Munnar is tea country on a grand scale, a high town in the Western Ghats of Kerala, at about fifteen hundred metres, surrounded by steep green hills that are covered, row on row, in a close-clipped carpet of tea bushes. The slopes are so regular and so bright that they look painted, and the mist moves through them in the morning, turning the valley into a soft, silvery landscape. It is cool here, even when the plains below are baking, and the air has a faint smell of tea leaves.
The tea estates were set up in the late nineteenth century by British planters, who cleared forests and brought in labourers from Tamil Nadu to work the slopes, and the industry still shapes the town. A tea museum shows the old machinery, and the factories around the town can be visited. The hills around Munnar also contain Eravikulam National Park, home of the Nilgiri tahr, a rare mountain goat, and of Anamudi, at 2,695 metres the highest peak in South India. Every twelve years, the slopes around the town turn blue with the flowers of the neelakurinji, a plant that blooms only once in a dozen years, and the next flowering is expected around 2030.
The roads around Munnar are some of the best in Kerala, with winding bends through tea gardens, past waterfalls, lakes and viewpoints. The surface is generally good, though narrow in places, with steep drops and little barrier, and the weather can be wet and foggy, particularly in the monsoon from June to September. The best riding months are from October to March, when the days are clear and cool. Early mornings and late afternoons are the best times for light and for avoiding the heaviest traffic.
Munnar is a busy tourist town with about sixty-eight thousand people in the wider area, and it has fuel stations, shops, hotels and restaurants. The bazaar sells spices, tea, chocolate and local crafts, and there are plenty of places to eat, from simple Kerala meals to Chinese and Indian dishes. It gets crowded during holidays, so book accommodation early, and bring a warm jacket, since the evenings can be chilly.