We drove down from Bangalore to Munnar by our own car(Swift). It’s around 475 kms. It’s best that one starts early in the morning(around 5) to reach Munnar by before it gets dark.
The route that we followed was:
*Bangalore
Hosur
Krishnagiri
*Till Krishnagiri, the road is amazing(4 lane).
*Dharmapuri
Bhawani
Salem*
From Dharmapuri to Salem; 4 lane project is under construction because of which the roads has some real bad patches interspered with completed 4 lane highway.
The route till Salem is on NH-7.
Don’t enter Salem city; take a by-pass from there.
*Perandurai
Vijapuri**(it’s a very small town so gotta ask someone; it’s 36 km from Perundarai. Take a left turn from here)
The above are on NH-47. From Vijapuri when you take a left turn; you enter the Kerela/TN State highway.
Tirrupur (There is no by-pass for this city, getting out of this city takes a lot of time)
*Paladam
Udumalapettai
*The drive between Udumalapettai & Palladam is amazing with numerous windmills on either side of the road. Traffic is very little on this route.
*Chinnar
Marayoor
Munnar*
The hill climb starts from Chinnar. Chinnar is famous for the Indira Gandhi National Park.
Most of the resorts are located around 20-25 kms away from Munnar. We stayed at Sterling Resort; I would not rate it as the best.
Club Mahindra, Sienna Village, Fort Munnar all are located close to one another.
Kakul