Tour Intensity
Activity
Best Season
Munnar Bike and Hike Cycling Trail: Weekend tour exploring the Shevaroy Hills
Brace yourselves for a weekend of cycling in the mountains. The Munnar cycling tour takes you through the beautiful Kannan Devan Hills, you will be riding on vast rolling hills dotted with tea plantations to the views of the Shola forest and a scenic ride through the Marayoor Sandalwood reserve.
You will be hiking up the Thoovanam waterfalls. This is an easy trek with ample scope to spot some rare wildlife. There have been instances of spotting elephants, langurs, and elusive giant grizzled squirrels.
Pleasant weather, rich biodiversity, quaint village roads, forest trails, and good food make Munnar an exciting weekend getaway destination. The tour is a mix of cycling, a bike ride through a quaint trail in a National Park, and a medium intensity hike.
Who can do this tour?
This trail is recommended for an active cyclist who is familiar with climbing hills on a cycle while the distance is short the intensity of the climb is moderately high. As always, you can rely on the Unventured support team to motivate and cycle along with you to make it to the top!
We depart from Bangalore late at night and reach Munnar town in the early hours of the morning where we freshen up at a hotel before we begin the ride. The trail includes about 40 kilometres of cycling of which approximately 30 kilometres will be uphill climbs. The trail goes through Marayoor sandalwood reserve, Mannavan Shola evergreen forest (MTB terrain) and Tea estates.
We will leave for Munnar on Thursday night and reach Munnar early Friday morning. We will check-in at the hotel and rest for the morning half and head out for a short ride in the afternoon. This is a leisure day just to help you recoup from your long journey from Bangalore the previous night.
Drive distance: 15 kilometres
Accommodation Type: Homestay
Highlights:
• You’ll get to meet and greet the other participants
• Take a small and easy ride around Munnar
• You’ll get to visit the local market
Post breakfast, we start our ride from the hotel towards Top Station. A beautiful ride through eucalyptus plantations, tea plantations, and along the way we’ll stop by natural water bodies, streams, and man-made dams. Picnic lunch en route. Post lunch, we ride back towards Munnar to our hotel.
Ride distance: 40 kilometres
Accommodation Type: None
Highlights:
• Take a scenic ride through tea plantations and water bodies
• A delicious picnic lunch amidst green valleys
Post a sumptuous breakfast, we check out of our hotel rooms and ride downhill to Chinar Wildlife Sanctuary. Once in the sanctuary, we will trek to the Thoovanam falls. Relish a picnic basket/packed lunch at the Thoovanam falls. Post lunch we will drive back to Bangalore.
Note: Don’t forget to pack a pair of changing clothes so you can enjoy a refreshing time at the waterfalls.
Ride distance: 50 kilometres
Accommodation Type: None
Highlights:
• Do the thrilling ride downhill
• Take in scenic views of the forest-scape
• Soak yourself under a natural waterfall
The Unventured Experience
Our “Munnar Hike & Bike Weekend Getaway” is a 3-day weekend cycling tour to the hill station of Munnar, crafted to appease the traveller and the nature lover in you. As you ride through this former resort for the British Raj, you’ll discover that the hill station of Munnar is famed for its vast unending stretches of tea plantations and beautiful countryside.
The trails will take you through winding roads. Our journey starts on a Thursday (or vary depending on the day your choose) evening from Bangalore and we return early on Monday morning. You will travel in a comfortable customised vehicle overnight to arrive in Munnar early morning on the next day. This fun leisure trail, covers 100+ kilometres on bikes over 2 days.
Difficulty Level: Moderately challenging due to the terrain and weather conditions
Cycling Support
Your tour will be supported with cycles; these are 27-speed, American made,well-maintained, mountain bikes of good quality. You will also have a well-trained mechanic accompanying you, and a full repair kit with essential spares. We will also be carrying a back-up cycle along the expedition; just so that nobody misses out on the riding experience should his or her bike have a serious breakdown.
Accommodation
Accommodation will be in well-rated hotels and home stays with good hygienic bathrooms offered on a twin-sharing basis.
Transport
A team of 10-12 riders will be supported by one TT with a carrier that will carry both the riders and bikes along with a spare cycle and lunch packs and water. Through the day this vehicle will trail with the riders.
Adventure travel at it’s best!
I have done three different tours with Unventured now (and definitely the number will go up in future).
First started with the the day tour of “Treasures of Nandi Cycling Trail” and enjoyed riding around the Nandi hills, learning about the people living in the villages around Nandi and historical heritage of Nandi. The second was a weekend getaway to Yercaud. Starting from Salem and cycling all the way up to Yercaud with some intense climbs and hair-pin bends is a wonderful experience. The third was a weeklong Bhutan Bike and Hike Tour. Cycling in Bhutan and seeing the country is a serene experience.
Why I love traveling with Unventured?
1. Commitment to traveling green. Try to avoid use of plastics as much as possible.
2. Conscious effort to contribute to the local economy and work with local people everywhere we visit
3. Hassle free cycling experience. All the bikes are in great condition and here I can boast that in Bhutan we rode on KTM MTBs! And we always had support vehicles with us throughout the ride, so we don’t have to worry about food/water on the way. We ride comfortably and stop to enjoy the surroundings wherever we want to take pictures.