This was planned on weekend as Munnar is 160 kms away from kochi and the distance can be covered in 4 hrs. Self with three friends started at 3 pm on 08 Dec 18 (Saturday) from kochi. The afternoon had city traffic during the transit on NH85. Its two lane road throughout and not really good especially in ghats. Don’t be surprised if you are stuck in traffic jam as buses operate very frequently. Most important thing, please drive safe and slow when rounding a bend as you will encounter so many of them. I reached Munnar at 7:30 pm. There are very few designated parking places in the town, so this needs to be catered. The temperature was 16deg. We checked in the hotel Highrange Inn. The room charge was 1500 per room (with balcony view and complementary breakfast). The hotel was preferred as its located 1 km before town started and to avoid any parking issue. The hotel staff were cooperative and they hosted us well. We went out in evening to buy home made chocolates and different flavours of tea. The price was negotiable and affordable. After shopping the group headed for dinner. The city has variety of non veg and pure veg restaurants. Next day morning started with a lovely view of the sunrise from our hotel room (Temperature - 11 Deg). After breakfast we drove to the Top Station (30 kms from town). The road going uphill has beautiful scenery. While coming back from Top station, we stopped at Echo point (12 kms from town) and tea garden for photography. You can also visit elephant park enroute. We also visited Mattupetty dam and went for power boat ride. The cost of boat ride was 750 INR for max of 05 person and time duration of 15 mins. The boat ride was amazing as you witness the dam surrounded by hills from all the sides. On completion we set our course for kochi. The City was beautiful and people were good. Friends, you might face communication issues if you don’t know Malayalam but it’s manageable. I would recommend people to visit this place if you have two days off else it will be tight for you to complete your checklist.
