Home to some of the world’s highest tea growing estates, Munnar is a former British hill station where clipped tea plants blanket the slopes and mist often clings to the hillsides. The town is located in the Western Ghats at an altitude of 1,524 metres and the weather here is refreshingly cool and ideal for walking.
Trekking routes to the high ground offer adventurous escapes from the valley floor. With superb views and a host of trails, you can take leisurely strolls or full day hikes to discover this lush region’s fresh mountain air, awesome scenery, serenity.
Head into the hills to see meandering lines of tea plants covering the hills in swathes of green, with teams of tea pluckers at work against a backdrop of pale grey peaks A trip to the town’s tea museum reveals the history of the area and explains how tea was first introduced and cultivated here.
There are several spice plantations around Munnar that make for an excellent walk with our expert guide. If you want to bring some home, try the plantation shops or Krishna, the spice shop in the main town market.
The whole region is full of wildlife, big and small. Elephants can sometimes be spotted among the tea estates, and a huge variety of smaller fauna abounds in the spice plantations. Nearby Eravikulam National Park is a wind-swept yet stunningly beautiful wilderness in the southern part of the Western Ghats harbouring half the world’s population of the endangered Nilgiri Tahr.
Those interested in colonial history will find remnants of the Raj in Munnar’s churches and civic buildings.
Munnar is easily accessible from both Cochin and Periyar as well as Madurai in Tamil Nadu.
