Munnar Tea Country — Two Nights in the High Range
The shortest Kerala there is: two nights in Munnar, driven up from Kochi through the cardamom hills to the tea estates the Kannan Devan company planted in the 1880s. For a long weekend, or for adding two cool days onto a trip that is really about somewhere else.
Journey overview
The moments that make this journey unforgettable — the signature experiences we have woven through every day, so the best of the destination is never left to chance.
The shortest Kerala there is: two nights in Munnar, driven up from Kochi through the cardamom hills to the tea estates the Kannan Devan company planted in the 1880s. For a long weekend, or for adding two cool days onto a trip that is really about somewhere else.
Journey snapshot
The shape of this journey at a glance — where it starts, where it ends and everything it passes through.
Duration
- 2 Nights / 3 Days
Starts
- Kochi to Munnar
Ends
- Munnar to Kochi
Route
- Kochi to Munnar → Munnar → Munnar to Kochi
Travel style
- Adventure
Journey highlights
The moments that make this journey unforgettable — the signature experiences we have woven through every day, so the best of the destination is never left to chance.
- The climb from Kochi through spice country, gaining sixteen hundred metres in four hours
- Tea estates that have been worked continuously since the 1880s
- The Tata Tea Museum at Nallathanni, where the original rolling machinery still stands
- Top Station and the Kundala valley, looking across into Tamil Nadu
- Mattupetty dam and the Kundala lake road early, before the coaches
- Eravikulam National Park, home of the Nilgiri tahr, a short drive above the town
- Cool nights at around 1,600 m, which is the reason Kerala built a hill station here
- Short driving days — nothing on this route is more than four hours
Day-by-day itinerary
Met at Kochi and driven east, and the road does the work of explaining Kerala: coconut and paddy on the flat, then rubber, then cardamom and pepper as it starts to climb, and finally tea once you are past Adimali. Around 130 km and four hours, with the Cheeyappara and Valara falls on the way up if the water is running. Munnar sits at about 1,600 m where three streams meet, and the temperature at the top is a different proposition from the coast. The afternoon is left free. · Kochi to Munnar · overnight Munnar · Private car
Eravikulam first, because entry is by timed bus from Rajamala and the morning slots go quickly — this is the largest surviving population of Nilgiri tahr, and they graze close enough to the path that no telephoto is needed. The park closes for calving for roughly two months in late winter, so it is confirmed rather than assumed. The rest of the day works the estate roads: Mattupetty dam, the Kundala valley, and Top Station at the Tamil Nadu border where the escarpment falls away into the Theni plain. The tea museum at Nallathanni fills the late afternoon. · Munnar · Private car
The descent takes the morning and is worth doing slowly — a spice-garden stop below Adimali makes sense of what you have been driving through, with cardamom, nutmeg, clove and vanilla growing within a few metres of each other. Into Kochi by early afternoon for a flight, or with time for an hour in Fort Kochi if the departure is late: the Chinese fishing nets on the point, the 1568 synagogue in Mattancherry, and the Dutch cemetery are all within a short walk of one another. · Munnar to Kochi · overnight — · Private car
Accommodation, meals & transport
What the journey covers day to day, taken from this package's own inclusions.
🏨 Accommodation
- Comfort standard
- 2 nights' hand-picked accommodation
🍽 Meals
- Daily breakfast
🚆 Transport
- Private air-conditioned car with a driver-guide throughout
- All sightseeing and transfers as per the itinerary
- Toll, parking and driver allowances
- Private car
Flights, visa & practical
Arranged separately from the journey itself — listed here so there are no surprises.
✈ Flights
- Flights and rail travel to and from Kerala
What's included & excluded
Exactly what your journey covers — set out clearly, with no surprises, so you know precisely what to expect.
Included
- 2 nights' hand-picked accommodation
- Daily breakfast
- Private air-conditioned car with a driver-guide throughout
- All sightseeing and transfers as per the itinerary
- Toll, parking and driver allowances
- 24/7 on-trip support from Live Traveller
Excluded
- Flights and rail travel to and from Kerala
- Lunches and dinners outside the houseboat
- Monument, park and boat-ride entry fees
- Optional experiences and personal expenses
- Anything not listed under inclusions
Frequently asked
Related to this journey
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