Munnar

Munnar is a hill station with amazing views of tea plantations. I spent most of our time there taking photos of the stunning scenery as literally everywhere we looked was photo worthy. We spent two nights here but monsoon season really started on our last day and so we didn't do a lot. I think 2 nights is probably the right amount of time, unless you really bloody love tea

Accommodation
The Lost Hostel, Munnar- After staying in Lost Hostel in Varkala we decided to stay in their Munnar hostel as we got a discount. It was up a steep 300m hill and about a half hour bus journey out of Munnar, however the hostel was great with fast WiFi, air con, a kitchen, communal area and we met lots of people here. It was a bit more expensive than the super cheap one in Varkala but had some great extras like dinner and washing for 8 rupees per item which made it worthwhile.

How to get to/from there
From Varkala- Munnar was a bit of a struggle to get to and from as we were coming from Varkala. We managed to get a train fairly easily with tickets booked on the day to a place called Kottayam ??? where we then had to change to a bus. We'd been told and it said online that buses from there to Munnar ran hourly, but after arriving around 2.30 we were told the next bus was at 5. Not ideal, but we got some snacks and watched some Netflix whilst we waited. We then took a local bus for about 50p each for the 5 hours to reach Munnar. To reach our hostel we got off the bus a stop early and asked locals to direct us as we had no signal. A pretty long journey but worth it! If arriving in Munnar itself a taxi to the hostel should be around 200 rupees

To Kochi- We needed to get from Munnar to Kochi for a 1am flight. The journey should take 5 hours, and we were told to get the bus to SOMEWHERE as this was the closest stop to the airport. We waited in the centre of the small town where our hostel was and when a public bus arrived I asked the driver if the bus would go to Kochi and he said yes. We got on and about 5 minutes into the journey the ticket conductor came over and informed us that in fact the bus didn't go to Kochi. Around an hour later he and several other people shouted for us to get off the bus and we were quite literally thrown/carried onto the road in the pouring rain to board another bus which had pulled up in front of us. It was packed but people gave up their seats for us and we made it in one piece, and got some food and then found a cheap taxi to get us to the airport with time to spare. If you don't like the risk of this, a taxi for the 3 hour journey was about 4000 rupees.

Things to do
 Sunrise tour- We did a jeep tour to see the sunrise and, like every other sunrise trip I've done it was too cloudy to see anything. Classic. The views were still nice and we visited a waterfall, chocolate factory, a dam. This tour was organised through our hostel and we were driven around in a jeep for several hours at times almost up vertically which was a cool experience. I think we paid about 600 rupees each. Not sure I'd recommend this tour as it involved leaving the hostel at 5am and without seeing a sunrise it was a bit average, but with a sunrise would have been nice!

Getting to Munnar from Lost Hostel- Local buses run from the town with the hostel, and we paid about 20p for the journey. One time a tuk tuk driver offered to take us for the price of the bus as he was going there anyway which was such a win

Tea museum- this was pretty interesting, a little museum about the formation of the tea plantations in the area. They'd been set up by the British and some of the photos of these rich white men being carried round by the locals made me cringe but hey there's no point pretending stuff like that didn't happen. We also watched a really interesting video about how the tea plantations operate now and the employment they give to the local community. There was also the chance to do a tour of the tea plantation and also try the different teas but we opted not to do this

Tuktuk tour- As usual we found a tuk tuk to do a little tour of the area for us. We used the tuk tuk driver who'd given us the cheap ride and his son drove us to a few sites, including a view point, spice plantation, tea plantations and a small garden. I found the spice plantation a lot more interesting than I was expecting, as we were given a tour and the medicinal uses of the different herbs and spices were explained to us. There was definitely an expectation of a purchase which we did not make, though.

Food
CHOCOLATE- there are so many chocolate shops and factories around Munnar which made delicious chocolate with different fillings. We found a shop that let us try samples for any we wanted and ended up visiting multiple times. The prices were per kilo and were roughly £6, so we got a lot of good chocolate (they had great vegan flavours too!)

Hostel dinner- Our hostel offered a family dinner served in the evening. For 150 rupees we got unlimited vegetable curry, vegetables and rice. It was SO good

Breakfast- In the little town by our hostel we wandered around trying to find breakfast and got paratha and tea from a local restaurant. Paratha is my favourite and the Kerala one is especially good. It came with a bean curry and was super cheap and delicious

General advice
We were unsure about going to Munnar due to the length and effort of the journey but I'm really glad we did. It was very different to the other places we visited and the chocolate and tea were an added bonus. The views were amazing and although it's very touristy it's definitely worth visiting for a couple of days. The order of our route made no sense, though, so it's worth planning

Laura x

Varkala

Everyone recommended Varkala to us and although it was a bit of a trek to get there we had enough time to go. I'm so glad we did! It's a pretty seasidey place on the top of a cliff meaning there are stunning views over the beach. We stayed for two nights but could easily have stayed for more

Accommodation
The Lost Hostel, Varkala- This hostel was really cheap and we paid 400 rupees for a double room for the night. We were even given an upgrade to a more deluxe room for free x the hostel had a kitchen we could use, a lot of communal space and a cafe attached (though we never saw this open). Staff were really friendly and helpful!

Things to do
Yoga- The hostel offered morning yoga at 8am for possibly 200 rupees?? I can't remember exactly but it was a really good way to start the day at the hour long class. I did nearly pass out though, so I'd recommend a bit of breakfast before!

Shopping- this place is designed for hippy travellers with lots of little shops and market stalls selling clothes and souvenirs. As it was low season prices were low and they had some cool stuff like handmade dungarees

Surfing- Varkala is known for its surf and it's why many travellers visit. The waves looked mental while we were there (low season probs) but it was cheap and would be a cool place to learn

Wellness retreats- I'm not 100% sure what these even involve but there were a lot of these around if that's your thing

Food
COFFEE TEMPLE- really close to the hostel and SO good. I got a massive muesli bowl and smoothie for under £4 and they had a full vegan menu. It was so nice I just wanted to keep going back

Beach front restaurants- there were loads of restaurants and fancy resorts along the cliff. We ate at one and the food was so good and they were a nice place to get a drink, too

Lighthouse- Nearby is a lighthouse which we took a grab to see. The views from it were INCREDIBLE. You could see for miles over the beach and palm trees. Super cool place

Allepey

Kerala is famous for its houseboats and most people get these from Allepey. We visited in low season and other than the houseboats there wasn't masses to do, but if your budget allows to stay on one then I'd recommend as it was such a unique experience.

Where we stayed
Zostel, Allepey- The location was amazing, right on the beach. We arrived from a night bus at 4am and were able to check in and went straight to our dorm. The air con and WiFi were good, the staff were helpful and friendly and it was clean. There wasn't masses to do close by because everything was closed for the season, but it was a genuinely great hostel. Only complaint was that I left watermelon in the fridge and it got served as breakfast, lol. My fault for not labelling it I guess

Houseboat- We stayed on a houseboat for our last night. We got a tuk tuk for 60 rupees from the hostel down to Finishing Point where all the houseboats are, and spent a couple of hours looking at the different ones and finding the price for a night. They seem to all include the same thing which is a double bedroom and ensuite, a sun deck of some description, a driver and a chef who prepares your meals. We got on at 12pm and got off at 9am the next morning. We ended up paying 5500 rupees, so roughly £27.50 each. The boat drove around the very beautiful Kerala backwaters and yeah it was just very cool. Arguably a day trip on a boat or one a canoo tour would have also done the job, but given this wasn't an opportunity you come across every day we decided it was worth it

Things to do in Allepey
The beach- it was a really nice stretch of beach and really empty when we visited. We even found an adorable puppy to play with which was a real highlight

Canoo tours/local boats- if you don't fancy a houseboat there are lots of tours going canooeing on the river or taking the local boats which are a lot cheaper but have the same effect as a houseboat and are a good option if you're on a budget

To be honest, from what we could tell there isn't much else to do in Allepey

Food
There were some nice looking restaurants on the beach but they were pretty much all closed. We found one hotel still serving food and had a good dinner there

Getting to/from
From Wayanad- we took a night bus from Wayanad which was pretty cheap and straight forward. It arrived at like 4am and dropped us at a random petrol station where luckily there was a tuk tuk filling up which took us to the hostel.

To Varkala
From Allepey we went to Varkala. This journey was more complicated than anticipated, and we took a train about half way and changed to a bus. The bus station was on the outskirts of Kochi but despite being told by everyone the bus was hourly, there wasn't one for 2.5 hours and we were stuck at the bus station waiting for ages which was not ideal, so check first if you can

Laura x

Wayanad

We ended up going to Wayanad mainly because its location was convenient for the other places we wanted to go. There wasn’t masses to do but with a national park with tigers we were keen to see some nature and it made the ideal place to stop for a night.

Located in the hills the views from surrounding areas are beautiful and on our drive in through the national park we were lucky enough to spot some wild elephants!

Where to stay

Accommodation was a little pricier here than other places we went to and there weren’t hostels. We stayed in hotel mintflower where we got a double room for 863 rupees. It was a very average room with some strange mould marks in the bathroom and was generally a bit grotty, but did the job just fine. It had a restaurant attached and a little bakery and the reception staff were helpful

What to do

National park safari- We reaaaally wanted to see a wild tiger so went for the 7am safari through the national park. This involves a 5am wake up and a local bus for about 40 minutes and then a never ending queue for a Jeep. We had to pay significantly more for a tourist ticket and then for the jeep but it was a nice tour. Sadly we didn’t see any tigers or even elephants but we saw a couple of mongeese, lots of deer and some tiger tracks. The tour was about an hour and worth it even though we didn’t get to see a tiger

Tour- We found a tuk tuk driver and asked if we could do a tour of some of the local sights which ended up being perfect- we didn’t pay much each and it filled most of a day

Chembra peak- this is supposedly a big attraction in Wayanad which many tourists hike to. It was closed due to being monsoon season when we were there but this seemed to be in every blog post/list of things to do that we saw

Edakkal caves- this was the first stop on our tour and by far my favourite. When we were told there were some caves to see I wasn’t that impressed, but it turned out to be a steep upward hike with a lot of steps to get to the caves. The views were AMAZING! It was strange seeing entire extended families climbing; from grandparents to toddlers and it was definitely not easy in the heat! It was worth it and the caves themselves were cool as they are where the first human life in Kerala lived, but I was much more interested in the view 

Waterfalls- this was a nice stop and really busy as it was a public holiday that day. Unfortunately we did this near the end of our tour and were both really tired so didn’t swim, though the rocks were quite slippy to get in and out of the water so this was probably a good idea.

Heritage museum- The driver was keen for us to visit the heritage museum on our tour which was quite an average experience. It was very cheap and cool to see some old pots/pans etc. but was a very small museum and if it hadn’t been on the way probably would have given it a miss.

Viewpoint- We stopped at this amazing view point/rock formation which had views over the whole area. It was kind of in the middle of nowhere and required us to slide behind a fence so would be hard to find with your own transport

Food

This was the first place where I actually found it hard to find food I wanted. I love Indian food and will eat at some questionable looking places, but when we asked if we could stop for food on our tour the only place our driver could find was a very local place serving only one dish which was a banana leaf with rice and curry. I’d eaten so many snacks by this point that I gave it a miss but meg got some. The curries weren’t very nice and more like the pickles that come with a thali but it was super cheap.

Hotel Mintflower- we went to the restaurant at our hotel which was nice. The roti was super cheap as was the vegetable curry which was a good dinner before our night bus.

Getting to/from

From Wayanad we took a night bus to Alleppey. It was supposed to get there are 2am so we booked a hostel for the night, but it ended up arriving at a petrol station which was our drop off point after 4. From there we were lucky enough to find a tuk tuk driver filling up at the station and got a good price to the hostel. This was definitely not the most pleasant journey of my life but fine and the bus had A/C and WiFi

Laura x

Mysore

This was my second visit to Mysore after a weekend there on a psychology placement a couple of years ago. We were only really stopping out of convenience on our way to Wayanad, and we spent about a day and a half there which personally I think is perfect. 

Accommodation

We stayed at Sonder hostel, which was a little way out of the centre. It was a cool hostel and we decided on it from the advertisements of cooking classes and yoga. Turned out neither were running due to low season which was a shame. However we ended up getting our four bed dorm to ourselves which was nice. The hostel offered a free local breakfast and the staff were helpful though not very friendly.

Things to do

This is where I find Mysore a little boring... there just isn’t masses to do

Palace- the palace is definitely the main attraction, and is very impressive. It’s 70 rupees entry for foreigners to enter, and since my previous visit they have lifted a ban on all photography which is great as it’s stunning inside. Despite that people still wanted photos of the main event: us. 

I would definitely recommend visiting the palace at night. On a Sunday it remains lit up all night, but the rest of the week there is a sound and light show which we went to from 7-7.45pm. I’d avoid this as it was all in Hindi and we just sat understanding nothing. But from 7.45-8 it stays lit up and is truly beautiful, so was worth it.

Market- The market is kinda average in my opinion but worth a quick trip. It feels very touristy but aimed at richer tourists souvenir shopping. They have cool powdered paint and oil perfumes as well as flowers and fruit. Cool to see but easy to be tricked into buying something.

Food

As this wasn’t long after my food poisoning I was sticking to more plain, Western food so my experience of the food here was a bit limited. We enjoyed a lovely meal at Taco Bell lol. There is an alright vegetarian restaurant walking distance from the palace which was very popular with locals, though I can’t remember the name

Getting to/from

We took a night train from Hampi. This left around 9.30pm and got us to Mysore at around 9.30am the next morning. We were in 3A class and chose upper berth seats, which include a pillow, sheet and blanket. The journey was genuinely really comfortable and I had a great night’s sleep.

From Mysore we went to Wayanad. Buses run there regularly so we just went to the bus station, asked and caught a local bus there super easily. It wasn’t exactly luxurious- the windows have no glass so it’s breezy once the bus is moving and we had to have our bags under our seats so it’s pretty cramped. But it did the job and people told us when to get off which was helpful.

Hampi

Next on our trip was a place called Hampi. I’m not sure why we decided to visit, as neither of us had heard of it before, but it was possibly on a blog post or trip advisor forum (my go-tos) for planning. It looked really cool, and after a lot of relaxing we decided it was time for some sightseeing. 

Accommodation

The nearest bus and train station to Hampi is a place called Hospet, where most people take a public bus or rickshaw to Hampi to stay. From Hampi itself a small boat will take you to “Hippie Island” where there are lots of hostels etc.

 However; we found a 3* hotel in Hospet for 1200 rupees per night including a pool, gym and buffet breakfast. The hotel was called Maligi Hotel, and was a 5 minute walk from the main Hospet Bus station making it very convenient. We had the cheapest room other than a 500 rupee a night budget one which in retrospect would have been fine, but it was strange staying in a hotel! 

A private room complete with room service and newspapers felt very fancy, and later in our stay the customer relations manager chatted to us for ages and insisted on us having a fanta on him. VIP treatment eh. 

The pool was really nice, a far cry from our rather green one in Goa, though the gym was rather questionable. It made the very basic one we found in Kathmandu last year look like a Fitness First. 

Things to do

Hospet itself- The city offers few attractions. We spent an afternoon at the cinema next to the hotel watching Aladdin (in English and for only 100 rupees), but other than that it’s not much of a tourist 

destination. There is something really interesting about seeing cities like that though, I find. Places like Goa and even Mumbai have moulded to suit Western tourists whereas Hospet and other Indian cities are unapologetically designed for their inhabitants and no one else, and it’s cool to just observe people going about their lives.

Hampi- From the bus station we quickly found a tuk tuk offering us a 4 hour tour of Hampi for 600 rupees. We accepted, and set off around the various temples and ruins, some dating back from the 1500s. There was a bit of backstory to each in English and our tuk tuk driver also gave us some information. It was really interesting though a pretty hot day, and 

we were glad that we opted for a 4 hour tour instead of the full day he had suggested.

Hippie island- After taking the public bus it’s a short walk to catch the boat over to Hippie Island, with the last running at 5.30. We hired bikes and rode to some waterfalls and a large lake (which apparently was not “The” lake. We didn’t have much petrol so didn’t go very far, but it was the perfect place to ride with near empty roads. The waterfall was pretty and the local children were jumping from high rocks into the water and asking us to film which was very cute

Food

MANGO ROOFTOP- On our tour of Hampi our driver took us to a rooftop restaurant called Mango (I think) It had low down tables meaning we lay on cushions and the vegetable thali was 150 rupees and delicious. It was a really cool, chilled out place and looked very western but we were the only tourists there.

Hotel food- Sadly I got some kind of food poisoning from the hotel buffet breakfast and spent our second night vomiting xx cute xx. Luckily the hotel had another restaurant called Blue Mist which was SO GOOD. Being in the hotel we anticipated it being pricey- we were so wrong. They did delicious veggie kebab wraps on Indian bread, big portions of fries very cheaply and lovely fresh fruit juice. Yum

Hippie Island- On Hippie island we went to a rooftop restaurant right by where the boat dropped us off. I had a fresh juice and Meg had a crepe which looked really nice. There were some other tourists here- the first we’d seen for a while, and it was nice to chat to them. A girl even invited us to a sunset swim with a group of them but we had to get the boat back before then.

Transport

From Hospet bus station the local bus to Hampi takes around 40 minutes and costs 15 rupees. It’s not the most comfortable journey, especially if you’re unlucky enough not to get a seat, but there’s a nice breeze once the bus departs. The journey is pretty and you see the large rock formations Hampi is known for as you pull into their bus station.

There were lots of rickshaws around too asking us if we needed a ride and we used one to get to the train station. He claimed he had to charge a high fee because of a road closure which I’m pretty sure was a lie but there was some kind of festival going on which meant we were given a free sweet by some strangers en route which was funny so we accepted the higher fee.

From Hospet train station we took a night train to Mysore. The train was delayed but other than that very comfortable despite being in the sleeper class- make sure you get the upper berth though.

General notes

This was a super cool place to visit and definitely fulfilled our desire to sightsee. If staying in Hospet you probably only need about 3 days as Hampi itself can be covered in two, but if staying on Hippie island and biking round you might want an extra day or so. We also forced the hirers of the bikes to include a helmet which hey don’t do as standard- there was very little traffic around but still better to be careful right!

Goa

To most people I think Goa conjures an image of mopeds, tanned hippies with dreadlocks and miles of white sand. Well, during my first trip to Goa a couple of years ago I saw mainly monsoon rains and lots of insects. Fortunately this time the weather was a bit more in our favour. That was one of the few things that was as it turned out, as we arrived at the hottest time of year in a non AC room which had countless power cuts during our stay. I feel Goa is a little overrated but equally think I have a very limited and somewhat misfortunate experience of it

Accommodation 

This was perhaps our biggest mistake. I stayed here during my last stay and we were lured in by the pool. At £4 each per night, Jungle by Hostelcrowd seemed ideal. Free breakfast, cheap drinks and a big social life, the hostel also has an adorable cafe which looks like it belongs in Shoreditch. Sadly, they didn’t buy enough diesel to fuel the generator for our block, so when the power failed as it did frequently throughout our stay, seeing the pool area, cafe and half of the rooms lit up with fans cooling the from our candlelit 30 degree room was less appealing. Less shoreditch, more basic necessities please Hostelcrowd. Despite this, 50 rupee rum and cokes and close proximity to the beach do make it more appealing. Not sure I’d recommend a long stay though, as it’s by Vagator beach which is somewhat average, and it’s pricey (by Indian standards to visit the other beaches)

Transport

We got to Goa from Mumbai on a night bus which stopped in Mapusa and got a rickshaw to the hostel for 200 rupees. We found tuk tuks to be few and far between, though we were travelling in low season. 

They are definitely more pricey than other places, and in the heat we even ended up hitchhiking on the 

back of a local named Tarzan’s bike when we’d trekked in the midday heat to find an ATM. 

Jungle offers a minibus to Palolem beach which is 

further south, but at 500 rupees per person this isn’t exactly a budget option. Our onward travel was a 40 

minute drive away and we paid 600 rupees but were quoted 1000 by passing drivers. Going to very touristy places definitely increases the prices of stuff

If you’re feeling brave, there are loads of bike rentals. The roads aren’t particularly quiet though, and there are frequent stops by the police who will fine you for having the wrong driving licence but can apparently be paid off cheaply.

Things to do 

The beach is the big selling point here. We managed to get some umbrella/sun beds on the beach for fr

ee somehow, though we were harassed for many photos with the locals. Despite the massive tourist influx in 

Goa we were still the main attraction.

Goa’s old town is worth a visit if you’re into old architecture, with a lot of Portuguese churches. It was just too hot for us to visit- we did very little in Goa that didn’t involve lying vertically near a body of water. 

Near to our hostel was Chapora fort. I walked up one evening (the only time of day walking more than 2 steps consecutively was bearable) and the views were very pretty over the other beaches area. There was also no entrance fee though this may have been because of the time I went at.

Goa’s nightlife is good, and I imagine miles better in high season. After drinks at our hostel we ended up going to a club at some kind of fancy resort with free entry and a pool where we had a great time. Walking home with the fear of being attacked by wild dogs was admittedly less fun

Food

There are lots of western options here due to the large tourist crowd, but also South Indian classics. Goan fish curry is on a lot of menus though we didn’t sample, and I found normal Indian and Chinese dishes from other cities in lots of places, too. 

Alcohol is also easy to get hold of, and very cheap. Our hostel sold big bottles of kingfisher as well as 60ml spirit and mixer for 50 rupees. A lot of the bars also sell cocktails for cheap prices, too. If you’re coming to drink, you’re in luck

Other tips

One of the best things about Goa is the acceptance of 
western dress! Bikinis on the beach are fine!! Shorts and dresses are normal!! The locals are pretty much still all modestly dressed but for some reason it’s a lot less conservative in dress than the rest of 

India, which makes it a very appealing beach getaway. However; the lack of pollution in Goa means sunburn is a lot easier to obtain than in other parts of India. Probably good for the lungs but not skin

In the lead up to Monsoon season there are lots of scheduled power cuts enforced by the government to carry out maintenance on the power lines before the rains start. Check where you’re staying has a generator for back up power during this!

We found booking onward travel from here almost impossible. The staff at our hostel were not helpful, our local bus station said no buses were running to where we wanted to go, and we were starting to make other plans when we finally found a local travel agent who sorted it for us. To avoid a similar situation just try and be more organised than us (shouldn’t be hard)

One of the main appeals of Goa is the chilled and relaxed
 approach to life. There’s not a lot to do but lie on the beach or by the pool with a beer, and that’s the beauty of it. Would just be nicer with functioning electricity

Laura x