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Comprehensive guide on How to get the bus from Kochi to Munnar
In March 2020, my friend Shreya and I backpacked our way around the lesser visited state of Kerala. Before I went I struggled to find reliable information on how to get around Kerala on a backpackers budget, ie via bus and not via a tour or car.
Even though India has one of the biggest train systems in the world, Kerala only has train lines along the coast and if you are wanting to explore further inland you will need to get around by bus. The thought of getting a bus in India can be daunting as there are many different bus companies operating all over India and they can’t be booked all on one website (unlike the trains).
Echo Point, Munnar (feat. Shreya)
Kochi - 1 night
HOW TO GET TO KOCHI
As Kochi is a major city you will have a variety of transport options to get to Kochi; plane, bus or train. It just depends on where you are coming from, how much time you have and how much money you would like to spend.
Train - Keep in mind some train routes sell out quicker than others. It is best to book at least 2-3 months in advance if you can, especially the long haul routes. Have a look on the website to see the exact cost of the train ticket. Mumbai to Kochi will usually range from 1000 to 2000 INR, depending on which class you chose, the time of day and how many seats are left.
You can book your tickets on the official indian railways website here. But I have no experience booking train tickets as my friend Shreya (who is a local) booked all of our tickets. Instead, here is a great guide on how to book train tickets in India as a tourist from The Wandering Quinn blog.
Plane - I caught a 2 and half hour flight from Mumbai to Kochi for about £50-60. The price of this flight can fluctuate between £30-70. My flight was booked only a few days in advance and we chose to fly as we had limited time in India.
WHERE TO STAY IN KOCHI
Make sure you stay in Fort Kochi, this is where all the cafes, restaurants, markets and attractions are.
My friend and I stayed at the Zostel Hostel in Fort Kochi. It was average for the cost and I wouldn’t recommend it. Instead, here are some Airbnbs and home stays that are great value for money and have highly rated reviews;
WHAT TO DO IN KOCHI
I can’t say I did a lot in Kochi as I wasn’t feeling the best and to be honest my favourite thing to do was meander around all the shops and sip on ice coffee in my favourite cafe.
Shopping (Pashmina, Jewellery, Clothes) - I met a guy called Umer who owns 3 shops in Kochi; 2 in Fort Kochi called Naqash and 1 in Jew Town called De Cashmeer. I would suggest visiting him if you want to buy anything as he was very helpful and genuine!
Jew Town - I would suggest visiting Jew Town for more shopping but the owners in all the shops are very pushy, except for Umer’s shop!
Paradesi Synagogue - Within Jew Town, and past all the salesmen there is a beautiful old Synagogue at the end of Synagogue lane. The Synagogue was built in 1568 and is known to be the oldest synagogue in the commonwealth. It is great if you are wanting to know some of Kochi’s history.
Free Walking Tour - I wish I had time to do a free walking tour of Kochi. I did some research and I found a company who does tours all around India called goMowgli.
WHERE TO EAT IN KOCHI
Seafood - The one thing you must eat in Kochi is seafood and I had some amazing seafood at a place called Fusion Bay. Even though it wasn’t as cheap as the street food in India, it was still great value for money. You could buy a decent size piece of fish for only 350 INR.
Fish Molly Pollichathu, Prawns Green Mango Curry, Kerala Rice & Appam (these are must try dishes in Kerala)
Cute Western Inspired Cafes - Fort Kochi has a great little cafe scene and one of my favourite cafes in Kochi was Loafers Corner Cafe. It had a cool vibe and the best spot to sit were the seats towards the back where you can look out over the courtyard.
Pretty courtyard in Loafers Corner Cafe
Drinking ice coffee & editing Youtube videos
WHERE TO STAY IN MUNNAR
We stayed at the Lost Hostel in Anachal and once again, I wouldn’t recommend it. There is another hostel in Munnar called Electric Cats Hostel that has great reviews and I wish we stayed there.
If you are not fussed about staying in a hostel, I have heard Munnar is more popular for its home stays:
View from our hostel rooftop
Road leading to our hostel
WHAT TO DO IN MUNNAR
Rickshaw Tour - If you didn’t know already, Munnar is known for its rolling hills of tea plantations. My friend and I paid a rickshaw driver to take us around to all the different sights in Munnar. To find a driver, we walked around the town of Munnar and asked the taxi and rickshaw drivers. There are people with taxis selling tours to 10 different places for double price and we both agreed travelling around the tea plantations in a rickshaw was a much better experience. We were able to see a lot more from our seats and It was half the price! It only cost 800 INR for the both of us and the rickshaw driver stopped whenever we wanted to. My favourite places we visited were Yellapatty Bus Stop Viewpoint and Echo Point.
Yellapatty Bus Stop Viewpoint
Echo Point (You can rent those round boats as well!)
Tea Plantations Hike - We booked a tea plantations hike through our hostel. This is a really great experience if you haven’t seen tea fields before. We were told it would be an easy hike, but It turned out to be going vertically up a tea field for about 3 hours. I hadn’t been feeling great for the past few days and I embarrassingly had to cut the hike short (watch my youtube video below!) But even though I wasn’t feeling great, I think it would of been a tough hike for me anyway! Make sure you do your research before you book a hike like this, so you know what to expect!
WHERE TO EAT IN MUNNAR
Unfortunately, I don’t have any great suggestions as we ate dinner at the hostel both nights. On our little tour of Munnar, we had lunch at the Carmelgiri Botanical Garden as that was probably our only chance to get some food when we were travelling around the tea plantations. I only had a plain dosa because I had a stomach infection!
Veggie dinner at our hostel
Thekkady - 2 nights
HOW TO GET TO THEKKADY
My best advice for catching buses in India, would be to ask the locals, people working at the bus stop or at your accommodation. When we wanted to find out how to get the bus to Thekkady, all we did was ask the locals when and where to get the bus for the following day.
The distance from Munnar to Thekkady isn’t very far as the crow flies, but it took 6 hours as we had to follow the roads that wind through all the tea fields.
WHERE TO STAY IN THEKKADY
The town where most people stay in Thekkady is Kumily. As Kerala is a popular destination for Indian honeymooners, Kumily has a good mix of homestays, hotels, shops & restaurants. We stayed at a beautiful little homestay run by a local family called The Periyar Inn.
WHAT TO DO IN THEKKADY
We came to Thekkady to explore the Periyar National Park and hopefully to spot some animals. I thought we would be able to see tigers as that is what the park is known for. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the tourist centre, we realised in order to see the tigers we would have to book an overnight safari in the national park. We had already booked our homestay for the 2 nights and we had limited time in Kerala. Make sure you keep this in mind as you won’t be able to see the tigers during the day.
The night before we went to the national park we booked the ‘Nature Walk’ for 700 INR at the visitors centre in Kumily. We were notified that when we take the bus to the national park we will need to pay another 520 INR for the national park entrance and bus fare. We had a lovely guide called Raj, who showed us around the national park, giving us facts and pointing out the animals a long the way. From a distance we saw a woodpecker, a giant squirrel and a herd of elephants!
After the walk we took the boat tour through the man made lake for 225 INR. Even though we were able to see the elephants up close, I much preferred our nature walk with Raj!
WHERE TO EAT IN THEKKADY
Dosa De Thekkady - As the name suggests, this restaurant sells loads of different dosas! I highly recommend the Mysore Masala Dosa and Onion Uttapam. We didn’t try it but they had a great looking western menu as well.
Top - Onion Uttapam & Bottom - Mysore Masala Dosa
Spice Garden Restaurant - We shared a Chicken Chettinad Curry and even though this dish is from Tamil Nadu and not Kerala, I suggest you get it because it was DELICIOUS!
Chicken Chettinad Curry
Alleppey (Allapuzha) - 1 night
HOW TO GET TO ALLEPPEY
Ferry From Kodimatha Boat Jetty to Alleppey
Getting to Alleppey was an adventure as we used all different modes of transport!
First we caught a bus from Kumily to Kottayam (roughly 2-3 hours), once we arrived we took a rickshaw to the local ferry station called Kodimatha Boat Jetty, and for our third mode of transport for the day we caught a ferry through the backwaters to Alleppey.
The comfortable breezy ferry ride only took 2 and half hours and cost 28 INR. A very very cheap way of experiencing the backwaters without paying a large amount to stay on a houseboat.
There wasn’t a direct bus from Kumily to Alleppey and we would have had to change buses in Kottayam anyway. This was a great way to break up our travel day and enjoy the Alleppey backwaters through a local’s experience.
WHERE TO STAY IN ALLEPPEY
The most expensive accommodation we booked on our Kerala trip was Malayalam Lake Resort in Alleppey. Probably because we stayed right on the backwaters and we booked it the night before. Our accommodation was simple and relaxing but we paid for the view!
WHAT TO DO IN ALLEPPEY
The main thing to do in Alleppey is to explore the backwaters on a house boat. You can rent a houseboat for a full day or a couple of nights. These range from £40 to £80 a day, which was well over our budget! As we had seen a lot of the backwaters on the ferry, we opted for a small shikara boat to take us around for 2 hours at sunset. It was only 500 INR and we had the whole boat to ourselves. We had a relaxing time sipping our beers and watching the sun set.
I suggest you ask your accommodation if they can buy some beers or alcohol for you to take on your boat. Alcohol is restricted in Kerala and going to the local alcohol shop in India can sometimes be intimidating, especially for a female.
WHERE TO EAT IN ALLEPPEY
Brews and Burgers - If you are craving some western food, definitely try out this american style burger place. The burgers were delicious!
Thaff Restaurant - This restaurant was recommended to us by some locals. Good restaurant for seafood!
Thaff Restaurant
Varkala - 2 nights
I honestly had a great time in Varkala and I enjoyed the chilled, relaxing, beautiful vibe it had to offer. But the one thing that spoiled it, were the people working in the shops and restaurants along the cliff. When we were walking along the cliff, we were constantly being asked to come into their shop or eat at their restaurant. No one was particularly aggressive or pushy, but It’s was just annoying!
HOW TO GET TO VARKALA
Alleppey to Varkala is a short 2 hour train ride. We booked our train tickets online only a day before hand on the official website. As you will already be in India, ask you accommodation to help you book the train tickets, or show up at the station and book on the day. We were ok to book last minute with this train as it was only a short distance but keep in mind the longer distant trains book out 2-3 months in advance.
WHERE TO STAY IN VARKALA
There are a couple of cool hostels and home stays in Varkala, we stayed in the Puccini Lala Eco Wellness Resort.
We booked the smallest room but when we arrived we were upgraded to their biggest room. Shreya also booked an extra night in the smallest room before we arrived for half the price we originally paid. They weren’t busy hence why I think Shreya only paid half the price and we were upgraded. We assumed it was quiet as we were there right before the pandemic closed everything down, in mid March of 2020.
Puccini Lala Resort, Varkala Cliff
Breakfast at Puccini Lala
WHAT TO DO IN VARKALA
Shopping - There are loads of great shops along Varkala cliff. These were my favourite shops I went to in Kerala, as they had a lot of on-trend western clothing, bags, homewares, rugs, pillowcases, incense and jewellery. The only thing I didn’t like was the constant ‘hello, come into my shop!’ from every single vendor we walked past and some places will charge tourists extortionate prices, so don’t be afraid to haggle a lot!
Varkala Cliff Beach - For amazing views of the cliff and sunbathing, of course!
Eat Seafood - If you can see water, you need to eat seafood! Our favourite seafood restaurant was Marina Bay.
Ayurveda Treatments - Kerala is the land of Ayurveda. I would suggest doing some research about the treatments before you spend money on one. Our accommodation had a little Ayurvedic treatment centre and we had a look at what they had to offer. I understand it is supposed to have that rustic Indian vibe, but I didn’t find the space appealing and when I accidentally touched the massage bed it was still sticky from oil, which put me off completely!
Chill & enjoy the view (whilst having 1 or 10 beers) - There are loads of big open restaurants and bars that are perched high up on the cliff. We spent most of the afternoon drinking beer, listening to music and enjoying the beautiful view of the ocean.
Elements, Varkala Cliff
WHERE TO EAT IN VARKALA
Darjeerling Cafe - The food was good and I loved the chill vibe here.
Inda Cafe - A variety of brunch food & dishes from all over the world.
Marina Bay
True Thomas - We didn’t go here as I only stumbled upon it when I was on the Inda cafe website (owned by the same people) But I wish we went here because it would of been a great place to try South Indian cuisine! It has great reviews and the photos of the food look amazing.
Marina Bay - The best seafood in Varkala!
Elements - The food we tried at Elements was good but nothing too exciting! (we had a lot of western food here) but I will mention it as we did spend a lot of time here drinking beer and listening to music. We enjoyed the big open layout of the restaurant and the view of the ocean.
