Treks & Hikes
The Western Ghats, on foot
What this experience involves
The Western Ghats run down the western edge of South India for about 1,600 kilometres. They are older than the Himalayas, recognised by UNESCO as one of the world’s eight “hottest hotspots” of biological diversity, and nowhere along their length are they more accessible to a serious walker than in the high range around Munnar.
This is the country where we run our trekking programmes, Munnar at the centre, Thekkady and Periyar Tiger Reserve to the south, and a handful of less-visited reserves further afield for guests who want something off the standard trail.
We organise treks for two kinds of traveller. The first is the experienced hill walker who wants to spend three days on the high ridges, sleep in tents above the cloud line, and cover real distance through varied terrain. The second is the curious traveller who wants a half-day walk through tea country with a knowledgeable guide – no camping, no extreme fitness required, just enough exertion to feel the landscape properly. Both are equally well-served by what the region offers.
What follows is an honest account of the treks we run regularly and recommend, grouped by region and difficulty.
This is the most serious walking we organise out of Munnar. Three days, two nights of camping, and roughly 35 to 40 kilometres of trekking across the highest ground in South India. It is the trek we recommend to guests who tell us they want the full Western Ghats experience condensed into the shortest possible time.
The route is carefully sequenced. Day one takes you from Munnar by jeep to the base camp at Silent Valley, then up through shola forest and pine plantation to Rhodo Valley – a forest department guest house at around 7,500 feet where you spend the first night in tents. The walking on day one is moderate; the climb gets you onto the high ground and acclimatised for what comes next.
Day two is the long day. From Guest house you cross to Meesapulimala, at 2,640 metres the second highest peak in South India, and then continue eastward along the ridge system all the way to Yellapetty, another mountain range close to Top Station on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border. This is roughly 21 kilometres of ridge walking with significant elevation change. You move through grassland, cross belts of shola forest, walk above the cloud line for long stretches, and finish at the Yellapetty camp where the second night’s tents are pitched. We do not soften the description of day two, it is challenging, and it is the reason we ask honestly about fitness before confirming any booking.
Day three is the reward for day two’s effort. A pre-dawn start gets you onto a sunrise viewpoint above the clouds, the kind of view that international guests come halfway around the world to find and rarely see described in a brochure. After breakfast at camp, the descent brings you back to road and a vehicle waits to return you to Munnar.
Why we don’t extend this trek further. Guests sometimes ask whether they can add a fourth or fifth night. We almost always recommend against it. The three days as designed cover the full vertical and ecological range of the high Western Ghats, from tea-belt to shola to grassland to peak. Adding more nights means walking through similar terrain again. The exposure you get in three days is genuinely complete. Adding repetition does not improve the trek.
Pricing. This varies meaningfully with group size – a couple pays more per head than a group of eight. We quote on enquiry rather than publish a fixed rate, because publishing one rate inevitably misleads someone.
For guests who want to walk in this landscape without committing to a multi-day camp, the area immediately around Munnar offers some excellent half-day options.
Letchmi Estate trail. A two to three hour walk through tea plantations, climbing onto a ridge that gives broad views back toward Munnar town and across to the Western Ghats. Moderate gradient, good for first-time walkers in the region. Starts in old Munnar, finishes inside the estate.
Chokramudi. A more substantial half-day trek, three to five hours depending on pace, that climbs from the Gap Road area onto a rocky peak with strong panoramic views in every direction. Tea plantations transition into grassland and patches of shola forest as you ascend. This is moderate-to-strenuous and gives a real taste of high-range walking without the camping commitment.
Pampadum Shola National Park. A one-day option from Munnar, about an hour and a half of driving each way through Mattupetty, Echo Point and Kundala Dam to reach the park, then three hours of walking in the shola forest itself. The name in Malayalam means “the forest where the snake dances.” This is the smallest national park in Kerala but ecologically remarkable, habitat of the endangered Nilgiri Marten and home to leopard, gaur, sambar and the full range of high-range fauna. Sighting wildlife on foot is genuinely a matter of luck; what is guaranteed is the misty, almost otherworldly atmosphere of the shola itself.
For each of these we provide a guide, refreshments, transport and entrance fees as required.
Periyar is fundamentally different from the Munnar high country. Here you are walking inside a working tiger reserve at lower elevation, in moist deciduous forest around a large reservoir lake. The biodiversity is denser and the wildlife is more present, elephant, gaur, sambar, Nilgiri langur and giant squirrel are all regularly encountered.
All trekking inside Periyar is operated by the Kerala Forest Department through their Eco-Tourism programmes. We arrange permits, accompany guests as the operator, and select the right programme based on what each guest is actually after. The main options are:
All of these have minimum age restrictions (typically twelve and above) and limited daily slots, so we book in advance.
There are excellent treks available further afield, in Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary north of Marayoor, in Parambikulam Tiger Reserve, and in Silent Valley National Park. All three are biologically remarkable and worth the visit if you have specific interest in them.
We organise treks at these reserves on request, but we do not lead with them. Each one involves significant additional driving from Munnar or Thekkady, three hours or more in most cases, and the trekking experience itself, while excellent, is not necessarily superior to what is available closer to base. We mention them honestly because they exist and because for the right guest, typically a serious wildlife enthusiast or birder with time on their hands, they are absolutely worth doing. For most visitors with a week or ten days in Kerala, the Munnar and Thekkady programmes give a more complete experience for the time invested.
If you want to include Chinnar, Parambikulam or Silent Valley in your programme, tell us at the planning stage and we will build the routing around them.
The simplest path is to write to us at hello [@] greenearthtrails [dot] com or use the enquiry form below. Tell us:
We will respond within twenty-four hours with a proposal that fits, and if we think the trek you have asked for is not the right one for your group, we will say so and recommend an alternative. That is how we work.
Practical information
We provide all meals, snacks, refreshments and drinking water on multi-day camps; fruit, refreshments, water and lunch where relevant on day walks; water on shorter trails. Tents, camp gear and Forest Department permits are arranged by us. You bring trekking shoes or sturdy sneakers, a fleece or light jacket, a reusable water bottle, and a hat with sunscreen. A trekking pole helps on longer descents. Travel light a small day pack is enough. For overnight treks, send us your passport and visa or ETA in advance, we need it to secure the Forest Department permit.
Frequently asked
For a serious trekker with two or three days available, the Meesapulimala camp out of Munnar is our flagship, three days of high-ridge walking with two nights of forest camping at Rhodo Mansion and Yellapetty, taking in South India's second highest peak. For guests on a tighter schedule or with mixed fitness levels in the group, the day treks around Munnar - Letchmi, Chokramudi or Pampadum Shola, give a real taste of the Western Ghats in three to five hours of walking. The Periyar Tiger Reserve treks at Thekkady are different in character again, focused on lower-elevation forest and lake-edge wildlife rather than ridge walking.
October to the second week of March is the prime trekking window. The post-monsoon air is clear, the views are at their best, and night temperatures at altitude are cool but manageable. From mid-March onwards the region moves into pre-monsoon and visibility deteriorates. Tropical summer humidity does not affect the high-altitude treks meaningfully because of the elevation, but we still recommend the October-March window for the most reliable conditions.
Pricing varies meaningfully with group size, trek duration and the specific programme. A couple pays more per head than a group of eight on the same trek, and the Meesapulimala two-night camp is materially more involved than a Munnar day walk. Rather than publish a single rate that would mislead someone, we quote on enquiry once we know the group size, dates and programme. Tell us the trek you are interested in, the number of guests, and your dates, and we will respond within twenty-four hours with a detailed proposal.
The minimum age for the Meesapulimala camp and the Periyar Forest Department treks is twelve years. For day walks around Munnar we can accommodate younger children on the easier trails, depending on the child's stamina and the parents' judgement, Letchmi is generally manageable for fit children from around eight years upwards. Tell us the ages at the enquiry stage and we will recommend the right trek for your family.