[mjothi]

Thanks guys.

I did a extensive search on net to get the hotel information since I could not get in usual hotels. I am putting those info here so it would help our friends. I am not sure how long it will hold good Because,

1. Kerala govt is continuously demolishing hotels that are constructed illegally or that are disturbing the normal flow of public traffic
2. Phone numbers may change for so many reasons,
3. and so on

Here you go. [Almost all are budget hotels]

Hotel Igloo, Tel: +91 486 5263207, 5263029 Fax: 5263048
Central Reservation: Door No.39/5889 A
Panampilly Nagar, Ernakulam, Kochi-682 016
Tel: +91 484 2321383, 4012233
Email: sunshineabodes@rediffmail.com, info@igloomunnar.com Web:IGLOO - Nature Resort, Munnar

info@autumntreesmunnar.com
Autumn Trees - 04865 - 264273
N. H. 49, Devikulam Munnar 685563 India

High Range Club - 04865 - 230253, 230724, 230597

Royal Retreat - 04865 - 230240,230440, 230114
Kannan Devan Hills, Munnar-685612

Sreekrishna Homestay - 04864 224817
Puthenkandathil House, Adimali P O
Munnar, Idukki 685 561

Sun Mount View - 04865-263233, 0484 4010403, 4011410,2319597
Pallivasal, Munnar Idukki Dist, Kerala - 685 612

Mermaid Hotel - 04865 232320 / 232322
Opposite Munnar Panchayat Hall
Munnar, Idukki - 685 612

WestWood Hotels - 04865-230884, 230885, 230886
WestWood Hotels & Resorts Pvt. Ltd., Munnar , Kerala , India

Hillviewmunnar - 04865 - 230241, 09447740883
Kannan Devan Hills, Munnar 685 612, Kerala, India.

Ecoland - 09841030553, 04864 278322,
Vattiyar P.O. Mankulam Road, Kallar, Munnar,

Poopada Resorts - 4865-230223, 231781, 231782, 231783.
Kanan Devan Hills, Munnar, Idukki District
Kerala State, India - 685 612

Munnar Tourist Home - 04865) 230353, 230862
Devikulam Road, Munnar, Idukki 685 612, Kerala, India.

Elysium Gardens - 04865 - 230510, 232650

Misa holidays
Misha Junction, Munnar

the shade
Channayinkal House, Chithirapuram P.O
Powerhouse 685565, Munnar
04865 263134, 09447825984

green view Holidays munnar [This is where I stayed. He charged me Rs.1050, including tax per day. Small & Decent hotel and I would recommend for a family too]
Deepak Raj, 09447825447. www.greenviewmunnar.com

Mahalaxshmi Tourist Home - 04865 230329, 09495716943
Old Munnar, Munnar, Idukki Dst
Kerala - 685612

Spring Dale Resort - 04865 264268, 264388
Devikulam p.o, Munnar, Idukki.

Spice Resort Garden - 04865 263696, 9447163696
IInd Mile, Munnar

Abad Copper CAstle - 04865 30633, 30443
Hill Valley resort, Kannan Devan estate, Munnar

one more, eventhough the Munnar is in Kerala, I never felt like that. Almost every signs are in Tamil and boards are in Tamil. I also heard that the Majority of the people are Tamilians there and so everyone speaks Tamil.

I had some glimpse of the trekking photos taken by our Hotel guys. They organize a soft trekking costing Rs650. And its worth every paisa spent. Since I was with my kids, i could not take it. So, people who have the option to take this, please do without fail. You will see an entirely different and more beautiful Munnar than in this posts.

Also, I saw more number of foreigners than Indians in this hotel. Almost everyone take these trekking and appreciate it.

[sammyboy]

Wow Fantastic thread MJ. Thanks for sharing all the info and lovely pics . I am sure these will be of great help whenever I am able to plan a vacation there (hopefully year end).
Sorry to hear the little things that kept happenning to the car, but then one cant help but accept these things.

[Lukeskywalker]

Good pictures Mahesh, nice writeup too, Munnar trip has been constantly on my mind after seeing the awesome pictures of travelogues, hope to do it soon.
BTW, Mjothi junior/s look cool in their new avatar.
Regards,
Hari.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Phone numbers may change for so many reasons,

You can always depend on the on-line telephone directory -

Directory Enquiry for Kerala Telecom Circle

[trrk]

Hi,

I shot a snap of the same location that mjothi has.



I stayed in a hotel called Edasserry Eastend.





There is a sort of cave there.



This is a shot of Elyssium Gardens. These are the standalone cottages.

[Jaggu]

Good travelogue, brings back lot of good memories

ps: the pipe that is dented is the exhaust manifold, you can ignore as long as there is no leakage.

[mjothi]

So finally we reached MUNNAR at 3:30pm with ODO - 5357Kms

So now time to find out the Green view munnar hotel. I call Deepak Raj (Hotel guy) and he asked me to head straight to the KSRTC Bus Depot. He also says that there is a big board and I will not miss it. He also adds its towards the Cochin direction from Munnar Junction.

Ok, I drive towards the Cochin direction. I see the Bus Depot. But could not see any board. So keep driving straight. I see the Hill view, Royal retreat hotels, but not this one. Then after a KM or so, I stoped by a check post and asked them about the locaiton of hotel, i.,e Moolakadai. He said I already passed it and guided me to go back to the same BUS depot.

When I was going back, I noticed the hotel board. Its visible when you are "coming" from Cochin direction. Anyway, the hotel was in a narrow lane. I was wondering if I can park my car there. So, I wanted to first make sure about this and the hotel room. Got down from the car and checked the room. I was satisfied. Then enquired room for my love (Aveo 1.4 LS, hehehe). He showed me the parking lot. But it was not easy to park here. But once parked its safe.

Then I gave green signal for my wife and she came to check the room. We were satisfied and checked in.

Good thing I liked in this hotel is, hot water was available 24hrs really. We had a quick refresh and checked with the hotel guys if there are any near by place to visit before it gets dark. He pointed me to Attukkadu falls.

This falls is in the cochin direction. I took the car and started fresh again. I crossed the same check post and once we cross, after couple of 100s of meters, you see a junction. The one on the left has a good old bridge (the moment you see this, the first thing strikes your mind is - When is this going to fall!!!).


If you take this route it leads you to the Pothamedu view point. If you take right, it leads to the falls.

We decided to take the Pothamedu view first.

Some scenes from the view point




On the way back




Once done, we returned back in the same route. We reached the bridge again, waited for the vehicles to reach this side of the bridge before we started to cross. Then we crossed and headed towards the Attakkadu falls.


On the way to Attakkadu falls, the roads were very narrow. Its hard to have 2 vehicles pass by.

Way to Attakkadu Falls




Sometimes one has to stop or reverse to let the others to go. With great difficulty I reached a point where I was able to have a good look of the falls. I saw some jeeps stopped there and people taking pictures.

View of Falls



I also stopped and asked the jeep guys about the route further. He mentioned not to try those route as it a risky route and difficult to turn too. I did not want to analyse his statement and since took his words for 100% fact. I took some snaps and returned back to hotel.

One the way back to Hotel




Atlast back to Hotel,

View from my window


With this experiance, the next thing I did is to call Hrag and checked about the route condition to the Mattupatty dam side. He confirmed the routes are good and roads are wide.

But still, I was not ok to take my car the next day. So, booked a cab for the next day trip. The Hotel guys charged me Rs.650 for the trip. I really felt so relaxed seeing the greens since I was not behind the wheels.

With all these trailors done, the main picture starts the next day only.

Update on next day contd...

[mjothi]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Good travelogue, brings back lot of good memories

ps: the pipe that is dented is the exhaust manifold, you can ignore as long as there is no leakage.

Thanks Jaggu. I am much relaxed now.

[Venom_rider]

Thank you so much for sharing the pictures and the detailed information regarding accommodation.

It's going to be very useful for us, since we are heading there for a week long vacation between 16th and 22nd Nov Planning to cover Atirampalli, Munnar & either Topslip or Thekkady. You've saved me quite a lot time to look for info over the net...

Cheers!
Goutham

[cnaganathan]

mjothi,

I was in Munnar last Oct (2007). I stayed at a hotel further up from the Pothamedu view point - a place called Oak Field. And we did go down all the way to Attakadu falls. It was great - but yes a bit scary. some of the barricade railings on the bridge were missing and you had to move to the edge to let a jeep or car pass!! I have pictures from this trip. I will post them sometime soon.

[HappyWheels]

Good photos, MJothi!

And great of you to share all the information that you had collected. Will certainly save a lot of searching effort.

[mjothi]

October 4th, @6:30am

Next day I woke up early and got ready in no minutes. While others were getting ready, I went out to have the feel of Munnar in early morning. It was foggy and misty.

Early morning walk


The taxi was ready by 8:30am. Took the taxi and had breakfast in S.N.Restaurant.

I took the rear seat in the Alto. It was really so relaxing when you are not behind the wheels in these locations. Yes, because, you dont need to concentrate on the traffic. You can just enjoy the environments, take pictures and what not.

On the way we went to the Rose Garden. This was also a bonus. If I was driving, I would not have stopped here. Since the driver is a localite and knows all places, he stopped here and asked us to have a look inside.

It was so nice with so many different types of flowers. Some are colorful, while others are tooo big.


Rose Garden








Once done, we headed towards the Mattupatty Dam. One the way we saw the Photo Point. What a lovely place it was? Like a green carpet, the mountain was looking so beautiful.

But since it was crowded like anything and the sun was exactly behind us, we could not take any pictures properly. So, we decided to do those on the way back.

When we moved a little further, we saw some more green patches and workers working on those. Decided to take some pictures and here it is





On the way to Dam




Entrance / road on the Dam


The dam was so huge and full of water. The view from the bridge was excellent. The cab guy asked us to get down there and walk through the bridge and waited on the other side.

It was a real good walk and so much oppurtunity for photo shoots.

Views from the Dam - Reflection on the Dam





Contd...

[mjothi]

October 4th, 09:55am

Once the photo session is done, we reached the other side of the dam. But heard from driver that we still need to go couple of KMs to go for the boating. So took the car and headed towards the Boating entrance.

It was 5 mintues for 10am and so the entrance was not open. Sharp 10am, the counter opened for getting the entrance tickets. We paid rs.10 each for adults + 10rs for parking.

You need to reach this spot as early as possible, since it seems to be crowded in no time.

We went to the boat counter and got the ticket for the speed boat. Its Rs.300 for maximum of 5 people. So, if you share with friends, its going to cost less for you. Since I was alone with my family, I just took the 300 rs ticket and headed for boarding the boat.

We were thrilled about this since this is the first time we are going to take this. We saw the boat wallas, driving it like anything.

Speed boat on action

While we were waiting for our turn, we saw this family boat slowly coming to pick the "family". Its a boat for max of 20people. The other family who was there booked this for 8 people and he took just those 8 for the ride. It costs Rs.700 for the family boat.

Family Boat - Such a BIG family!!!


I am ready, R U ready???



We were lucky enough to spot wild elephants that came for drinking water near the lake

Jumbos with Juniors





We had real fun on the speed boat. When it was going fast, we could feel the "thud-thud" sound of boat boattom hitting the water. It tilts when its turned and that was the real fun.

In the lake


When we left the Dam on the way we saw this shooting point, where huge number of flim shooting was done. Last week also there was a song which was shot here for one of the Arya's movie. This was the news from the cab driver.

Shooting spot for many songs


Contd...

[1100D]

Wow Michael Jackson! What a thread. You took us to Munnar through almost every turn.

Munnar must be one of the best scenic places I have seen in the south, although we approached from the Thekkady (Periyar wildlife sanctuary) side. Did you visit Rajmala. You were extremely lucky to have caught those pachyderms at Mattupatty.

I loved your narration style, especually those two there!!

Originally Posted by mjothi

"Official" dress for the excise & custom officer. Lol.
Attachment 56757
..

Originally Posted by mjothi

My father-in-law was one of them. by the time I convince him not to do, he was full of shampoo on this already white hair.

Looking at the freshly tonsured heads, I guess you are aware of the therapeutic qualities of rubbing your palms over those globes.

Did you visit Rajmala, with your luck, I wouldn't be surprised if you have caught the Tahr by its horns!

[shajufx]

Hi mjothi, you are taking many members here to their sweet memories ! Its a pleasure to read and view all whatever you are uploading. I am sure you enjoyed every bit of your journey. Thanks for taking the time to describe it here. I am waiting for my right vehicle to join you travel-crazy guys soon ! If I dont put some of my memories here, its not justice to myself, please tolerate

Back in 2003, I came from here, you can see how dry, humid and boring this place is; (picture taken when it is 49 degree celcius)



In Munnar, the hotel we stayed (same board what you saw before your hotel this time) temperature below 10 degree celcius !



My favourite picture from the whole lot over 1000 clicks: