Itinerary suggestion - 5 day trip

Hi I am visiting Kerala for a very short duration and have worked out this plan.

11 Aug: Reaching Trivandrum at 23:00. Night stay
12 Aug: Kovalam beach day, Trivandrum to Periyar overnight journey
13 Aug: Periyar/Thekkady
14 Aug: Periyar to Munnar
15 Aug: Munnar
16 Aug: Munnar to Alwaye and back home (Mumbai) from Kochi airport.

My questions are:
1. How are the beaches during this time? Will it be worthwhile to visit some other place instead of Kovalam?
2. Is overnight journey from Trivandrum-Periyar or Munnar possible? (That will save time and accomodation costs)
3. We will land at Trivandrum airport at 23:00. How is the Trivandrum city? Will it be sleeping already or it is easy to find accomodation at that time.

Any pointers on these as well as otherwise are welcome I'm visiting during monsoon, is there something I am skipping?

cheers!

Great but you are not travelling

You are passing through

Sounds exhausting. No time to see anything. Pick 2 places maxium.

We have an excellent TV Reality Show here in the USA called the Amazing Race. They race around the world for a million dollar prize and barely see anything! While it's great fun to watch, I wouldn't want to do it.

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I didn't understand what the difference between travelling and passing through means. Do you need more than 2 days each to see Munnar and Periyar? Should I pick just one of these ?

Again, I didn't get the connection. Is it not allowed to visit Kerala for a few days, see a couple of destinations and come back? Are all visits required to be long holidays?

Well, do you suggest that I go either to Munnar or to Periyar? I have 5 days in hand, there must be SOMEthing I can do.

PS: Amazing Race is NOT about seeing places. Its a race, not sight seeing

11 Aug: Reaching Trivandrum at 23:00. Night stay Ok

12 Aug: Kovalam beach day, Trivandrum to Periyar overnight journey Roughly 25o kms Journey practlcally 8 hours on a car .
13 Aug: Periyar/Thekkady After a night journey what you are going to do
14 Aug: Periyar to Munnar very good good scenery and scenic road--- there may be delays and road block
15 Aug: Munnar Interesting --- but muunar is a place to move around see things
16 Aug: Munnar to Alwaye and back home (Mumbai) from Kochi airport. no problem 3 hours in car -- early start if flight is early .

Also note from kottayam to thekkady ,

Thekkady to munnar

and
Munnar to Alwaye are ghat roads .

take longer than you think.

The wisest thing is to cut down trivandrum , and fly into kochi. and go to kumarakom -- lake side place --- top periyar --- to munnar --- to kochi---- fly back . you can cut kochi also.and avoid night rides.

yay! thanks

btw, we are 3 guys taking this trip and quite refreshful even after a long night bus journey. BUT since you point out that its a ghat section, doubtful how much drive will be left in us in the morning.

cheers

Please get back to us when you return. Would like to know how it all worked out and what places you saw.

Yep sure I will do that.
Why the skeptical tone?

hmmm, I thought you had worked out a slightly different plan with the help of Haritha (though I couldn't actually follow it as I don't have a map in front of me) and thought I was being positive, not skeptical. Oh well. Whatever you do will be fine.

I'm not young and like to take a long time to do everything in India, especially if I've had an overnight journey, so my ideas aren't really useful for a 5 day trip.

And I would like to hear how it worked out.

Oh okie dokie
Communicating thru electronics sometimes brews misunderstandings!

I was jsut trying to pace it down from a heavy rush .Personally would suggest little more relaxed one .

Hi,
I'm back from my short trip to Kerala. We travelled from the beaches of Kovalam to forests of Thekkady and hills of Munnar. Captured here are some of those moments, along with a travelogue:
http://priyank.com/photo-gallery/ker...s-own-country/

Do take a look, and post your comments
cheers!

Thanks for the excellent travelog & photos. It looked like you and your friends had a wonderful trip. You also write very well and make it interesting and fun to read.

I guess it really isn't too short of time when you consider that you live in India and can do more trips both long and short without the hassles & expenses we have coming from so far away. It's certainly what I do in my own country also!

That is lovely .Read the travellogue .Beautifull your writing is great.And also still believe that you will not travel like that when you are in 40s or if your girl friend or wife is with you .
Thanks for the great report