Munnar Sightseeing – The usual suspects

The beauty of Munnar is unmatched when it comes to most beautiful hill stations of Southern India. I have been to Ooty (twice), Wayanad (on this road trip), Coorg (on this road trip), Kodaikanal (earlier) and Munnar (twice). I can easily say Munnar has the best views of the tea plantations with clouds hovering so close to the ground. Additionally, Munnar is still intact in terms of its appeal, the over commercialisation which has almost ruined Ooty has not come to Munnar and thank goodness for it.

This was our day to cover all usual attractions that everyone seem to recommend when you are in Munnar. Almost all travel blogs had highlighted Pothamedu View point, Photo Point, Echo Point and Mattupetty Dam as THE MOST SCENIC places to visit in Munnar.

However, my heart told me entirely otherwise after visiting these places. Please continue reading to find out more.

Pothamedu Viewpoint – Miss

Today the first point we tried to cover was Pothamedu Viewpoint. We’re at this point as this is highly recommended in almost all of the blog posts but when we reached there was hardly a view, we had seen thousand times better views on the Lockhart Gap Road yesterday, So we are next moving towards the rose garden.

Rose Garden – Miss

Rose Garden was also overly crowded so skipping Garden moving forward to Photo point

Photo Point – Hit

Photo point was good, however, it was nothing like what we saw in pictures and the blogs. There were a few folks doing few horse riding and the spot was very crowded which kind of killed the charm of the place.

Mattupetty Dam – Miss

Then we moved ahead and we went to Mattupetty Dam. This also was pretty ordinary with lots of people and hardly any views from the dam. This was nothing like what we saw yesterday in Anayirankal Dam.

Echo point – Hit

Then, we went to the Echo point, yeah that was a good area and was little less crowded. Mattupetty lake and the forest the trees on either side of the lake was adding to the beauty. This was so far the best attraction point of the day.

Kundala Dam – Hit

After spending some time at the Eco point, we moved on to Kundala Dam. This was small but cute. Boating options were also available which I would highly recommend as the views are quite scenic around here. We were short of time so we didn’t do boating but Kundala Dam didn’t disappoint us at all.

Top Station – Hit

Finally we went to Top Station. Although it comes in Tamil Nadu, it is not very far from Kundala Dam. It took us less than an hour. This was very good and it was as if clouds were touching the mountains itself and we were in love with the views. Also not much of photography point as the human made camera fails on front of the grandeur of the nature once again. One has to be physically present here to experience it. We would have gotten some shots had it been a sunny day.

While driving towards Top Station in the afternoon, it was such a dense fog around us that it was difficult to see anything. We had to use Fog lights and we drove very carefully and slowly to reach Top Station due to poor visibility. Please be very cautious if you are driving yourself in these areas.

Top station was the highlight of the day. Apart from it, other places like Rose Garden, Photo point, Mattupetty Dam can all be safely skipped. Echo point and Kundala Dam was also good, however top station was the best. We had lunch at Chandy’s Drizzle Drops from where the following pics were taken. The ambience and views from the restaurant was awesome, however you would need a prior reservation if you are not staying at the property. We had to wait for a bit to get our lunch, but the management was considerate enough to serve us lunch.

Lastly while returning, we had hot Maggi on the roadside right next to the valley and clouds on top it, mist everywhere. To make it even more beautiful, we got to enjoy bonfire at the small food stall. 🙂 Perfect way to finish off the day.

Lunch – Chandy’s Drizzle Drops – Hit

Stay – East Stavanger – Hit

Highlights

Top Station

Kundala Dam

East Stavanger