Marayoor is the land where nature, history and culture merge harmoniously into tourism. 42 kilometers north of Munnar through the Udumalppetta route, Marayoor is the only place in Kerala that has natural sandal wood forests. Frequent buses are available from Munnar. Ancient dolmens and rock paintings in Marayoor tell the story of a muted history dating back to the Stone Age.

The climate in Marayoor is characterized by mild wet winters and hot dry summers. Temperature in winter (November to January) may go down to 8 degrees Celsius and in summer it may go up to 36.2 degrees Celsius. Marayoor winter is not frigid cold as considerable sunshine is also characteristic to this region even during rainy winter. Summer is humid and hot with blazing sun. Generally Marayoor experience a moderate climate, temperatures varying 21 °C to 27 °C with minimum seasonal variation except in winter. The plains are generally warm but the higher altitudes are cool.

Rajiv Gandhi children’s park is located in the heart of Marayoor. The serene park spread across a hectare of land under the vast canopy of a single banyan tree attracts tourists and Marayoor population alike. From the park one can spot monkeys, deer and other animals in the adjoining reserve forest

Marayoor is famous for its natural sandalwood forests grown in natural abundance. Marayoor is the only place in Kerala where natural sandalwood forest is seen. There is a sandalwood depot near Marayoor town where sandalwood is being processed. Sandal wood or Santalum album is a parasitic tree of having fragrant and close-grained yellowish heartwood. Sandalwood oil, otherwise called the ‘ liquid gold ’ is extracted from the roots and wood of sandalwood. This oil is a costly item marketed at a few choosy outlets all over the state. Less rainfall is suitable for the growth of best sandalwood trees from which good quality oil can be extracted.

The 93 km² Marayoor reserve forest is believed to have about sixty thousand naturally grown sandalwood tress, Megalithic Dolmens (Also called Muniyaras), belong to the Megalithic age. These dolmenoids were burial chambers made of four stones placed on edges and covered by a fifth one called the cap stone. Some of these Dolmenoids contain several burial chambers, others have a quadrangle scooped out in laterite and lined on the sides with granite slabs. These are also covered with cap stones. Dozens of Dolmens around the area of old Siva temple (Thenkasinathan Temple) at Kovilkadavu on the banks of the River Pambar, and rock paintings on the south-western slope of the plateau overlooking the river attracted the visitors.

Apart from the dolmens of Stone Age, several dolmens of Iron age exist in this region especially on the left side of river Pambar as is evident from the usage of neatly dressed granite slabs for the dolmens. At least one of them has a perfectly circular hole of 28 cm diameter inside the underground chamber. This region has several types of dolmens. Large number of them are overground with about 70-90 cm height. Another type has a height 140-170 cm. There is an overground dolmen with double length up to 350 cm. Fragments of burial urns are also available in the region near the dolmens. This indicate that the dolmens with 70-90 cm height was used for burial of the remains of people of high social status. Burial urns were used for the burial of the remains of commoners. The dolmens with raised roof might have been used for habitation of people. Why some people lived in the cemeteries require a satisfactory explanation.

Ezhuthu Guha rock paintings are sited in the Koodakavu Sandalwood Reserve Forest at Marayoor in the Marayoor Panchayat at an elevation of 1000 meters above mean sea level. More or less 90 painted motifs can be seen here. However, as the place is the most famous rock art site in Kerala, it attracts a large number of visitors and has been extensively vandalized since it was brought to wide public attention.

Kovilkadavu is less than five kilometers from Marayoor town and the place is famous for Neolithic dolmens and rock paintings. Ten 10 painted motifs are located on the south-western slope of the plateau overlooking the Pambar river.