Munnar

Munnar is a hill station at about 1,600 metres in the Western Ghats of Kerala, where three mountain streams, the Muthirapuzha, Nallathanni and Kundala, meet. The town is surrounded by rolling tea estates, and the neat, clipped rows of bushes following the contours of the hills are the defining image of Munnar. It is the highest-altitude tea-growing region in South India.

British planters began clearing the Kanan Devan Hills for tea in the late 19th century, and Munnar grew up as their base and summer retreat. The estates still work today, many of them run by the Kanan Devan Hills Plantations company, in which the workers hold a large share. Above the town, Eravikulam National Park protects the endangered Nilgiri tahr and the slopes of Anamudi, at 2,695 metres the highest peak in South India. The park's grasslands are also where the neelakurinji shrub blooms purple roughly once every twelve years, most recently in 2018.

What to see

• Tea estate walks through the plantations around town
• The Nilgiri tahr and high grasslands of Eravikulam National Park
• The tea museum at the Nallathanni Estate, with a live processing demonstration
• Mattupetty Dam, Echo Point and Kundala Lake on the road east
• Top Station, a viewpoint on the Kerala and Tamil Nadu border
• Spice gardens selling cardamom, pepper and homemade chocolate

What to wear

Munnar is cool, around 15 to 25°C by day for most of the year and colder on winter nights, so bring a fleece or light jacket. Mist and rain are common, so pack a waterproof layer, especially from June to September, and walking shoes with grip for muddy estate paths. Temples ask for modest dress and bare feet. In Kerala, the kasavu saree and white mundu are the traditional dress; many estate families in Munnar are of Tamil origin and wear Tamil sarees and veshti.

Local food to try

Munnar's food mixes Kerala and Tamil cooking. Try puttu, steamed rice cake with kadala curry of black chickpeas, appam with stew, and parotta with beef or chicken fry in the town's simple restaurants. Kerala meals on a banana leaf are served at lunch across the market area. Fresh estate tea, cardamom and Munnar's homemade chocolates, sold in the town market, make good gifts. Vegetarian food is easy to find, and halal meat is common in town.

Good to know

• Best time: September to March for clear views; the hills are greenest just after the monsoon
• Munnar town is open at all times; estates, parks and museums keep daytime hours
• Entry fees are charged at the park, museum, dam and viewpoints
• Allow two nights to see the estates, Eravikulam and the Mattupetty road
• Munnar is about 130 km, or four hours, from Kochi and Cochin International Airport
• Tea estates are private property; walk only on marked paths or with a guide

Nearby places

The drive up from Kochi passes Cheeyappara Waterfalls, and in and around Munnar itself you can combine Eravikulam National Park, the Tata Tea Museum and the boating lake at Mattupetty Dam over a couple of days.