I travelled to Munnar, Tekkady and Allepy between Jan14 to Jan18 on my second Honey Moon !! and I should say it was one of the most memorable holidays I have ever spent..:-) Myself and my wife took the Kochuveli GR from Yeshwanthpur, Bangalore to cochin.
This train runs on Tuesdays and Sundays at 21:00 Hrs and I would recommend this train as there is not much crowd on it . I believe its not preferred among many people as it starts from Yeshwanthapur which is around 5-6 Kms from Bangalore City. Its a complete 3 Tier A/C train bur remember its not an express Train.
So.... the journey was delayed by 3 hours and we reached at 11 am instead of 8. I had booked a taxi through KDH Tours and Travels at Munnar for my entire journey, so our driver was waiting at the Ernakulam station to pick us up.
Taxi cost me around 7000/- for 5 days which included drivers bata, parking, toll charges etc.,
Day 1(Cochin - Munnar) : Afetr breakfast at cochin we started our journey towards Munnar and took the Madhurai road.You will sense the change in the weather as you get closer to munnar. I work for TCS and had booked a room at the Yellapatty Bungalow for all 4 days. It was 27 Kms away from Munnar city situated on the way to Mattupetty, So obviously a taxi is required to move around. We reached there at around 4:30 p.m and didn’t go anywhere else that day.
Yellapatty Bungalow :Its one of the 7 Bungalows which belong to the Tata/Kannan Devan group. These are huge British age bungalows most of them situated in the midst of the tea gardens. The bungalow at Yellapatty is TCS’s Holiday Home and is available only for TCS employees and its free :-)) There were 3 people to serve all our needs anytime. I should really appreciate their hospitality as they were very very helpful and were ready to provide whatever we ask. We were the only couple during our entire stay and we felt like King and Queen of the Bungalow !!! what more can I ask !! :-)) Staying in the bungalow, walking around the tea plantation early morning and sipping tea in the garden in itself was a memorable experience.
Day 2 - Munnar Sight seeing: We started our day from Top Station which was just 5 Kms away from our place. Its a windy, cloudy but amazing place and you can see clouds passing across which makes it even more fantastic view from top. from there we visited all the usual sight seeing places on the Mattupetty road like kundale lake, mattupetty dam, photo point, shooting point etc., etc....Its a terrific experience to pass through the vast tea plantations with beautiful sights and every view of the tea garden gives you a new look and experience. you will never be bored seeing the plantations, I bet.
Day 3- Tekkady :The plan was to leave to Tekkady early in the morning and then be back to munnar again by night fall. So we did and reached Tekkady around 1 pm. since it was a Saturday, there was too much crowd for the boating and we didn’t get tickets for it. I didn’t miss it too much as I had heard it was not all that exciting. Instead we visited a nearby spice garden, and then did an elephant ride which we got for a cheap deal at 400/- for 45 mins (they usually charge 750 for 30-45 mins). If you really want to visit the forest area then there are couple of Jeep safari’s which take you deep into the forest. your driver might be able to help you out. We also watched the traditional Kerala Martial Arts show (Kalari Fight) and for anybody visiting Keral my suggestion is DONT MISS IT !!! Its a 1 hour show normally between 6 p.m to 7 p.m. We then came back to Munnar at around 11:30 in the night, had dinner which our cook had prepared and had a sound sleep.
Day 4 - Munnar Sight Seeing:Started late leisurely and visited Eravikulam national park. If possible, plan this on a weekday as it might take long time in Q to get the Bus tickets to the park on weekends...we also went to Lakkam falls and few gardens on the way back. if you want to do some trekking then you can go to Chinnar wild life santuary, Marayoor forest, sandal wood forest.....we didn’t got to these places.I also took an ayurvedic full body massage for 700/- which included a good steam bath and it was very relaxing!!
Suggestion : If you just want to cover the normal sight seeing places, then 1 day is enough to cover most of the places around Munnar. The places which I covered in 2 days can easily be covered in one day if you make it quick. If you want adventure then you can plan a 2nd day for the Marayoor forest area and probably do a 2hr trekking. But If you are planning Tekkady in your trip then I feel Tekkady is a better place for going into forest region as you have good options for that.
Also, If you are planning for 3-4 days holiday, then you could easily finish munnar sightseeing in 2 days, leave for Tekkady early morning on the 3rd day stay at Tekkady overnight and probably do Allepy or Kumarakom on the following day . I choose to comeback to Munnar from Tekkady as I had booked the bungalow for all 4 days.
Day 5 : Munnar -Allepy- Cochin:With a heavy heart, we vacated our very loved bungalow and started towards Allepy to enjoy the backwater ride. We reached around 12 noon and took a day ride on a 3 BR Non A/C Houseboat which cost me 4000/- for 5 hours including Lunch. As everybody suggests, don’t book these houseboats online. Go to the Nehru point and you will see many people flocking around you offering houseboats. If you are going in groups, my suggestion is book a 2/3 bedroom houseboat with rooftop and go on a day ride. I think that’s good enough. If you are couple wishing to stay overnight then do book a small single bedroom A/C house boat which you might get for 6K . A/C boats are a must if you are staying overnight as it will be a bit warm(atleast for Bangaloreans) even in winters as the place is at sea level and also you will be accompanied by mosquitoes and insects. So, follow simple rule - overnight stay- preferably A/C boat. else non A/C boat is more than enough. That’s my suggestion but the decision is yours :-))
Its better to be at Allepy/Kumarakom for the backwater ride regardless or day ride or an overnight ride around 11:30 – 12 noon so that you can make the best use of the time and the money you pay.
Anyways...after saying Good Bye to our Houseboat we went to the Allepy beach which is a very clean, neat and tidy beach where you can watch the sunset. Finally we left around 6 P.M towards cochin to board our Karnataka Volvo (Airavatha) at 8 PM
Driver contact :Name : Medy (don’t know his full name )
Number : 09447979519
Now, I didn’t tell you that I didn’t have good experience with the Driver who picked us up from cochin. I informed the KDH people and immediately they changed the driver and sent this driver. This guy was amazing who spoke decent English and runs his own travels. He has good experience in trekking too.
Thanks,
Niranjan