By road
~130 km from Kochi
South India · Kerala
Munnar, Kerala
Mist, tea gardens and quiet hills · ~130 km from Kochi
Getting there
By rail
Aluva, ~110 km (Ernakulam Junction, ~125 km, has more train options)
By air
Cochin International Airport (COK), ~110-130 km
Best time to visit
September to March — clear valley views; avoid heavy June rain
Don't miss
Eravikulam National Park
Mattupetty Dam
Top Station viewpoint
Things to do
Tea-estate walks
Eravikulam tahr spotting
Spice plantation tours
Where to eat
Sources: wikimedia, Photo: N.A.Nazeer · CC BY-SA 2.5 in
What to pack
Warm layers for nights, walking shoes, rain shell
A quieter corner
Kolukkumalai, the world's highest organic tea estate, jeep-track only
Questions travellers ask
When is Munnar at its best?
September to March, when the valley views are clear. Avoid the heavy rain in June.
How do I get to Munnar?
Fly into COK at Kochi, 110-130 km away, or take the train to Aluva at 110 km. The drive up from Kochi through the tea country takes about four hours and is part of the point.
What should I pack?
Warm layers for the nights, walking shoes, and a rain shell whatever the forecast says.
Is there a view worth the detour?
Kolukkumalai, the world's highest organic tea estate. It is jeep-track only, which is what keeps it quiet.
What is there to do?
Walk the tea estates, look for tahr at Eravikulam, and take a spice plantation tour.
About Munnar
- Hills
Where it is
Munnar is a hill station in the Idukki district of Kerala, at about 1,600 m in the Western Ghats near the Tamil Nadu border, where three mountain rivers meet amid rolling tea estates.
History
The Muthuvan and other hill peoples lived in these forests long before British planters began clearing land around Devikulam in 1879. Coffee soon gave way to tea, and the estates, run from 1897 by the Kannan Devan Hills company and later by Tata, turned the hills into one of South India's main tea-growing districts.
People
Munnar's tea estates were worked for generations by Tamil-speaking families, and Tamil is heard here as often as Malayalam. The Muthuvan, a tribal community, live in settlements in the surrounding forests, and tea plucking, estate work and tourism are the main livelihoods.
Known for
- Tea estates and the tea museum
- Eravikulam National Park and the Nilgiri tahr
- Anamudi, the highest peak in South India
- Neelakurinji blooms every twelve years
- Mattupetty Dam and Top Station views
Did you know?
Munnar once had a mountain railway: the Kundala Valley Railway, which began as a monorail, carried goods towards Top Station until the great flood of 1924 destroyed it, and it was never rebuilt.
We haven't written a guide for this place yet — you can still plan a trip here.