The best things to do in Munnar all come back to the rolling tea fields, wildlife and mountain air. At 1,500 metres up in the Western Ghats, the hills roll away in that bright, clipped green for as far as you can see, and after the heat of the coast it feels like a different country. It’s cool enough for a jumper at night, too.
If you’ve visited the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia, Munnar has a similar feel, but we loved it more. We spent three nights here during our two-week trip in Kerala, based at the beautiful Windermere Estate above the town, and it was our favourite part of our trip.
This is what we did with three days in Munnar, what it cost, how the weather shaped it, and the things we’d add next time, including the famous tea estate we didn’t know about until we’d left (whoops!)
10 Best Things To Do in Munnar
1. Hike the Seven Hills of the Lakshmi Estate
If you do one activity in Munnar, make it this. The Seven Hills walk takes you up and over the ridges of a working tea estate, with the tea pickers at work below you and the valleys folding away in every direction. Windermere organised a local guide for us, which you need, because some of the paths cross private estate land and the way isn’t marked.
We did the shorter version of the hike. We headed out after breakfast and were back by about 3pm, after a packed lunch on a hilltop. The full route is a five-hour day. It was the best thing we did in Kerala, and the views of the rolling tea fields are so serene.
2. Tour the Lockhart Tea Factory
Lockhart is one of the few working factories you can walk through. The tour is ₹250 with departures every 30 minutes. You follow the leaf from withering through rolling and drying to the sorting room.
Unfortunately for us, our visit didn’t work out. We missed the tour and decided we weren’t too fussed to wait around outside the factory for half an hour. The café was also closed for maintenance when we went, so we couldn’t buy any tea at the end. Maybe not the best review from us, but it is widely considered one of the best things to do in Munnar.
3. Go Birdwatching with a Naturalist
Munnar sits in the Western Ghats, one of the world’s great biodiversity hotspots, and the birdlife is extraordinary. Our guide was Medha Hebbar, the resident naturalist at Windermere, whose eyes light up every time she spots something special — which is pretty often! Within an hour we’d seen sunbirds, Asia’s answer to the hummingbird, and the giant Malabar squirrel, which is the size of a cat and the colour of a conker.
If you’re staying at the Windermere Estate, nature walks with Medha are included in your stay at no additional charge, and they are a real highlight.
4. Walk Through a Cardamom Plantation
Tea gets the attention, but the hills around Munnar also grow cardamom and the Windermere Estate is a working cardamom farm. Medha leads guided walks through the plantation, which is shadier and wilder than the tea, sharing facts about the nature and wildlife. Cardamom grows in low pods at the base of the plants, and Medha explained how it’s harvested and dried. It’s a short, easy walk and a good activity for the afternoon when the cloud comes in.
5. Climb Chokramudi
Chokramudi is the big peak above Munnar, with spectacular views over the tea on a clear day and an entry fee of ₹800. We didn’t make it to the viewpoint, after a slow start and bad weather which meant we needed to abandon the walk.
We left our hotel at 11am after a swim, against Windermere’s advice, and within half an hour of walking we were inside a heavy rain cloud with no visibility on a slippery, exposed rock path at dizzying heights. The weather got the better of us and rather than ruin our holiday by doing something silly, we decided to make the sensible decision to turn back.
The lesson is to go first thing: the mornings are clear and the cloud rolls in from late morning. Treat Chokramudi as a weather-dependent plan rather than a fixed one, and plan it in advance.
6. Stay at the Windermere Estate
Staying at the Windermere Estate was one of our highlights in Kerala. If we’re honest, we planned most of our Kerala trip around the dates it was available and we are so glad we did. Windermere is a working cardamom plantation up in the hills above Munnar.
Our room had red tiled floors, white linens with blue blankets and a quaint lemon yellow-tiled bathroom. The view from the balcony changed every hour as the cloud came and went across the valley. One misty afternoon we didn’t go anywhere at all, just read on the balcony under the blankets while the tea fields disappeared and reappeared below us.
Afternoon tea is included, and it’s a ritual: freshly brewed cardamom tea in a little hut in the garden, with shortbread biscuits and banana fritters. We looked forward to it every day. Breakfast and dinner were fresh, healthy and catered for vegetarians very well.
Things to Do in Munnar We Didn’t Get To
Three days wasn’t enough for everything, and a couple of these we only found out about afterwards. We haven’t done them, so take the detail as research rather than recommendation.
7. Watch the Sunrise at Kolukkumalai
Kolukkumalai is the highest tea estate in the world, at around 2,400 metres on the Tamil Nadu border about 35km from Munnar, reached by a bone-shaking jeep track and visited for sunrise above the clouds. We didn’t know it existed until we were back on the coast.
If you’re planning Munnar from scratch, put it in: a pre-dawn jeep from Suryanelli, sunrise on the ridge, then the old orthodox tea factory, which still processes leaf the way it did a century ago. It’s another 2-hour drive onwards from Munnar, so it’s a lengthy trip.
8. See the Nilgiri Tahr at Eravikulam National Park
Eravikulam, just north of town, is where you go to see the Nilgiri tahr, the endangered mountain goat that lives only in these hills, grazing the grassland below Anamudi, South India’s highest peak. It’s a bus ride up through the park to a short walking trail. The park closes for a couple of months around February and March for the calving season, so check the dates.
9. Do the Top Station and Mattupetty Circuit
Every tuk-tuk driver in Munnar will offer you the standard day out: Mattupetty Dam, Echo Point and Top Station, the viewpoint on the Tamil Nadu border with the valley dropping away beneath it. It’s the classic tourist loop, busy on weekends and holidays. We skipped it in favour of the hike and don’t regret that, but if you’ve got a spare day it’s the obvious thing to do.
10. Visit the Tea Museum
The KDHP Tea Museum on the edge of town tells the story of the plantations from the British planters onwards, with old machinery and a short film, and it’s the easy wet-afternoon option. We really disliked Munnar town and left it as quickly as we came in after buying a bottle of wine from the alcohol shop (see our Kerala know-before-you-go post on how buying alcohol works here).
How Many Days in Munnar?
Three nights in Munnar gives you two full days plus the mornings either side. One day for the Seven Hills hike, one for the tea factory, birdwatching and a peak attempt, and some slack for the weather as it is often cloudy and sometimes wet in Munnar. With a fourth day you could reach Kolukkumalai. Our where to stay in Munnar guide explains why staying outside the town matters.
Getting Around Munnar
All the best things to do in Munnar are spread across the hills, so you’ll need transport. We used tuk-tuks for everything, arranged each morning by our host at the Windermere Estate, including the ride to the factory and the drop-off for the hike.
For Kolukkumalai or Top Station you want a jeep or a car for the day, which any stay can organise. Munnar town itself is a traffic-filled junction with tea shops and a bus stand and ten minutes there is plenty, so plan transport with your accommodation so you’re not stuck trying to flag someone down in town.
Best Time to Visit Munnar
We visited Munnar in November, at the start of the dry season, and had clear mornings and cloudy afternoons, which is the usual pattern. December to February is the clearest and coolest, with nights near 10°C, and it’s when the hiking route views are at their best. The monsoon from June to September turns the hills a deeper green but shuts most of the walking down.
Munnar FAQ
Munnar is famous for its tea plantations, which cover the hills around the town at around 1,500 metres in the Western Ghats, and for the Nilgiri tahr in Eravikulam National Park. It’s the hill station on almost every Kerala itinerary, and the cool, green contrast to the coast and backwaters.
Munnar is about 130km from Kochi, which takes around four hours by road because the last stretch is slow and winding. There’s no railway, so most people arrange a driver through their hotel, and breaking the journey at a riverside stay like Windermere River House makes it far more pleasant.
You can walk the roads through the tea estates around Munnar freely, as the pickers and the views are everywhere, but the estate interiors and the best ridge paths cross private land and need a local guide. The Lockhart factory tour is the easiest way inside a working plantation without arranging anything in advance.
Munnar is cool rather than cold, with daytime temperatures around 20 to 25°C and nights dropping to about 10°C between December and February. Bring a jumper for the evenings and a waterproof for the afternoons, when cloud and showers roll in even in the dry season.