8 Reasons Munnar Should Be on Every South India Itinerary
South India itineraries typically run: Kochi → backwaters → Thekkady → maybe a beach in Varkala. Munnar gets skipped because it's "just a hill station" or "just tea."
This is wrong. Here's why.
1. The Tea Plantations Are Unlike Anything You've Seen
I've been to tea regions in , Sri Lanka, and Japan. Munnar's tea landscape is in a different category. The plantations don't occupy patches between other terrain — they ARE the terrain. Every hill, every valley, every slope is covered in tea bushes. The green is so uniform and so vast that it looks digitally rendered.
The rows follow the contours of the hills, creating natural patterns that shift as you drive. In morning mist, the bushes emerge gradually, row by row. In afternoon sun, they glow an almost fluorescent green.
You don't need to visit a tea museum to appreciate this (though the KDHP Tea Museum is worth it — INR 125, closed Mondays). Just drive. Pull over. Stand at the edge of a plantation and look at the hill disappearing into green.
2. Eravikulam Has an Animal Found Nowhere Else
The Nilgiri tahr — a stocky mountain goat with curved horns — exists only in the Western Ghats. The world's largest population lives in Eravikulam National Park, 15 km from Munnar. Entry INR 420 for foreigners.
They're remarkably unbothered by humans. The park shuttle bus drops you at a viewpoint where tahr graze on the hillside 20-30 meters away. January-March is best — they descend to lower slopes. The animals against the misty mountain backdrop are the kind of wildlife encounter that doesn't require a telephoto lens.
3. The Drive Up Is an Attraction Itself
The Kochi-Munnar road has 48+ hairpin bends. After the flat coastal stretch, the road climbs into the Western Ghats through rubber plantations, then pepper vines, then cardamom fields, then suddenly — tea. The transition is gradual and then overwhelming.
Stop at Cheeyappara and Valara waterfalls (free, roadside) on the way up. They're dramatic during and after monsoon. The road itself, winding through the cloud forest, is one of India's most scenic drives.
Carry motion sickness medication. This road has claimed many stomachs.
4. The Spice Plantations Engage Every Sense
Between Munnar and Thekkady, spice estates offer guided walks through cardamom, pepper, cinnamon, clove, and vanilla. INR 200-500 for a 1-2 hour tour.
You'll taste raw pepper corns (searingly hot), chew a cardamom pod (explosively aromatic), and smell vanilla orchids (the flower is surprisingly subtle). The guides explain the cultivation and harvesting — cardamom alone takes 3 years from planting to first harvest.
Buy spices directly from the estate. The prices are 30-50% less than tourist shops, and you know they're genuine. A bag of fresh green cardamom for INR 300 will make your luggage smell incredible.
5. Kolukkumalai Is the World's Highest Organic Tea Plantation
At 2,400 meters, Kolukkumalai is reached by a bone-jarring jeep ride from Suryanelli village (INR 1,500-2,500 for the jeep, 45 minutes of pure off-road). The plantation processes tea using machines from 1930 — the same equipment for 90 years.
The tea tasting at the top — with the Western Ghats spreading below you — is one of the best food experiences in South India. The altitude affects the tea's flavor profile — more delicate than valley tea.
Go at sunrise if you can. The mist burns off the tea bushes as the sun rises, and for a few minutes the entire plantation glows gold.
6. The Neelakurinji Connection
Every twelve years, the hillsides around Munnar — particularly near Top Station — bloom with Strobilanthes kunthiana (neelakurinji), turning entire mountains purple-blue. The last bloom was 2018. The next is around 2030.
Even outside the bloom, Top Station (1,880m, 32 km from Munnar) offers panoramic views of the Western Ghats and Tamil Nadu plains. Go before 10 AM when clouds typically roll in. Free entry.
The twelve-year cycle is a remarkable natural phenomenon — and Munnar is the best place on earth to witness it.
7. Tea Estate Bungalows Are the Best Accommodation Value in Kerala
Forget resort hotels. The converted colonial-era planter bungalows on working tea estates offer something no resort can: authenticity.
You wake up surrounded by tea. Your morning coffee is from beans grown 100 meters away. The estate manager walks you through the plantation explaining grades and seasons. Meals are prepared by cooks who've been feeding tea planters for decades — Kerala cuisine at its home-cooked best.
Prices: INR 3,000-6,000 per night including meals. For the experience, this is remarkable value. Book through your hotel, KDHP, or platforms like StayVista.
8. It Combines Perfectly with Kerala's Other Highlights
For more coffee and hills, head north from Munnar to Coorg in Karnataka.
This 7-8 day route covers colonial heritage, tea hills, spice country, wildlife, and backwaters — the greatest hits of Kerala in one continuous loop. Munnar is the hill break between coastal Kochi and the spice forests of Thekkady, and it provides altitude, cool air, and a change of landscape that makes the rest of the trip feel richer.
Skipping Munnar means missing the elevated perspective — both literally and figuratively. The view from a tea garden at 1,500 meters, looking down through mist at the land you'll be traveling through tomorrow, gives the rest of Kerala context.
