[anujmishra]

Finished Bangalore - Munnar - Ooty - Mysore - Bangalore trip and came back on last friday (8th April).

It was very nice trip and we all enjoyed thoroughly. Road was very good and specially Udumalpet to Munnar. There were purple/red flowers spread in valley. We took almost 1100 photographs and 32 GB of HD video in complete trip.

While going we lost some way in Udumalpet town and spent 15 minutes coming back on correct way. There were some road works going on in Udumalpet.

Safari was exceptional in entire (1400 KMs) trip and served us well.

[BulZire]

That is one nice trip anuj, waiting for the travelogue and the pics!!!. i spotted you in your safari on Sunday at 8 pm in ORR, You were driving from silkboard towards sarjapur.

[anujmishra]

Originally Posted by BulZire

That is one nice trip anuj, waiting for the travelogue and the pics!!!. i spotted you in your safari on Sunday at 8 pm in ORR, You were driving from silkboard towards sarjapur.

Thanks for wishes, I will share some photographs of my visit soon. Yeah, on sunday we went to Wonder La and returning around 8 PM.

[Chalu]

Hello Guys, Planning to do the Munnar trip next week. Please help me on the best route and places to see would be highly appreciated. Also please help me with the weather this time round the year. I am looking at staying in Munnar for 5 nights.

[anujmishra]

Originally Posted by Chalu

Hello Guys, Planning to do the Munnar trip next week. Please help me on the best route and places to see would be highly appreciated. Also please help me with the weather this time round the year. I am looking at staying in Munnar for 5 nights.

There are three main routes (all are having many variants) to Munnar from Bangalore. Recently I went through Bangalore - Salem - Perundurai- Dharampuram-Udumalpettai - Munnar. This route is very scenic but it has lot of ghat road. If you want serene drive then you can go through Dindigul - Theni - Bodi route.

There are many places to see in Munnar and I feel you can cover all in 4 days. You can buy some local tourist map and you can roam around yourself. Carry some light jackets/sweaters for evening. Daytime temperature is normal.

[Chalu]

Thanks Anuj for your advice.

Any advice on good restaurants where we can find good Veg & non Veg food at munnar.

Route 1 - Bangalore - Salem - Perundurai- Dharampuram-Udumalpettai - Munnar (travel time? , condition of the road) Also help me out on stop overs for lunch.

Route 2- Bangalore-Dharmapuri-Salem-Perundurai-Kangeyam-Dharapuram-Udumalpet-Marayoor-Munnar. (travel time? , condition of the road) is this the bodi route or a different one?

[anujmishra]

Originally Posted by Chalu

Thanks Anuj for your advice.

Any advice on good restaurants where we can find good Veg & non Veg food at munnar.

Route 1 - Bangalore - Salem - Perundurai- Dharampuram-Udumalpettai - Munnar (travel time? , condition of the road) Also help me out on stop overs for lunch.

Route 2- Bangalore-Dharmapuri-Salem-Perundurai-Kangeyam-Dharapuram-Udumalpet-Marayoor-Munnar. (travel time? , condition of the road) is this the bodi route or a different one?

Both route are same only you have added few intermediate cities in between towns in second route. Theni route goes via Dindigul. Check this thread and there are lots of posting about that route.

Honestly, I did not find good restaurant en-route for lunch. I suggest you to take breakfast near Krishnagiri A2B. We just relied upon Idli, Dosa stuff enroute small towns. We did our breakfast cum lunch in Perundurai as we missed morning breakfast near Krishnagiri.

Travelling time between Bangalore and Munnar is 8 - 10 hours. If you stop too much for breakfast and lunch then it will take 10 hours. After Udumalpet there is 90 Kms appx ghat section towards munnar, which considerably slow down average speed.

[ampere]

Do note from Peunudurai, its takes at least 4-5 hours to hit Munnar out of which 90Km (3 hours ) is ghats. Hence if you plan to have lunch at Perundurai, let it be a brunch at about 9-10AM. You dont want to be late for the ghat section drive.

If you start by 5, you can cross Salem by 7-7:30 and would be and be Perundurai in about another 1 hour or so. Which means you can have late breakfast or. Would suggest carry food for BF.

As Anuj, there are not many hotels after Perundurai.

[anujmishra]

Originally Posted by ampere

If you start by 5, you can cross Salem by 7-7:30 and would be and be Perundurai in about another 1 hour or so. Which means you can have late breakfast or. Would suggest carry food for BF.

As Anuj, there are not many hotels after Perundurai.

ampere is Master for this side of country and its roads and I relied 100% upon his advice during our Munnar trip and did not face any issue.

At Perundurai, we all took heavy breakfast and then we ate at Munnar only. However, you can find few eatables joints in Udumalpet town also.

Funny thing is almost all eatables write "Hi Class Hotel or Restaurant" and I rarely find any of them are Hi-Class.

[Chalu]

Thanks Anuj & Ampere for your valuable advice.

Can you please help me finding good restaurants for lunch & dinner in Munnar for Veg & Non Veg ?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Chalu

Thanks Anuj & Ampere for your valuable advice.

Can you please help me finding good restaurants for lunch & dinner in Munnar for Veg & Non Veg ?

Best bet is find a place to stay, which also has good food option. Most resorts have their own place. If resorts are far away, it may become difficult to find hotels.

During day time, when in midst of sightseeing, if you need a place, there would some good ones in main Munanr town, but I don't remember any.

[ranjitp1]

If its a veg restaurant that you looking for in munnar,then saravana bhavan is your only bet.it is not related to the original SB,but this one is pretty ok,nothing remotely fancy about the place.For non veg there are plenty of options in the town near the bus stand.Edasserry East End is a good place as well.

[CBlazer]

Originally Posted by Chalu

Route 2- Bangalore-Dharmapuri-Salem-Perundurai-Kangeyam-Dharapuram-Udumalpet-Marayoor-Munnar. (travel time? , condition of the road) is this the bodi route or a different one?

I took this route while returning to Bangalore during our trip last week. Just to add to what others have said the road from Bangalore is a fantastic 4L one all the way till a little before Perundurai. The rest are 2L roads. The condition of the roads are pretty good till you hit the forest areas. Thereafter the roads are okay, but patchy at times. This route is no doubt very scenic, but the ghats could tire you out.

The Theni route we took from Kodai to Munnar. Bangalore to Dindigul is a breeze (4L all the way). Dindigul to Bodi roads are quite good too (2L). Thereafter start the ghat roads which are okay. I will prefer this route if I were to do this trip again (because I generally do all the driving myself).

We did have lunch at Meenakshi Bhavan in Theni (on the RHS going towards Munnar). This is adjacent to a petrol pump (BP I guess). While returning we had lunch at Kantha Vilas in Dharapuram (on the LHS coming towards Bangalore). We actually liked the food here. Don't expect much in terms of ambience, class, etc. We had South Indian meals at both places. The restaurants were clean enough.

During our stay in Munnar, we usually ate in our resort. Just had lunch once at Hotel Eastend in Munnar (Mattupetty Road). Food was mighty expensive.

[prasad14]

Originally Posted by CBlazer

I took this route while returning to Bangalore during our trip last week.

How was the weather in Munnar? Has the rain started over there? What about greenery in Marayoor forests.

RamP!

[gadadhar]

Originally Posted by ampere

Best bet is find a place to stay, which also has good food option. Most resorts have their own place. If resorts are far away, it may become difficult to find hotels.

During day time, when in midst of sightseeing, if you need a place, there would some good ones in main Munanr town, but I don't remember any.

Tea County by KTDC is not a bad option for food if you are in the Munnar town.