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Dear All,
I am planning a Kochi-Munnar-Kodaikkanal-Kochi trip this weekend.
Our plan is:
Friday afternoon: Kochi to Munnar. Stay at Munnar
Saturday morning: Drive to Kodai and stay there overnight.
Sunday afternoon: Return to Kochi.

My query is on the route from Munnar to Kodaikkanal. We are planning to take Munnar-Marayur-Chinnar-Udumalpetai-Palani-Kodai (Approx 186km as per Google Maps) route. We have selected this route as it is said to be very scenic. Can anyone throw some light on the current road condition and approximate time required for covering this route?

Still bad.take the shoranur route and I dont think its going to be good for a long time to come.

Should take you around 4-5hours,you cant do great speeds thanks to the ghat sections,yes indeed very very scenic,leave munnar after breakfast to reach Kodai for lunch.Palani-Kodai road was closed for a while for road works but as per last reports its back to being open now.

Many Thanks Ranjit. We are not planning fast drive as the objective is to enjoy the scenery and some photography :)

If in the worst case Palani -Kodai route is closed (we may find it only after reaching Palani), what is the alternative to reach Kodai?

Many Thanks Ranjit. We are not planning fast drive as the objective is to enjoy the scenery and some photography :)

If in the worst case Palani -Kodai route is closed (we may find it only after reaching Palani), what is the alternate route to reach Kodai from palani?

Well AFAIK,palani-kodai ghat road is open now and there are no problems now.Best would be to check with the local taxi drivers at Munnar.

Incase you want to try another route then you can do this route:

Munnar-Theni-Devadhanapatti-Kodai.In case you miss the turning at D'patti,then you would have to go till Bathalanagadu and then go onto Kodai.

Thanks ranjitp1. I will take the Shoranur route since I have absolutely no time for a puncture repair. :)

Are you going via Bangalore-NH4 to Pune?

Yes. via Blore.Two days drive. Only in daylight. :)

Allocate 3 hours (90km) for Munnar-Udumalpet and another two for Palani-Kodai (65Km)
Udumalpet-Palani would be about 45 minutes (40km).

How is the road surface between Munnar and Palani? Will it be a good idea to take a civic there? We plan to do a Bangalore-Munnar in a few weeks time, wondering whether this will be a good route as one of the vehicles is a civic.

Unless you need to go to Palani,the preferred route from Bangalore to Munnar does not go via Palani.The following are the two routes with the first one being the shorter of the two.

1.Bangalore-Salem-Perundurai-Kangeyam-palladam-Udumulpet-Chinnar-Marayoor-Munnar

2.Bangalore-Salem-Karur-Dindigul-Bathalangadu-Theni-Munnar

No problems with doing either of the routes in a civic.

@DieselLover wanted to do Kochi-Munnar-Kodai-Kochi.
Hence the route via Palani came up as an option between Munnar and Kodai.
If you are driving from Bangalore, as Ranjit said, you dont need to go to Palani.

The route via Perundurai-Kangeyam-Dharapuram-Udumalpet would me mean three
hours of ghat driving from Udumalpet to Munnar (90km).
While the other route Salem-Dindigul-Theni-Munnar would mean only about 50km of ghat driving.

Both routes are equally amenable to Civic. I would suggest take the Dindigul route while going and
Udumalpet option while coming back. Thats because you would tend to spend lot of time on the Udumalpet
ghat section stopping and enjoying landscapes. And since you would be driving back you wont mind coming
delaying a bit (some thing which you wont risk while going up the hill).

Thanks Ranjit, I was thinking of the route via Udumalpet as it was discussed to be more scenic. Have passed through Theni to Erumely side (and it was quite scenic) but not to Munnar side. So if we don't miss much I would still prefer Theni route.

Thanks Ampere, I understand your point, actually we will be going to Kochi from Munnar, so will you still recommend the Theni route as the return will most probably be via NH47?

Actually we need to reach Kochi on time (10AM Saturday) (unlike the leisurely stop at Munnar), so from Munnar to Kochi, which route is in the best condition, the one via Adimaly/Kothamangalam or the one via Kanjikuzhy?

In that case yes, then take the Udumalpet option, as you dont want to miss the views!
But do make sure you reach when there is enough light, else finding home-stays becomes difficult in the dark.

Also not in case if you are staying in a homestay/resort in Chinnakanal,
its 22km from Munnar "towards" Theni on the NH49. So you need to factor that distance to the drive time.

Now for Kochi Adimali/Kothamangalam/Muvattupuzha is the best option. If you have to reach by 10,
then at least start by 7. And if you are in Chinakanal add another 22km drive time.

Sorry for the late reply. What I meant was that I took the route via Shornur but did not take any shortcuts from Vadakkancherry. Returned too via Shornur yesterday.