Misty green tea gardens on rolling hills in Kerala's high ranges

Kerala · 8 Days

Kerala Wildlife & Highlands

Kochi, three nights in Wayanad's forests and hills, then Munnar's tea estates and a Periyar dawn boat at Thekkady.

Day by Day

8 Days, In Full

A Western Ghats route built around forest and altitude. Wayanad gets three nights: jeep safaris at Muthanga or Tholpetty, the Neolithic carvings at Edakkal, the Chembra trail and the Banasura reservoir. The road then crosses the high ranges to Munnar for a full day on a working tea estate. It closes at Thekkady with the Periyar dawn boat, where elephant and gaur come down to a flooded lake full of dead trees. This is the version for travellers who want the hills rather than the coast.

Kochi

Arrival in Kochi — Fort Kochi & the Spice Quarter

Your driver meets you at Cochin airport. The road runs out to Fort Kochi, where four centuries of trade left their mark on one small peninsula. Walk the lanes on foot. St Francis Church, the Dutch Cemetery, the godowns of Jew Town still stacked with ginger and pepper. Evening is free for a Kathakali performance if you want one.

A road climbing through lush green hills into the Wayanad plateau

Kochi → Wayanad

Kochi to Wayanad — Up the Thamarassery Pass

The drive to Wayanad takes about four and a half hours and climbs the whole second half. The road up from the coast turns nine tight hairpin bends through the Thamarassery pass. Rubber gives way to coffee, then to forest. Wayanad is Kerala's only plateau, held high in the Western Ghats. By the time you reach the resort the air is cool and the light is going.

Wayanad

Wayanad — Wildlife Sanctuary & Edakkal Caves

A dawn jeep safari through Muthanga or Tholpetty, booked through the forest department. Elephant, gaur and deer are the usual sightings; tiger and leopard are here and rarely seen. Later you climb to the Edakkal Caves, two rock shelters on Ambukuthi hill. Their walls are cut with carvings that are thousands of years old, some among the oldest in India. The last stretch is a steep set of stairs and iron ladders.

Wayanad

Wayanad — Chembra Trail & Banasura Sagar

The morning is a guided walk on Chembra, the district's highest hill, past a small heart-shaped lake said never to dry. Numbers are capped each day and the upper section is often closed for weather or fire risk. The afternoon is Banasura Sagar, the largest earthen dam in India. Its reservoir has flooded the low hills into islands, and a speedboat runs out among them. The Banasura ridge stands behind the whole scene.

A curved mountain road cutting through a lush green hillside in the Western Ghats

Wayanad → Munnar

Wayanad to Munnar — Across the High Ranges

This is a long transfer, six to seven hours, and a scenic one. The road drops off the Wayanad plateau, crosses the low country, then climbs again into the high ranges. Coffee and forest turn to cardamom and then to tea. Munnar sits at around 1,600 metres, in a bowl of estates first planted in the 1880s. You arrive in the late afternoon with the tea light at its best.

Green tea plantations covering rolling hills under a warm orange sky

Munnar

Munnar — Tea Estates & the Old Plantation Machinery

Munnar is tea, and has been since the 1880s. Spend the morning walking a working estate with a planter who can explain what you are looking at. The Tata Tea Museum houses the original rollers and a functioning miniature factory. Afternoon at Mattupetty Dam and Echo Point.

A row of tall trees along the crest of a lush green hillside in the Cardamom Hills

Munnar → Thekkady

Munnar to Thekkady — Along the Cardamom Hills

Three and a half hours south through the Cardamom Hills. The road is good and the views are constant. You can smell the plantations before you see them. Thekkady sits on the edge of Periyar Tiger Reserve, so the last stretch runs through genuine forest.

Bare drowned trees standing in the calm water of Periyar Lake below forested hills

Thekkady

Thekkady — Periyar Lake at Dawn, then Onward

The first boat onto Periyar Lake leaves at half past seven. Dead trees still stand in the water, drowned when the dam went up in 1895, and elephant and sambar come down to drink along the shoreline. Bring a long lens. Afterwards you continue on or head for the airport.

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