▲ KochiDestinations
← All guides
Guides ·Day trips

Day trip to Munnar from Kochi

130km and four to five hours each way into the tea hills. A return taxi is ₹5,500 to ₹7,000 — and this is the one trip where I would argue for two nights instead.

Guide
Day trips
Length
8 min read
Region
Kochi
Tea-covered hills and winding road in the Munnar high range Tea-covered hills and winding road in the Munnar high range

The honest verdict on doing Munnar in a day

Munnar is 130km east of Kochi, but the last 60km climb through Neriamangalam and Adimali on hairpins, so the drive is four to four and a half hours each way in good conditions and five in rain. Leave Fort Kochi at 5am and you arrive around 9.30am; leave Munnar at 4pm and you are back by 8.30pm. That gives you six usable hours minus lunch, which covers three or four viewpoints and no walking. It is doable, and many operators sell it, but the ratio of car to tea is poor.

If you have a week in Kochi, take two nights in Munnar instead and treat Kochi as your coastal base rather than a launch pad. If you only have three or four days, choose Athirappilly Falls or Alleppey as your excursion and save Munnar for a trip with time in it. If you are going anyway, take a private car rather than a group tour bus: the bus stops are fixed, crowded and generally at the least interesting viewpoints.

How to get there and what it costs

A private taxi with driver from Kochi is ₹5,500 to ₹7,000 for a same-day return in a sedan, more for a larger vehicle, and the driver will expect the itinerary agreed before departure. KSRTC runs buses from Ernakulam to Munnar via Adimali; ordinary and fast passenger services cost ₹150 to ₹200 and take five to six hours, with the first departures before 6am. There are also private and low-floor services; check timings at the Ernakulam KSRTC stand on Sanmughom Road rather than trusting online listings.

There is no railway to Munnar. The nearest station is Aluva or Ernakulam, and any package quoting a train to Munnar is quoting a train plus a long road transfer. Within Munnar, autorickshaws charge ₹300 to ₹600 for short hops and jeeps or taxis run half-day sightseeing circuits at ₹1,500 to ₹2,500. Fuel up before Adimali on the way up, use the toilet stops when offered, and expect the road to be slow behind lorries on the ghat sections.

A realistic single-day Munnar route

Arrive by 9.30am and go straight up the Mattupetty road, which is the concentrated stretch. Mattupetty Dam with its reservoir and boating, Echo Point where the crowds shout across the water, and Kundala Lake with pedal boats occupy the late morning; Top Station, 32km from town at 1,700 metres, offers the long view into Tamil Nadu on a clear day and cloud on most others. Entry fees at these spots are small, ₹20 to ₹50 each, with parking charges on top.

Save the KDHP Tea Museum on the Nallathanni road for the afternoon, entry around ₹200 with a short film, a working demonstration line and a tea tasting; it closes on Mondays. Eravikulam National Park at Rajamalai, home to the Nilgiri tahr, is the best natural site but needs advance online booking, sells timed slots and closes for calving season roughly February to March. If Eravikulam is on your list, it should be the first thing you book and the reason you go early.

Where to eat and what to buy

Munnar town food is functional: meals plates for ₹120 to ₹200, parotta and beef fry for ₹150 to ₹250, and a cluster of tourist-facing restaurants near the bus stand with mains at ₹250 to ₹450. Better eating happens at plantation-stay dining rooms, where a non-resident lunch may be ₹700 to ₹1,500 if arranged in advance. Take a flask of tea from anywhere: at ₹15 to ₹20 a glass, the tea at a roadside shack in the hills is one of the small pleasures of the drive.

Buy tea, cardamom and homemade chocolate, but buy carefully. Plantation-branded tea from the KDHP shop or the Tea Museum outlet costs ₹150 to ₹500 for 250g and is what it says it is; roadside stalls sell blends of uncertain origin at similar prices. Cardamom at ₹800 to ₹1,600 a kilo depending on grade is genuinely cheaper here than in Kochi. Skip the spice-garden tours that materialise on the Adimali road; they are shops with a walkway.

If you stay: rooms and prices

Two nights turns Munnar from a drive into a place. Budget homestays around Munnar town and Chithirapuram are ₹1,500 to ₹2,800; mid-range hotels with valley views run ₹3,500 to ₹6,500; plantation bungalows and higher-end resorts such as the KDHP tea bungalows, Chandy's Windy Woods and Windermere Estate sit between ₹9,000 and ₹20,000. Prices climb in April, May and the Christmas fortnight, when the hill stations fill with domestic holidaymakers and the town centre gridlocks.

Stay outside town if you can. Munnar town itself is a scrappy junction of bus stands and shops; the reason to be here is a verandah among tea at 1,500 metres with mist rolling in at 6pm. Nights are cool, 12 to 18 degrees in winter, so pack a layer that Kochi never needs. Come with two nights and you can walk plantation paths, do Eravikulam properly and drive Top Station at dawn, which is the version of Munnar people rave about.

Frequently asked questions

What people ask before they set off on this one.

How long does it take to drive from Kochi to Munnar?

Four to four and a half hours for 130km in dry conditions, and closer to five in monsoon, because the final 60km climbs on hairpins through Neriamangalam and Adimali. A private taxi return in a day costs ₹5,500 to ₹7,000. KSRTC buses take five to six hours for ₹150 to ₹200 and start before 6am from Ernakulam.

Is a day trip to Munnar from Kochi worth it?

Only if you have no alternative. Eight to nine hours in a car leaves about six hours on the ground, enough for Mattupetty, Echo Point and the Tea Museum but no walking and no Eravikulam. With three or four days in Kochi, Athirappilly Falls or Alleppey give far more per hour. With a week, give Munnar two nights instead.

Do I need to book Eravikulam National Park in advance?

Yes. Rajamalai sells timed entry slots that should be booked online ahead of your visit, especially at weekends and in April and May. The park closes for the Nilgiri tahr calving season, roughly February into March. Visitors are taken from the ticket point to the trail by park bus, and the walk itself is short and paved.

What is there to do in Munnar in one day?

The tight loop is Mattupetty Dam, Echo Point, Kundala Lake and, if the weather is clear, Top Station 32km from town, followed by the KDHP Tea Museum, entry around ₹200 and closed Mondays. Entry fees at the viewpoints are ₹20 to ₹50 each. That is a full day without any walking and without Eravikulam.

How much does a Munnar hotel cost?

Homestays around town and Chithirapuram are ₹1,500 to ₹2,800, mid-range valley-view hotels ₹3,500 to ₹6,500, and plantation bungalows or resorts such as Windermere Estate and Chandy's Windy Woods ₹9,000 to ₹20,000. April, May and the Christmas to New Year period are the expensive, crowded windows. Staying outside the town centre is worth the extra few hundred rupees.

Where to stay

Hotels in Kochi

Rooms worth pairing with this guide.
Browse

Hotels we cover across Kochi

24 with a full page

More guides to Kochi

All guides
Find your street in Kochi

Honest prices, real photography, and rooms in the areas worth your week — with a tonne of CO2 removed for every booking.

Find a hotel