The Traveller: Munnar , Kerala Monsoon Travel

We started from Periyar National Park after an excellent complimentary breakfast. The huge variety of food and the hospitality of the staff at Periyar House was exemplary. There was no rush to checkout as the number of guests was very few since it was a weekday. We took the kids to the playground which was just in front of the staying premise. They had fun on the slides and the merry go rounds as they were joined by some new friends who had come to stay at Periyar House from Trivandrum.

We started by 12:30 pm, but before leaving we wanted to check the boating jetty. This time we did not go for the boat safari as we have small kids with us who might get too excited on getting into the water.But my sister and brother-in-law who were also with us on this trip did their early morning boat ride and they just loved it so much. When we last came to Periyar National Park, almost 10 years back we did the early morning boating and it was such a crazy rush to get tickets. You can read about it here. But now if you are staying in any of the Government property in Periyar, you are assured to get a confirmed boat ride the next day for the morning slot

The distance from Periyar to Munnar is a mere 92 km and Google showed us the time required to cover the distance to be 4 hours. Normally the time is 3 hours but the additional 1 hour was because of the slow moving traffic as a result of the unstable weather depression in parts of Kerala. The road is otherwise very very scenic and the road conditions was not bad either. However it took us almost 5.5 hours to reach our hotel because of very heavy rain at some parts and very poor visibility.

We had a prebooking with Lime Light Resort, Pallivasal. On reaching the hotel it was a big disappointment. The approach road to the hotel is very narrow and broken. It is extremely difficult to drive till the hotel after taking the diversion from the road. Also if there is two way traffic then one of the vehicles have to take reverse till it hits the main road as the road is too narrow. They also do not have any proper parking and whatever parking space is available is not adequate if there are many guests with cars.

The rooms are also not clean, there are cracks at points on the door or openings under the door through which spiders and other insects get into the room. So its very very risky. Thirdly room service is pathetic. I think they have just only one guy who takes orders, cooks and services. So your order takes ages to arrive.So although we had two days booking we had to cancel a day and find another hotel the next day.

Do check our vlog for the visual details --> Click Here

The next day we checked into a hotel called Dream Castle Resort. Its a new hotel, interiors are fresh, new and clean and has a good location advantage.The great thing about this hotel is the excellent value for money and the not so great thing is the rooms are small and when we stayed they did not had a restaurant.So food had to be bought from outside.However the hotel provided cutlery on request.

In Munnar we visited the following:

Mattupetty Dam
Echo Point
Cattle Point

Kundala Lake and Dam

Kundala lake has basic toilet facilities, not very clean but chargeable.

We skipped Top Station this time as the weather was not good and it was raining now and then. However when we visited Munnar last time we had been to Top Station as well. You can see the pictures of Top Station here.

There is a nice place called Chai Bazar in Pallivasal. They have a shop from where you can buy spices, honey,jam,biscuits and more such things.But the great thing is they have a cafe in the middle of the tea garden where you can sit, enjoy the wonderful views while sipping from your cup of Nilgiri chai.

There was nothing eventful for the rest of the day except for the black Kerala halwa that my sister got from a bakery.It was very different from the normal halwa that we get elsewhere and is more sweet and gooey.It tastes good as well and one should try on a trip to Kerala if he or she has a sweet tooth. The weather was not getting any better and so we all decided that the next day we would move out of Munnar since there is no point of wasting days just staying at hotel.

The next day we moved on to a place known as Marayoor, a hidden gem of Kerala. To know about the place do read the next and the final part of this trip report to Kerala.

Finally some pictures for your viewing pleasure..