Trip to GOD’s Own Country (Kerala)

We were planning for a vacation for 1 week and Kerala – “GODs Own Country” (I would rather call it “Blessed by Nature”) was shortlisted. Kerala is one of those lucky states, which has got a little bit of everything – green mountains, valleys, beaches, backwaters,  temples, churches, tea gardens, coffee and spice plantations… The very thought of visiting this state excited us.

There are so many places to see, it’srather difficult to cover all the places in a week’s time. We had 7Nights/8 days, wanted to drive and did not want to compromise on the time spent at each place. With this as the basis, we came up with the places we would enjoy spending our vacation.On our previous visits to Kerala, we had covered few places of North-West Kerala. In this trip, we wanted to visit placesthat would give us a unique and memorable experience of Kerala. The trip was planned to cover Bangalore -> Madurai -> Munnar -> Alleppey -> Thekkady -> Yercaud -> Bangalore. Because we were driving with kids, we decided to take a break at Madurai on our onward journey and at Yercaud on our return journey. It would have been very tiring for the kids, had we decided to drive from Bangalore directly to Munnar. In hindsight, I feel this was a very sensible decision. 

Temple Town of South India– Madurai

Madurai is around 440 KMs from Bangalore. NH7 is a fantastic 6 lane highway connecting Bangalore and Madurai. There are not many options to stop over for breakfast or lunch. One decent place is A2B (Adyar Anand Bhavan) closer to Krishnagiri (it will be around 1 ½ - 2 hrs from B’lore). Lunch stop can be at Dindigul, which has couple of good restaurants - popular one being Saravana Bhavan. Madurai is about 6-7 hrs drive (including 2 breaks).

Madurai is pretty hot and humid. It is recommended to book an Air Conditioned room. There are tons of places to stay in Madurai.

Important places to check out

·         Meenakshi Temple – This is a 2000 years old temple with great architecture, but very very crowded. Plan to visit the temple between 4 and 5PM (the temple timings are 5AM – 12:30PM and 4PM – 9:30PM). After 6PM, there is a wait of 3 hours for the darshan. There are express tickets available at Rs 100 per person. It is definitely worthwhile buying these tickets instead of standing in the queue for 3 hours. With the crowd and noise, one hardly gets to appreciate the temple architecture and history. The visit to temple can take anywhere from 1 hr – 4 hrs.

·         Tirumalai Nayak Palace – Only a portion of the palace remains now. The remains cover the Entrance Gate, Main Hall and the Dance Hall. This is the place where the “Kehna Hi Kya… “ song for the movie “Bombay” was shot. The palace closes at 5 PM. There is also a light and sound show in the evening – one in English and one in Tamil. The show is not very well organized and there is no story which can keep your attention. People are moving around, flashing photos. Not a very good experience. Can be skipped.

·         There are plenty of other temples.

Tirumalai Nayak Palace

Meenakshi Temple

Hills of Tea Gardens– Munnar

Our next stop was Munnar – Hills of Tea Gardens. This is around 160Kms from Madurai and it took us a good 5hr drive to reach Munnar. The roads are pretty good, but because it’s hilly road and 2 lane highway, the speed decreases. As you get closer to Munnar, you will notice endless hills of tea plantation with different shades of green. The whole drive is very scenic. There are quite a few view points and waterfalls on the way which add more beauty to the drive.

We had booked our stay at Blackberry Hills Resorts (http://www.blackberryresorts.com/). This was an excellent place with fantastic views and far from the hustle-bustle of Munnar town. The early morning views from the cottage are breathtaking. The clouds are floating over the valley and the golden rays of sunrise make them look even more beautiful. The resort has plenty of fruit and berry trees, which attracts plenty of birds. One can easily spend couple of hours just in the balcony, watching the floating clouds and colorful birds.

The cottages are quite big to accommodate 2 adults and 2 kids. Each cottage has a separate bedroom, hall and balcony. As all the cottages are facing the valley, they are at multiple levels. The reception lobby is on the top level (closer to the road) and the restaurant is at the lowest level and the cottages are in between these at different levels. Walking can be painful for senior citizens and parents with kids (especially if the kid(s) need to be carried).  The resort has a very good restaurant, indoor games, a small library, a trekking trail, and a Spa. Overall, this is an excellent place to relax and have a good time with family and friends.

Tip: Hotels/Resorts after crossing the Hydel Park dam have good views and are quieter

Places to visit in Munnar

Tea Museum – It is closed on Mondays. It will take around 2 hours to visit the Museum. At the museum one can see the tea making process in action and some old tools used in tea factory and history of tea in Munnar. Skip the 45min documentary.

Hydel Park – A small park with some open space and some flowering plants. Can be skipped. You can visit this place only if you want kill time. Beyond Hydel park, on the way to Blackberry Hill Resort, there is a view point. The views from here are quite good. However if you are staying at Blackberry Hill Resort or any other resort in this direction, such views are available from your room.

Eravikulam (Rajamalai) National Park – This is around 18kms from Munnar Town. The park opens at 7AM and is famous for Nilgiri Thars. Vehicles are allowed only till the ticket counter. After that you will be taken in a bus inside the national park. The crowd increases after 10AM. We reached the place around 10:30AM and there was a huge queue. When enquired, we got to know that the wait is for 2-3 hours. We decided to give it a skip.

Top Station: This is a point at a distance of about 32 km from Munnar and offers some of the most spectacular views of Western Ghats.It is the highest point in Kerala. The point is around 1.5 – 2 Km from the parking. This distance includes around 100-150 steps that need to climbed down to go to the view point (of course you will have to climb them up to go to the parking lot). Climb up is quite tiring - not recommended for senior citizens and for small kids.

Mattupetty, Kundala and Echo Point – All the 3 places are on the way to Top Station from Munnar.The drive from Munnar to Top Station is surrounded by rolling hills covered with tea plantations and stretching for miles. Every stop is a view point.  All 3 points (Mattupetty, Kundala and Echo Point) have excellent views and boating facility. Mattupetty and Kundala have dams and Echo Point has a lake. Boating closes by 4:30PM. Speed boat, paddle boat and row boat facilities are available. There are no restaurants in any of these places. However plenty of snack bars are available.

Tea Museum, Mattupetty, Kundala, Echo Point and Top Station can be covered in a day. Start with Tea Museum -> Mattupetty -> Echo Point -> Kundala -> Top Station

There are few view points and waterfalls around Munnar (some on the way from Munnar to Alleppey) and couple of them on the way to Munnar from Madurai. Some of them are very good. Plan to visit them based on availability of time as you would need atleast ½ a day to visit them.

Tea Gardens enroute Top Station - Munnar

View from Black Berry Resorts - Munnar

Echo Point - Munnar

Muttupetty - Munnar

View at Top Station - Munnar

Life on Backwaters– Alleppey 

Visit to Kerala is incomplete without a Houseboat Cruise. It is a completely different experience and one of its kind lifetime experience. There are thousands of houseboats available on the Vembanada Lake. You can choose to do it around Alleppey or Kumarakom. We choose to do a 1 night cruise – round trip from Alleppey. The cruise typically starts around 11:30AM- 12PM and end next day around 9:30 – 10AM. The house boat has all the facilities bed, sofa, music, kitchen, clean toilets. We booked our houseboat with Seasons Cruise http://seasonscruise.com/. It’s good idea to book an A/c house boat with complete A/c - so that you can on the A/c whenever you want. Typical A/c boats have the A/c facility only from 9PM – 6AM. This can cause discomfort after 7PM as they cover the houseboat to avoid insects from entering the boat.

The drive from Munnar to Alleppey takes around 5 hours. Though the distance is just 150KM, most of the drive is through ghats with 2 lanes. This reduces the speed. The drive from Munnar to Ernakulum is very scenic. All around you there are tea, cardamom and rubber plantations. There are quite a few water falls too.

Once we reached Alleppey, we parked our car close to the Houseboat boarding point. At the pickup point of house boat on the back waters, we got the first glimpse of this other world. All around us we could see water, green paddy fields and house boats of different sizes floating on the water.

Our journey started with welcome drink, followed by lunch. Food served was cooked on the boat and was very tasty. It was then time to sit back, relax and enjoy the journey. We took turns to steer the boat. It was fun. Around 4PM the house boat pulled over to transfer us into a small row boat. This boat was supposed to take us through the inner canals of the back waters, passing through the village. This was an hour ride and we would see how people lived around backwaters. These canals are their roads and the mode used is boats. Most houses had a parking place for their boats. We saw villagers, rowing their boats, carrying paddy, vegetables etc. This was a very unique experience. These villages are not connected by roads. The only way they can reach main land is through the boats.

It was 5PM, by the time we finished our boat ride through the canals. Hot tea and pakoras were served on the boat. We took turns to steer the boat. Kids had great fun steering. Around 6PM, the sun was setting. The water, paddy fields and sky were covered in the shades of red, orange and yellow colors. It was an amazing experience - no traffic, no noise other than chirping birds flying to their nests. We wanted this moment to just freeze. As the sun set and sky started turning dark, we had to anchor our boat. A place was identified and the boat was parked. As the sky got darker, we could see thousands of stars twinkling in the clear sky. Far off, we could also see some colorful crackers in the sky. Kids by now were busy in the room reading their Harry Potter books. Me and Pankaj spent the evening on the deck gazing the sunset and chatting. Later the helper/cook of the boat said they need to cover the boat as insects would enter. This is the time you require an A/c as you would be sitting in the bedroom or on the covered deck and it can get quite warm.

After having a tasty dinner at 8PM, we played some card games and went to bed. By 6AM, the covers of the boat were opened and it opened us to another fantastic view - sunrise. After breakfast on the deck, it was time to go back to the starting point, where we had parked our car. All of us wanted more of this experience. We promised ourselves to have another houseboat trip soon.

Sunset on House Boat - Alleyppe

House Boats - Alleyppe

Boat Ride through narrow canals - Alleyppe

Sunset from House Boat - Alleyppe

Periyar Tiger Reserve – Thekkady

With loads of memories of houseboat we started our journey to Thekkady. All through the journey we were chit-chatting our houseboat experience. The drive from Alleppey to Thekkady is about 5hrs. Roads are pretty good. Last 60-70 kms drive is very scenic. There are tons of rubber and cardamom plantations. A stop at Peerumedu is recommended. This hill station has great views. There are plenty of resorts in this place.  

We had our booking at Aranya Nivas – KDTC Resort inside the Periyar Wild Life Sanctuary. This place has good location, however it does not give the rustic jungle feeling, unlike the Jungle Lodges and Resorts in Karnataka. One advantage of staying with Aryan Nivas is that you will get the boat tickets for Safari, which otherwise is a quite a difficult task. Since entry to the Sanctuary is closed after 6PM, we cannot get out or into the sanctuary after 6PM. This leaves us with no option, but to hang out inside the resort. The resort has a decent swimming pool, which gets crowded after 5PM as tourists staying here have no other option apart from spending time in the recreation room, swimming pool or library.

Food at Aryan Nivas is north Indian buffet. If one wants to try authentic Kerala food, we need to step out of the sanctuary. One good option to stay/eat food is Spice Garden Resort. Apart from the boat safari (recommend trip is early morning or late evening safari. Ensure your tickets are booked in advance as it is quite difficult to get tickets. The tickets come with seat number. Ask for good seats on an open boat.) , other interesting places to see are some view points, plantation visit, elephant ride, water falls, Tribal Museum (this was closed during our visit) and shops for spices.

Water falls enroute Thekaddy

Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary - Thekkady

Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary - Thekkady

Lake in the forest - Yercaud

Last leg in our vacation was a stop at Yercaud. We had been planning and trying to get a reservation at Skyroca (now called GRT Nature Trails) for the last couple of years. But we had never managed to get the reservation. Luckily this time a room facing the pool was available. We just booked it. This was one of last minute bookings. Rooms facing the pool are very big and with excellent interiors. Hence are costlier than other types. But the views from this room are not that great as it faces the pool. Valley facing rooms and rooms with panoramic view have excellent views.

The resort itself is superb. An excellent place to spend a weekend, especially for Bangaloreans. The resort has view good facilities, view points, the sky walk experience is great. There are also enough options available for the kids to keep themselves busy like swimming pool, jungle gym, indoor games etc.

Yercaud is a place to relax and unwind. Like any other hill station some places to visit in here would be the lake (boating facility is available), some view points, botanical garden and water falls. The climb down to the water falls and back to the car park is quite tiring. If you are doing this with kids or elderly people, give it a skip. Though the sign board at the car park says ½ km to water falls, it is much more than that and involves climbing/descending plenty of steps. Also the falls itself is nothing extraordinary.

After a relax stay at Yercaud, it was time to head back to Bangalore.  Bangalore is about 160Kms and would take about 4hrs. The road from Yercaud to Bangalore is NH7 and is very good. The only place to break for food/refreshment is A2B (Adiyar Anand Bhavan). Keep a watch for the sign boards.

This trip truly gave us different flavors of Kerala. After a week long trip it was great to be back home – back in Bangalore.