much of a site, so we didn't spend much of the time there. We then moved towards Mattupatty Dam. The lake created at the dam site is quite a nice place to visit. There were a lot of boat services that were on offer. Even though the place was a bit crowded with tourist, the place is still a must visit place. We then went to the Echo point. Echo point is a point on the same lake where one can hear his own voice being echoed around the hills. The lake being quite a large one, we decided to go and sit at an isolated location by the lake. The water of the lake is quite clear.

After spending some quite time by the lake we traveled towards the Kundala Lake. This lake too much like the previous one, is quite a beautiful site to spend some time at. Top station is quite near to this place. But since it was late in the afternoon and to the advice most of the localities’ we decided not to visit this place. We were told that one should visit this place early morning so that they can see the valley clearly but at that time of the day the entire region would remain overcast with mist with not much visibility.

On reaching back to the hotel we decided to visit Pothumedu view point. We watched a lovely sun set at this point and enjoyed a warm cup of coffee from a local tea stall. Views of coffee, tea, and cardamom plantations are excellent from here and it’s an ideal spot for trekking and hiking amidst lush mountains, rolling hills and breathtaking scenery.

We headed straight to the market place from this place so some shopping. Most common shopping items here would be home made chocolates and spices. Being interested in neither I started searching the local shops for some handicraft items. At the end of my search I found myself buying some mask of Kathakali dancers, the famous dance form of Kerala.

We had our dinner at the resort’s restaurant. The food was good and yummy. We tried out some local delicacies of Kerala. Being an ardent lover of beef we were overjoyed to find a number of beef items on the menu.

On our next day’s agenda was Eravikulam National Park, Green valley view, shooting point, Luckom water fall, Sandalwood forest and Chinnar Wild life sanctuary. We had arranged for a cab at a charge of Rs1200 for an entire day’s trip.

Eravikulam National Park, also known as Rajamala National Park, is famous for endangered Nilgiri Thar. The park offers a magnificent view of the tea plantations and also the rolling hills caressed by blankets of mists.

The Green valley view point is a view point overlooking the lovely tea garden. It is idea for taking some lovely snaps.

Next on our list was the lovely Lockom waterfall. There is an entry ticket of Rs10 for this. One would not mind paying the amount after seeing the well maintenance of the waterfall. Unlike most of the waterfalls, it was garbage free and quite secluded in location. There are also guided treks offered for Rs 60. But keeping in mind my husband’s injured ligament we decided against it. We spend some watching the lovely waterfall after which we headed for the next places on our tour list. On the way to Chinnar wildlife sanctuary, one can see the sandalwood forest. This is the only place where you can see sandalwood trees growing naturally. Unfortunately one is not allowed inside the forest due to security reasons.

Our next stop was Chinnar wild life sanctuary. There are a number of treks that are arranged from here. We opted for a small guided trek inside the jungle that would give us the view of the natural caves with murals, and relics from Later Stone Age civilization. The trek was charged at Rs100 per head. The Thoovanam waterfall can be seen at a distance from this place. After a tiring trek we headed back to Munnar for our Kathakali and Kalaripayattu show. Both the shows are organized near the bazaar area and can be booked directly from the venue or from the hotels. Kalaripayattu is an ancient martial art from the state of Kerala. Both the shows are nice to watch.

After the shows we headed for our dinner, which incidentally was our first food for the day. We headed for the famous Rapsy Restaurant located in the bazaar area. We tried out some of their specialties. I truly loved the food though my husband was not very happy with the food.

The next day we mainly sent lazing around the town. We boarded our bus back to Bangalore at around 4 pm. We had toughly enjoyed our stay at Munnar and had already made up our minds to come back again to this place.