9 Exciting Things To Do In Munnar, Kerala
People call Kerala God’s own country but, Kerala is so beautiful that we should be very happy to call it simply our own country.
Anonymous
I had always wanted to go to Kerala as I did hear from one of my teacher that it is heaven in earth. However, it took me 26 years to finally make it there. I made a 10 days program in the Feb, 2022 to visit Munnar and Thekkady in Kerala. I can tell you that it was very exciting trip with lush greenery everywhere you look at.
Small Glitch In Our Plan…
Two days before our travel, we learnt that the flight was cancelled but Indigo airlines was nice enough to give us an option to choose alternate flight. After a quick call with Indigo customer service, I changed the flight to Kochi, Kerala from Madurai, Tamilnadu. We reached Kochi around 8:00pm and then went to ‘Flora Airport Hotel and Convention Center’ near airport for overnight stay at Kochi. The hotel is worth mentioning as it had beautiful ambience about it.
Next morning around 8:00am, our pickup cab arrived; booked via MakeMyTrip. We started our journey and the cab driver was awesome that he agreed to show us all the places that is on way to Munnar. He didn’t even charge us extra for it. The added bonus was that he suggested us another cab that would help us for local site-seeing for our entire trip and it was much cheaper than what Club Mahindra or MakeMyTrip would have cost us. The cab charged us Rs. 3200/- for the trip from Kochi to Munnar.
Top 9 Things To Do In Munnar
Kerala is known as God’s Own Country due to its lush green landscape and pristine backwaters. There are too many places to visit in Munnar and I will describe the ones we have done and would suggest others too that we couldn’t during this trip. A blast of greenery greeted our senses throughout the road trip from Kochi to Munnar and it seemed like we have landed in heaven.
1. Elephant Ride And Bath
Fee: Rs 1,500 per person w/bath and Rs. 1,000 just for ride.
We were told by our cab driver that we are lucky to be getting the opportunity for the elephant ride and bath as it is available only for 3 days every month. The heat was unbearable at that point and the idea of bath sounded pretty exciting to me. My sister was not thrilled about the bath but somehow seeing the excitement on my face, she acquiesced. It was on the way to Munnar. They provide a room for change of clothes before and after the bath. We were their first riders and hence no wait for us.
I would highly recommend this ride and bath to all as we loved every second of it. We were laughing, giggling and being silly throughout the whole experience. The elephant was a beautiful 30 yrs old female which is very young in elephant age of 100 yrs. The seating on the elephant back was very comfortable and there were handle-bars to hold onto. There was lots of riders queued up by the time we finished our ride and bath.
2. Spice Garden, Kerala Farm
Entry Fee: Rs 50 per person
This is another place that I would highly recommend. Kerala Farm is government-owned 500 acres property; one of the best Ayurvedic and spices gardens in Munnar. From my personal experience, it has got authentic and genuine Ayurvedic medicines. Doctors and knowledgeable consultants available to explain about all Ayurvedic spices, medicine and diseases. They also make and sell essential oils, perfumes, spices and soaps.
After you buy the tickets, you are taken about 500mtrs downhill in the jeep and from there, a guide gives you walking tour in first 1-2 acres of the property. This property has all kinds of spices and herbs. The guide – “Feroz” had outstanding knowledge on each plant and herbs. Here too, we enjoyed every minute and made good friends with the guide. I am sharing a photo with him too here. The photos can show you what we saw there. Oh yes, we did buy some oil perfumes, soaps and medicines from there.
3. Tea Plantation
Entry Fee: Rs 20 per person
Pallivasal Tea Garden is situated a few kms away on the outskirts of Munnar. The tea gardens are known for their heavenly beauty and beautiful meadows of tea plantations. You can also see the Sahya mountain range in the backdrop. Every inch of the mountain is covered with tea plants and they create a beautiful pattern with the thin space between each plant. We hired a photographer to take few photos as ‘tea plantation worker’ for Rs. 100 per photo. We spent about 1-1.5 hrs. here walking, taking photos and enjoying the plantation.
4. Rose Garden
Entry Fee: Rs 50 per person
Camera: Rs. 50
Rose garden or KFDC horticulture center, is located around 6 kms from Munnar town en-route Top station. Saying it a Rose Garden is a misnomer as it is actually flower-cum-botanical garden with a part of it being rose garden. We spent at least 2 hrs. to roam around the whole garden and then additional 30 mins with a photographer to take photos of us. The myriad of colors, the way the whole thing was designed was very pleasing to eyes. I would recommend going here early unless you are visiting in December or January as it was pretty hot and I was very tired due to hot weather. I don’t think anyone going to Munnar should miss visiting this garden.
5. Kolukkumalai – 2nd Highest Mountain Peak In Kerala
Cost: Rs. 400 per Jeep entry fee and Rs. 2,500 by Jeep safari operator.
I wanted to do the Gudumpara Jungle Day Safari but the cab driver said that it is not that great due to dry weather and Kolukkumalai peak would be better Jeep Safari option. We went with his suggestions as it was described as most scenic 17 kms drive on internet. We started around 5:30AM though the cab driver asked us to be ready by 5:00AM and we were but he assumed that we won’t be ready on time.
Kolukkumalai is about 7,130 feet (2,170 m) above sea level and lies some 32 kms (20 mi) from Munnar. It is world’s highest tea plantation operated by government of Kerala. The hill top village is accessible only by jeep due to rugged and rain drenched roads. It is about a one and a half hour journey from Munnar town. It is not accessible to private vehicles.
It was thrilling drive for sure and very scenic too as there was tea plantation all around us on both sides of the mountain. We reached the top to see the sunrise around 6:15 AM and there is a 15 mins hike to reach the top point. It was very cold and cloudy that day. We didn’t get a chance to see the promised sunrise but it was still worth it. We went on small trail too during 15 mins return trip and a government owned tea plantation viewpoint coming down the mountains. Attached photos from the top of the mountain and view point.
6. Echo Point
Accessible: 6:00 AM to 7.30 PM everyday
Entry Fee
Adults – Rs 30
Children – Rs 15
Activities
Boating, Horse ride, Bird watching, nature walk, shopping on streets.
Speed Boat(15 Minutes) – 2 Persons – Rs 200
Pedal Boat(30 minutes) – 3 Persons – Rs 300
Horse Ride(15 minutes) – 1 Person – Rs 200
Echo point is situated around 15kms from Munnar, and draws huge crowd due to the natural phenomenon of echo. It has a lake and mountain view as well. It is beautiful place and I, firsthand, got to experience the beautiful echo phenomenon when a large tourist group started whistling and making sounds. The echo effect was so beautiful and it doesn’t happen unless you are loud enough. My sister tried alone yelling and calling names of her kids but it didn’t echo back because the sound level was not loud enough.
The other fun thing I got to watch was sudden loud shrieking sound of lots of monkeys in big trees there. I had tried to capture it but they are not visible as they were high enough and I was only carrying a phone camera. We reached there late in the evening and hence we couldn’t try the round boat. We had already done speed boating before that day at Mattupetty Dam. The lake had very beautiful view as you can see in the photos.
7. Anayirangal Dam And Park
Entry Fee
Adults – Rs 20
Children – Rs 10
Four Wheeler – Rs 30
Two Wheeler – Rs 10
Mini Bus – Rs 50
Activities
Boating, Relax in the Park
Speed Boat(15 Minutes) – 5 Persons – Rs. 750
Pontoon Boat(30 minutes) – 20 Seater – Rs 1600
Anayirangal Dam is located 22 kms from Munnar and one has to take Pooppara – Thekkady road to reach this dam. Anayirangal literally means “the Dam where elephant come down to quench their thirst”. It is one of the world’s largest earthen dams built in the 1960s. We didn’t try boating here and hence cannot elaborate on it but it is considered one of best landscapes to enjoy boating on. The reservoir and the surrounding landscape is really beautiful. There is a park on one end of it where you can go for boating and relax in thatched huts. It was really hot that day but just sitting in the thatched hut with cool wind blowing was very relaxing. There is a Cafe too in the Park where we had a simple delicious lunch. We also went to the bridge built on the dam as shown in photos.
8. Mattupetty Dam
Entry Fee
Each Person – Rs 10
Activities
Boating, Relax in Park, Trekking, Bird watching, Horse riding
Speed Boat(30 Minutes) – 5 Persons – Rs. 900
Pontoon Boat(15 minutes) – 20 Seater – Rs 150 each
Mattupetty is a beautiful picnic spot. People love visiting the dam along with the lake here and families can regularly be seen enjoying a fine afternoon in the area. The view of the valley from here is breath-taking and one gets to simply relax and enjoy the beautiful weather. The lush green tea plantations and forests in and around Mattupetty are ideal for trekking and host a large number of unique bird species. We enjoyed the “Sun Moon Valley Park” very much and did speed boating here. I also went for 15 mins trekking in this area as my sister was not interested in it.
One funny episode happened here. My sister was taking photos of the horse there and after she was done, she just turned her back and started walking. I was returning from my trekking when I see her walking back and what I see is that the horse started following my sister. She was totally unaware of it and walking at her own pace. I started shouting and running to warn her that the horse is approaching her but she was not able to hear me. Luckily the horse owner ran and got hold of the horse and I ran to my sister; telling her what she just missed. We both ended up laughing.
Another fun titbit on ‘Sun Moon Valley Park’ was my sister’s shooting of balloons. She got 4 out of 5 shots on the mark and missed one only because I created pressure on her by being too close. She is a really good shot. 🙂
9. Hanging Bridge Viewpoint
Cost: Free
This is one of my favorite spot as I loved the idea of going through tree plantation and walk through the wooden hanging bridges. I became a child, running from one bridge to another and trying as many as I could see. In the valley different tributaries of majestic Periyar river were flowing through. Our cab driver told us that it has 7 such tributaries going through the valley and words cannot do justice to what we saw through our eyes. It was amazingly beautiful and though you cannot see all 7 streams at once but you could see 3 majestic streams at a time, winding their way through the valley amidst tea plantation, orange trees and silver trees strewn here and there. Wow is the only word that is closest to what we felt. Do not miss this for any reason.
Other Things To Consider…
Neriamangalam Bridge
Cost: Free
The Neriamangalam Bridge, Ranikallu (stone of queen), built across the Periyar river, is often referred as ‘The Gateway to the High ranges’ as it is on the way to the higher regions of Idukki district, especially Munnar. The bridge was made by the Maharaja of Travancore in 1935. The bridge is very old but the view of Periyar River from the bridge is awesome. I could have taken thousands pictures but still not satisfied. I have taken one photo from the net to show the drone view of the beautiful bridge for you to see it in its full glory.
Valahal Falls
Cost: Free
This was a dud as there was not much water in the fall. This was the case for all the falls across the state. I couldn’t understand how everything could be so green when they were having water scarcity. You see this fall from the road but I am sure there might be another way to go near the fall that we didn’t venture out.
Other Activities
If you are interested in some adventurous activities, you can do opt for Balloon Ride and Paragliding too. We didn’t do any of these but they are said to be real fun for adventure seeking people.
Shopping
My sister is big on shopping and I am diametrically opposite. Anyhow she won this battle and we did do shopping in Kerala. On the way to Munnar from Kochi, we stopped at a handloom shop that had Kerala sarees in silk, banana silk (they use the threads in banana trunk to make this) and cotton. We did buy 1 saree and 1 banana silk salwar suit dress from there but the selection was awesome and prices reasonable. Again, I would highly recommend to visit this shop, at least just to see how they use banana fibers to make dress material.
We did shopping in Munnar for cotton dress materials more in another handloom shop beside Kerala Farm. We even saw weaving being done there. We ended up buying more stuff there as prices are very reasonable and everything very authentic. As I mentioned before we did some medicine shopping, perfume, essential oils and spices shopping at Kerala Farm too.
Kerala Massages
I was very interested in Kerala massage since I reached there. The first day out of my eagerness, I booked a Shirodhara massage at Club Mahindra hotel. Though it felt good; however the massaging part was not good and it felt like they are just applying lots of oil. So, I won’t recommend the expensive Club Mahindra massage for sure.
Then we both went on 3rd day of our stay to a massage center (Mayura Ayurvedic Massage Center) and did 70 mins (myself) and 90 mins (my sister) massages and that was really good. I would highly recommend this center.
People And Food
It would be amiss if I don’t mention the fact that people are very nice and friendly in Kerala. Food is very cheap if you opt for local restaurants. We were able to eat for Rs. 600-800/- per day for both of us. Food is delicious here and even the other cuisines are well prepared and very tasty.
