[NGM]

Good short write up Naveen. Good to hear that you enjoyed your drive as well as the stay

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by NGM

Good short write up Naveen. Good to hear that you enjoyed your drive as well as the stay

Thanks NGM. Yes, it was indeed one memorable trip. Enjoyed the drive as well.

[DieselLover]

nice write up. i am also planning a Kodai trip next month.

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by DieselLover

nice write up. i am also planning a Kodai trip next month.

Thanks dude. I would suggest you to go soon as the roads are brilliant. Where you planning to stay?

[DieselLover]

Hi Naveen,
Not yet decided on that part. Even the date of the trip has to be confirmed. I will PM you for more info once the date is fixed.

[YaeJay]

Originally Posted by laluks

Nice write up.
Good to know Palani Kodai route is Ok. That was the favourite and easiest route for us from Bangalore.

@laluks

How long does it take to drive from palani to kodai? Are there steep inclines? Any information on this route would be helpful! If you have already posted pics of this route please provide the link!


@naveen.raju

If you do have any pics of this route please post! How long did it take down hill to Palani?

I plan to cram it in, start early, have breakfast in Kodai, get back for late lunch at Palani. Probably 5:30 am to 1:30 pm. Is it possible? I did hear its a very scenic route. (Ive always driven up the vathlagundu kodai route, one of my fav ghat routes)

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by YaeJay

@naveen.raju

If you do have any pics of this route please post! How long did it take down hill to Palani?

I plan to cram it in, start early, have breakfast in Kodai, get back for late lunch at Palani. Probably 5:30 am to 1:30 pm. Is it possible? I did hear its a very scenic route. (Ive always driven up the vathlagundu kodai route, one of my fav ghat routes)

I just have the pic of the section where the construction was in progress. No other pics. I think we took around 2-2.5 hours to come downhill. I quite didnt understand by 5.30am to 1.30pm? Kodai isnt far from Palani. Downhill would take a max of 3 hours. That's it.
We started at 10.30am and had lunch from Palghat at around 3-3.30pm. Roads are really good now.

[laluks]

jeev was on a drive last week, and reported the Kodai Palani route to be fine. And it is not a long drive, should be 50Km +-

I have done that route some years ago, you can find the log here http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...al-munnar.html. But I doubt if I have a picture of the route

[YaeJay]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

I just have the pic of the section where the construction was in progress. No other pics. I think we took around 2-2.5 hours to come downhill. I quite didnt understand by 5.30am to 1.30pm? Kodai isnt far from Palani. Downhill would take a max of 3 hours. That's it.
We started at 10.30am and had lunch from Palghat at around 3-3.30pm. Roads are really good now.

Thanks a lot naveen! I know its not a lot of distance, I will be traveling with my elderly dad. Just me and him. I will be stopping at every possible location to satisfy his photographic interests and nostalgic moments. Ofcourse one needs extra caution when driving our elderly friends around.

When we start early, what we usually do is reach a spot, park wait for the sun to rise while we sip our tea/ coffee. This whole exercise would consume about an hour. once we are up the hill it would most probably breakfast unless he wants to meet a few of his old friends.

drive down will also have breaks and would be very slow.

If I do get to do this trip I will try to post a few pics! If its not reserved forests, If the ghats are good, I will post something!

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by YaeJay

Thanks a lot naveen! I know its not a lot of distance, I will be traveling with my elderly dad. Just me and him. I will be stopping at every possible location to satisfy his photographic interests and nostalgic moments. Ofcourse one needs extra caution when driving our elderly friends around.

When we start early, what we usually do is reach a spot, park wait for the sun to rise while we sip our tea/ coffee. This whole exercise would consume about an hour. once we are up the hill it would most probably breakfast unless he wants to meet a few of his old friends.

drive down will also have breaks and would be very slow.

If I do get to do this trip I will try to post a few pics! If its not reserved forests, If the ghats are good, I will post something!

Up hill should take some time always considering the heavy vehicles taking this route. There are some sections that are really narrow. So be careful on that. Also, taxis usually fly their way down and wont even give way for up hill vehicles. So be careful on that too. There are couple view points along the way for your dad to relax and click some pics.

Have a nice trip and do update with your pics.

[basilmabraham]

Nice writeup Naveen.

A Cochin Munnar trip was in my mind for a while now. Didnt know the route to Kodai is open. Will try to include Kodai as well. The route from Munnar to Kodai that you took is not the one through top station, right?

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by basilmabraham

Nice writeup Naveen.

A Cochin Munnar trip was in my mind for a while now. Didnt know the route to Kodai is open. Will try to include Kodai as well. The route from Munnar to Kodai that you took is not the one through top station, right?

Thanks Basil. I didnt take the top station. Many people have mentioned that this particular route is not well laid. So took the normal route. Took around 4.5 hrs hours to reach Kodai from Munnar. Some pics on our way to Kodai from munnar.

[ashurulz]

I am planning to drive from Pondicherry to Kodaikanal. Planning to start at 7.30 AM from Pondy. Suggestions on route? Also, any heads up on decent hotels (INR 2000 - 3000 kinds)? Not looking for a resort per se as I intend to explore the places rather than stay put at one place.

[viggienomad]

Originally Posted by ashurulz

I am planning to drive from Pondicherry to Kodaikanal. Planning to start at 7.30 AM from Pondy. Suggestions on route? Also, any heads up on decent hotels (INR 2000 - 3000 kinds)? Not looking for a resort per se as I intend to explore the places rather than stay put at one place.

From Pondy it's better to take 4-track Chennai - Trichy road from Villupuram. The Trichy - Dindigul road is also 4-track now & will be easier. After Dindigul, you can take Dindigul-Theni road to reach Kodaikanal Ghat road point after Vatlagundu.

If you are starting by 7.30am, you can easily reach the kodai ghat road by 1pm with very sedate driving (can even reach by 11.30am if you are a fast driver - depends on your style). After that it will be 2 - 2.30 hours of scenic mountain driving to reach Kodaikanal. The mountain routes are narrower than Ooty road. You may need to get familiar with routes within Trichy city to reach Trichy- Dindigul road & similarly at Dindigul to reach Dindigul-Theni Road.

Finding good hotels at that price is not difficult in off-season rates (June - March). Since you are not keen on resort type, I would suggest finding hotels that were dotted before you reach Kodai lake or bus stand. Hotels in AnandaGiri hill (behind Mother Teresa University buildings just before you enter Kodaikanal town) were generally good & not in the 'eye-view' of tourists visiting Kodai. One such hotel is B'Hive (I haven't stayed there, but heard it's good, also has good tripadvisor rating). Please verify yourself before deciding on it.

[naveen.raju]

Been regular to Munnar but haven’t really thought of updating my latest drive here. It’s been few years now and I thought I would update the log since it would help others.

It was a sudden decision to try Munnar again as this was the best spot for us to escape the mad rush of Cochin City. Called up few BHPians and asked whether they would like to join. So finally, I had to make some last minute reservations to accommodate the 8 of us.

Me and my wife started from Kadavanthara at about 7.45am, dropped some stuff at Vytilla (in law’s place) and headed straight to the meeting point where BHPians BigBrad and aswin_ajith were waiting. A quick “Hi” and we started off to meet DBHPian Deetjohn and his wife who were coming from Angamaly. Met them at Kothamangalam at around 9am. We had sometime to spare before meeting BHPian Revitup and microaubin, from Kottayam. We head to a small coffee shop (Nutri Cafe) just after Kothamangalam town. It was a nice place with some good health conscious items on the menu.

A quick photo shoot opportunity


We then started our drive towards Munnar and decided to stop at “Farmyard Hotel” to meet the boys from Kottayam. Some fantastic roads from nerimanagalam but couldn’t really enjoy it as the traffic was pretty heavy. But as soon as we got some open space to enjoy the winding roads, a police interceptor caught our convoy. We weren’t really speeding (just managed above 70kmph). This was the first time we were seeing an interceptor in this route although Highway police was pretty much common. So kindly make a note of this – it’s just after a banking on a long straight where there’s a church on the left side and just before Kalavera town when coming from Nerimangalam.

Finally reached our next pitstop, Farmyard hotel. We have used this place as our pitstop ever since we started our Munnar trips. A good and clean place to take a break. We then called Revitup and microaubin to warn about the cops since they can get pretty enthusiastic as the car in question was a Polo GT TSi. They joined us half n hour later and then we pushed off to Munnar.

Yet another quick photo shoot, now with the GT


The resort that we booked was “DeepWoods”. This is 12kms from Munnar (Left just after Munnar KSRTC bus stand). The road was narrow, few sections were broken and the road wasn’t all smooth. But it was pretty good from what we had in mind.

The resort


Had taken a 2 bedroom cottage and one deluxe room. Photos of the cottage















A word of caution – The resort is widely spread and the restaurant is a bit far. It’s walkable but there are few steep inclines which makes walking a bit or rather, really difficult. Make sure you choose a room near the restaurant. They do provide their vehicle for pickup/drop.

The lunch wasn’t all that great (we expected it since the food reviews on trip advisor wasn’t all that encouraging).

Few photos of the rides (this is all that I click )

Bigbrad’s Polo TDi



Deetjohn’s Fiesta



My ride



Microaubin’s GT TSi





Here’s a man who was on a mission – VCDS !







A small video of the needle sweep

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSFHIiNyEvg

Dinner was buffet and the spread wasn’t all that great. It could have been better. Buffet was charged at 350/person.

Some tips:
1) Choose the rooms near the restaurant.
2) The two bedroom cottage was pretty old and although it was maintained well, the bathroom wasn’t. Try to go for 3 or 4 bedroom cottage. Think that was pretty new.
3) They have a new complex with around 45 rooms coming up which should be good and that makes the total number to 85 rooms.
4) The jeep driver taking you to the restaurant can be a bit enthusiastic so watch out for his driving.
5) Nutri Café after kothamangalam and Hotel Paprika Cafe near 2nd mile is highly recommended for food.
6) Watch out for the interceptor near Kalavera Town. It seems to be their usual spot as there are few such high speed straights enroute.

More pictures.