Munnar in a Hill city in the Western Ghat mountains of the indian state kerala which is situated in the southern part of India . Munnar is very popular among the south indian tourist as after Himalaya this part is one of the heighest (anamudi is the heighest peak in westen ghats above 2600 meter ) . So in the peak season from septegmber to may it is packed and the price of the accommodation and food and transport become high . I am writting this article mainly focusing on munnar budget trips . so I share some of the tips and tricks so you can enjoy the trip but don’t impact in pocket much .
Some of the famous places to visit in munnar are rose garden , kolukkumalai tea state , Eravikulam National Park , Mattupetty Dam , Top Station , Attukad Waterfalls , Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary , Lockhart Gap and many more . This places are spread around 20-30 km around the city so if you don’t have bike you need to book a munnar travel packages either with different travel groups or hire a jeep or travel with a bike (if you are single ) or book a tour of double decker ksrtc government bus . Ziplining is also an adventure activity in munnar . You can also see the activities and places to enjoy around munnar in this link .
ksrtc munnar tour package are the good and budget friendly . For booking a tour , you need to book online through the site https://onlineksrtcswift.com/ . For daily side seeing there are three timings and the tour continues for three hours . In the travelling from section of the website you have to type munnar royal view double decker . In this bus the upper floor price is 400 INR (5 USD) in the lower deck the price is 200 INR (2.5 USD ) .
Where to eat in Munnar ?
I stayed in the Anachal area , which is approximately 10-12 km from the munnar city . Lot’s of cheap hostel you can find in this area . but the problem with this area is you have to walk a quiet a bit road to get the nearest Restaurent unless your hotel is on the bypass road . Here roads are very steap and walking 700-800 meter is a tedious job . Also the restaurent is very expensive , they will charge almost the double price of the normal food price .
Better will be stay in between the KSRTC bus stand of munnar and the alumunium bridge . Most of the budget restaurent are sitting in between 600 – 800 meter of the KSRTC bus stand and here the road are not steep normal . Eventually I eat in a restaurent named mummy’s kitchen . I got a lunch vegeterian meal around 80 INR (1 USD ) . Here food prices are very nominal and food are hygenic . In this area you will get lot’s of budget restaurent . You also get different variety of food in this place like North indian , south indian , punjabi , marwari , marathi , Gujrati or jain food .
How to reach Munnar ?
Munnar is a hill town and only can be reached by the road transport . For budget trip to munnar you should use the Govt buses of kerala transport . In the above you can see the time table of the buses leave from the munnar KSRTC bus station . Most of the frequent and convenient option will be , to take bus from the KSRTC bus stand ernakulam . The bus fare is between (150-200) INR for non ac buses according to the status of the buses . Rather than allepy , Trivandrum , aluva , trissure , kozikkode and Bangalore is connected to munnar by ksrtc bus .
Rather than that there is some private bus operating from Bangalore , chennai and madurai which directly reach to munnar . You can check it in Makemytrip or red bus . But this buses are not inexpensive as KSRTC buses .
where to stay in Munnar ?
I would suggest don’t book hostels from Booking.com , as this are far from the main city of munnar . If you have bike then it is ok but rather than it is very difficult to reach the positions as they are far from the main road and you obviously have to walk .(if you are the budget traveler ) .
Rather go to the ksrtc bus stand and book nearby hotels as most of the budget hotels in munnar are situated here and by the way roads are not steep here . I think you can walk a little bit and find some budget hotels . In munnar I will not recommend online booking . Just walk a little bit and you can see lot’s of tea gardens also .
I stayed in Munnar tents , a property in booking.com. It was in the Anachal region. First of all the location was not correct. The location is remote and you have to walk up and down to reach this place from anachal bus point . Second the price is also not same as shown in booking.com and remember the roads are very steep here . Even a 1 km walk will make you feel 3 km of walking in flat land . I am not having the opinion about the other properties in this region but please be very sure about the hotels and hostels in this region . I am young still I have difficulty. If you have some older parents with you then every time you have to book auto for dine in .
Tips in traveling munnar :
- I have been in Munnar in the Good Friday night . In some of the restaurant food even finished before 7 pm . I search a lot to get food . So in popular holidays foods are running out fast so pack your meal before 7 pm .
- In holidays for places like munnar , the hotels increase their price almost double . So book before 1-2 week and see the review . because those don’t have good review will increase price after you paid or pre-paid also . but those have 8-9 rating in booking.com they may ask you pre-paid for confirmation but does not increase the price as the rating may go down after a bad review .
- Holidays in kerala are crazy . so in between your holiday if there is any religious holiday be prepare with that as another time I was in trivandrum and it was Attukal Pongala festival where 2.5 millions woman gathered in front of a temple . It is also in the guinese world record . Getting a room is next to impossible , if you book like me on the same day .
- bring some cash with you as munnar still prefer cash rather than upi or card payments .
Summary :
In this blog I mainly focus on How you can complete your trip in Budget in Munnar . As munnar is a popular southern hill station so From near by all big cities like Bangalore , Chennai people come here to enjoy the nature and experience the mountains . This is situated in the western ghats of kerala . In this blog I give some tips on How to budget friendly manage transport , food and stay in Munnar . Here some of the restaurant is very expensive , so check the meu before sit and one last tip , in the Holidays please take your dinner before 7 am after that food will be finished in most restaurant .
