Munnar
One of the finest hill-stations in India, Munnar attracts tourists from all over the world throughout the year. The salubrious climate, unscathed greenery and proximity to many tourist attractions make it a hot tourist spot.
Munnar is 1,700 meters (5,249.3 ft) above mean sea level and the temperature ranges between 0 Degree Celsius and 10 Degree Celsius in winter and 15 Degree Celsius and 25 Degree Celsius in summer.
150km away from the Kochi International Airport, Munnar is easily reachable via NH 49. Once you reach 2nd Mile, 7 km before Munnar from Cochin, you will start seeing vast tea plantations on both sides of the road. You can also take the other route on the other side of the Western Ghat, via Madurai and Pollachi.
The numerous attractions Munnar offers include the Kurinjimala Sanctuary, Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, Amaravati reserve forest of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary, Eravikulam National Park, Anamudi Peak, Anamudi Shola National Park, Pampadum Shola National Park, Mattupetti Dam, Echo Point, and Marayoor sandalwood forest. Munnar is famous for Neelakurinji that blooms only once in twelve years and makes the entire valley blue in color.
Munnar, in total is an amazing experience with the nature, and every spot is truly enjoyable. But still, we name a few places of interest listed direction wise as below:
Cochin Direction:
Pothamedu View: 6 km from Munnar, offers you excellent view of plantations.
Attukadu Water Falls: 9 km from Munnar. A panorama of waterfalls and rolling hills located between Munnar and Pallivasal isa feast for the eyes.
Blossom Park: This is a small flower garden, part of the Hydel tourism woned by the Kerala Electricity Board.
Coimbatore Direction:
Tea Museum: The Tea Museum is an exclusive place to see the process of making tea. You can see the museum of equipment used in the earlier days for tea making. A documentary on Munnar and Tea can be viewed in the small theater here. Your are offered a cup of tea as you walk out from the museum. Thus, hear you See, Smell, Hear bout, and Taste Tea. Charges for entry is Rs.75/- per head.
Eravaicolam National Park: 12 km from Munnar Town, Eravicolam is a wildlife sanctuary proclaimd as a National Park since it supports the largest population of Nilgiri Tahr existing in the world. On the way to this park, you can view Anamudi, the highest point in southen region, 2695 mtrs above msl. Rajamala is where the Neelakurinji a plant bloomed the most. At that time, the hill sides werevblanketed with flowers. You can visit www.neelakurinji.net for details of Neelakurinji plant and flowers.
Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary: A thorny scrub jungle present no where else make this sanctuary unique. There is a wide range of animal and good number of birds in this sanctuary. Animals include elephant, gaur, sambar, porcupine, lion tailed monkey etc. Birds like Jungle fowl, spotted dove, Keralalaughing thrush etc are seen here. The sanctuary is situated on the either side of Marayoor – Udumalpet Road and is hence accessible by road. At Marayoor you an see the sandal wood trees at both the sides of the road. At Chinnar there is watch tower standing on which you may by able to see some life around. You can also make a short trekking into the sanctuary guided by the forest guards. Nearby, you can see Thoovanam water falls.
Of these, the Sandal forest and Wild life Sanctuary etc are about 45 and 62 km away from Munnar. So these places may be included in your tour plan only if you are staying in Munnar for a period of more than 3 nights.
Top Station Direction:
Flower Plants Nursery by Forest Department: On you way toward Top Staton you can visit this garden and buy plant if you wish.
Honey Bee Tree: This tree is known for hosting large number of Honey Hives.
Maduppetty: At an elevation of 1700 m above sea level, this place is 13 km away from Munnar. District Toursim Promotion Council, and the Hydel Toursim provide boating facilities on teh Mattuppetty Dam. Speed launch, slow speedboat and motorboats are available for hire.
Echo Point: Here you could listen to your echo. Now as the Eucalyptus plantation at the other side of the lake (this is the resevier area of the Maduppetty Dam) is cut down, echo is very feeble compared to the earlier days.
Kundala Dam: Kundala is a picturesque location on the way to Top Station. The Golf Course which belongs to the Tata Tea Ltd is located here. The Kundala artificial dam is another attraction.
Top Station: Top station is yet another attraction of Munnar. This hill top is 32 km south east of Munnar and 1700 meters above the sea level. From Top Station,we get a panoramic view of Kambam in the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu Top Station is alone the Munnar – Kodaiknal road. Though there is short cut, it is nto accessible even by jeep. During the time of British rule, for transportation of Tea and man-power they had constructed a rope-way as well as a mini rail line. This was later destroyed by by natural calamities, but the remains are still left.
Towards Coimbator comes Eravicolam National Park, Sandal wood forest at Marayoor and Chinnar Wild Life Sancturay.
Around the township of Munnar you can go to see the CSI Church which was built during the British period, The Murugan Temple, the Mosque and the Vegetable Market.
