India (Frommer's, 4th Edition) (158 page)

Once in a Blue Bloom

Visitors to India’s southern highlands in 2006 were lucky enough to witness the blooming of the rare and exotic
Neelakurunji plant.
Its violet blossoms transform the hillsides around Munnar for 1 month—but only every 12 years. A pleasant 34km (21-mile) trip from Munnar, Top Station (the highest point on the Munnar-Kodaikanal road, from where you enjoy panoramic views of the surrounding plains and hills) is the place to witness this natural spectacle, but it won’t happen again until 2018.

Where to Stay & Dine

If you can’t get in to
Windermere
or
Casa Montagna
(both reviewed below), you might want to look at
The Siena Village.
With 28 units and a long list of facilities (including a conference hall), it’s very much a resort with a dull ambience, but the location, a lovely half-hour drive from Munnar in what feels like genuine hill country (although the area is feeling the steady encroachment of neighboring properties), is really lovely. Accommodations are comfortable enough but without any flair (a single framed print, hung too high, is the only wall decoration) and despite being spread around a wide expanse of neatly trimmed lawns and a central open-air pavilion can feel a little cluttered. Our biggest objection is that views from many of the rooms are obscured; ask for one with an upstairs bedroom (
04868/24-9261;
www.thesienavillage.com
; Rs 4,600 deluxe double, including breakfast). Before booking with a resort that isn’t recommended here, it’s worth knowing that the Kerala authorities are taking a very hard line against resorts erected illegally on reserve land, so when developers take chances, authorities respond by razing the offending properties to the ground—it can mean that your choice will be nothing but a pile of rubble by the time you get here (although the places below are all legit).

Casa Montagna
Marketed as a “Boutique Homestay on the Hills,” this is a truly tranquil spot and one where it’s possible to feel a million miles away from civilization with nothing by misty views across a near-mystical horizon. Set on a 40-hectare (100-acre) spice and cardamom plantation that feels much like a huge, lush overgrown forest, there’s been plenty of home carpentry to create large and airy accommodations with great showers and plenty of windows allowing for great natural light, not to mention awesome views over the mist-laden valley that seems to drop away from the edge of the neatly trimmed lawn. Bag the so-called honeymoon cottage, and you’ll enjoy maximum privacy, lulled to sleep each night by the stream that runs nearby. Although things are pretty personal, a homestay this is not; for the most part you’ll be well looked after by the lovely staff that prepares meals to your taste, places flowers in your room, and takes you for walks through the thick, jungly plantation-forest, pointing out unusual trees and different spices. Note that electricity is all self-generated, and is usually only turned on when necessary (in the morning and at night).

Peak Gardens, Chinnakanal PO, Muttukadu, Munnar 685 618.
04868/20-3050.
www.casadelfauno.in
. Reservations: Sebastian Rd., Kaloor, Cochin 682 017.
98-9576-6444.
[email protected]. 6 units. Oct–Mar Rs 7,000 elegant double, Rs 9,000 deluxe double; Apr–Sept Rs 6,000 elegant double, Rs 7,000 deluxe double; Rs 3,500 extra bed (adult), Rs 2,000 extra bed (child aged 6–12). Children 5 and under free. Rates include all meals. No credit cards.
Amenities:
Dining area, cigar room, library-lounge w/TV/DVD; bicycles; concierge; Internet (free); plantation walks. In room: Fan, heater.

The Tall Trees
Located 8km (5 miles) outside of scruffy Munnar town, this aptly named miniresort consists of pale-gray clapboard-style bungalows, many of them on stilts and arranged so that none of the 561 trees in the 26-hectare (66-acre) woodlands had to be felled. Of the three cottage categories, the standard—spacious, with a balcony—should suffice; the two-bedroom luxury cottages will suit families. Interiors, with bland, minimal furnishings (some badly frayed), lack the character promised by the scintillating setting, but this needn’t detract too seriously from the peaceful environment, with great bird-watching from your veranda (although some of the architectural design hampers the view). It can be a long walk uphill to the restaurant, so request a cottage close by if you’re not that fit. Then again, the food isn’t great, and service is patchy, so if you’re inclined to be demanding, you’re in for a bit of a struggle. Steel your nerves by preparing for claustrophobic bathrooms and ask for extra blankets when you check in.

Bison Valley Rd., Munnar 685 618.
04865/23-0641
or -0331.
www.ttr.in
. 19 units. Rs 8,000–Rs 10,500 standard cottage; Rs 12,000–Rs 14,500 deluxe cottage; Rs 20,000–Rs 22,500 2-bedroom luxury cottage; Rs 2,500 extra bed. Rates include all meals; 15% tax extra. 2-night minimum stay in peak season. MC, V.
Amenities:
2 restaurants; Ayurvedic spa; bicycles; children’s park; Internet (broadband in shop; Rs 50/hr.); mountaineering; recreation center; golf and aquatic pursuits by prior arrangement.

It’s a Planter’s Life

For a time trip back to the days when lily-white Raj-era plantation bosses would gather to discuss the grade of their latest tea leaf harvest, and extol upon the virtues of life in the hills, stop by the old-world-style
High Range Club
(
www.highrangeclubmunnar.com
)—founded in 1905 as The Gymkhana Club. Do so if only to see where retired planters have literally hung up their hats (in the Men’s Lounge), or to shoot the breeze (or a few rounds of snooker) with the gentrified folk who still drift through these sanctified, but now slightly worn, rooms straight out of another era. You could even end up staying the night—there are decent rooms and cottages (built in 1935 and modified back in the ’70s with enclosed verandas, glazed windows, and mosaic tiles) for Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 per night, and meals are very well priced, too.

However, if you really want to get out and stay amid the verdant tea-covered hills, nothing could be more authentic than a night in one of the five former planter’s bungalows constituting
The Tea Sanctuary
. With panoramic views of the vast tea and eucalyptus plantations, these sturdy (and, for a change, rather intelligently restored) cottages don’t offer a heck of a lot to do indoors (except lounge by the fireplace) but you have access to a sprawling terrain, with tennis, golf, fishing, sightseeing, and trekking easily arranged. A private staff of two (including a personal chef) do much to make your stay pleasurable, and because they’re owned by one of the major tea companies hereabouts—Kanan Devan Hills Plantations (KDHP House, Munnar;
04865/23-0141;
www.theteasanctuary.com
; [email protected])—you’ll have hassle-free access to huge areas of tea country. Count on spending Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,500 double, with breakfast and dinner and all taxes included.