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The rolling hills around Munnar, South India's largest tea-growing region, are carpeted in emerald-green tea plantations, contoured, clipped and sculpted like ornamental hedges. The low Western Ghats scenery is magnificent – you’re often up above the clouds watching veils of mist clinging to mountaintops. Munnar itself is a traffic-clogged administration hub, not unlike a North Indian hill station, but wander just a few miles out and you'll be engulfed in a sea of a thousand shades of green.
Once known as the High Range of Travancore, Munnar flourished as a tea-producing area from 1880 onwards. Today it's the commercial centre of some of the world’s highest tea-growing estates, most operated by corporate giant Tata.
Munnar and the surrounding Idukki district were badly hit by the 2018 floods; at research time, road and business repairs were ongoing, but Munnar was very much open to visitors.
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Munnar.
Factory
One of several working local tea factories open to the public, Lockhart dates from 1879 and sits 10km southeast of Munnar. Guided factory tours explain modern tea processing from picking to export. There's also a small museum, plus gardens and tastings. Autorickshaws from Munnar cost ₹300 return, or take a local bus to Devikulam then an auto.
Museum
Around 1.5km northwest of town, this KDHP-owned museum is a demo model of a working tea factory, but still shows the basic process, along with a collection of relics from the British era including photographs and a 1905 tea-roller (skip the disappointingly bizarre factory demonstration). The walk to/from Munnar follows a busy road with views across tea plantations; autorickshaws charge ₹25 from the bazaar.
Notable Building
Now housing Tata offices, this pale-yellow 20th-century building was Munnar's train station during the colonial era and part of the Kundala Valley Light Railway – until the line was swept away by heavy flooding in 1924.
Church
Constructed in neo-Gothic style in 1911, with granite imported from the UK, Munnar's oldest church contains a series of plaques commemorating prominent foreign tea planters laid to rest here.