Hi there!
Munnar is in the hills of Kerala, and it’s best known for its tea plantations. You can go for a lighter trek with a tea plantation trek, or you can go for the slightly more strenuous Meesapulimala Trek.
So if you’re looking for a bus from Kottayam to Munnar when you’re backpacking Kerala, you might also be taking the Alleppey to Kottayam ferry!
Going from Alleppey to Munnar in part by ferry can be a good choice!
Although it’s possible to go direct by bus from Alleppey to Munnar, which would be quicker, there’s no better way to leave Alleppey than by way of the Kerala backwaters… right?! 😉
So, you have the part figured out about taking the Kottayam ferry from Alleppey.
But what do you do when you get to Kottayam to get the rest of the way to Munnar?!
The good news is that it’s pretty easy!
Kottayam ferry station to Kottayam bus station
Have a look at this map.
You’ll see that you can walk from the ferry station to the bus station in around 10-15 minutes.
Or if you’d rather not walk with luggage, you’ll likely be able to find a rickshaw right outside the ferry station, and that’ll take less than 5 minutes.
Kottayam train station to Kottayam bus station
Or, if you’ll be arriving to Kottayam by train to make an onward journey to Munnar, have a look at this map.
It will be around a 30 minute walk from the train station to the bus station, or a 5 to 10 minute rickshaw ride.
Kottayam bus station
Once you get to the bus station, head on over to the “station master” office.
There, you can ask about when the next bus to Munnar is.
What are the Kottayam to Munnar bus timings?
Looking at the aanavandi website to get an idea, there are frequent enough buses from Kottayam to Munnar to make this a pretty reliable option.
These bus timings are meant as a guide and shouldn’t be taken as an absolute!
These are the listed Kottayam to Munnar bus timings:
So from this, we can gather that you’ll likely be able to find a bus to Munnar when you arrive at the Kottayam bus station, although it might require a little bit of a wait.
Once you arrive at the station, you might find that there’s another bus you can take too.
The schedule above isn’t always accurate, but it is good in order to figure out if it’s a reasonable option.
And in this case, finding a bus from Kottayam to Munnar does seem reasonable once you show up in Kottayam.
You’ll also notice that it’ll probably take around 5 hours to go from Kottayam to Munnar by bus.
Buses that don’t start in Kottayam
Another thing that you might notice from the bus schedule above is that most of the buses to Munnar don’t start in Kottayam.
What does that mean?!
For one, it could mean that the bus may be delayed.
But more importantly, it means that you should be mentally prepared in case you get on a full bus. 😉
That means that there IS a possibility that you might have to stand for part or all of the way.
Still, there also IS a possibility that you WILL get a seat!
Take the bus to Munnar!
So once you get to the Kottayam bus station, find out when the next bus to Munnar is, wait for that bus, and then off you go to the Munnar bus station!
Okay, so now that you (hopefully) feel more comfortable about traveling from Kottayam to Munnar…
What to do when you’re in Munnar as a part of your one week Kerala itinerary?!
Top 2 things to do in Munnar
1. Munnar tea plantation trek
2. Meesapulimala trek with overnight tent camping
HAPPY KOTTAYAM TO MUNNAR BUS RIDE!