Journal · Guide
A guide to Munnar, by season
When to come up to the hills, and what you will find when you do.
People ask us when the best time to visit is, and the honest answer is that it depends what you want the hills to be. The Western Ghats have four distinct moods over the year — five if you count the week the monsoon breaks — and Munnar feels like a different place in each of them. Here is how we think about it.
October to December: the clear season
The rains finish, the air is washed, and the views go on for ever. This is the season of long ridge walks and the jeep climb to Kolukkumalai for sunrise, of evenings cold enough for a fire in every room. The forests are still deep green from the monsoon and the falls at Attukad are at full strength. It is also when cardamom comes in on the lower slopes, which makes it a good time for anyone who cooks.
January to March: the gold months
The grass on the high meadows turns gold and the light goes low and warm. Days are bright and dry, nights sharp. This is peak season for good reason — reliable weather, clear skies for stargazing, and the first tea flush in Munnar from late February. Book early, and consider the shoulder weeks either side.
“The monsoon is not the off-season. It is a different country.”
April and May: the warm edge
The plains below swelter, which is precisely why the hill stations exist. At altitude it stays pleasant, with afternoon thunderstorms building over the range. The pre-monsoon showers bring the first flush of green back to the grasslands. It is a lovely, quieter time, and one of the best times of year for birdwatching in the shola forests.
June to September: the monsoon
The south-west monsoon arrives in early June, often on a date you could set a calendar by. For four months it rains — sometimes all day, often in heavy bursts followed by bright, dripping sunshine. The hills turn a green that photographs cannot quite hold. Waterfalls appear on every slope. Mist lives in the valleys.
We stay open, and we think it is the most extraordinary time to come — the tea grows fastest, the spa is at its quietest, and the Mist Suites were designed for exactly this weather. It is also the traditional season for Ayurvedic treatment, when the body is said to be most receptive. Roads can be slow and some treks close. Bring a good book and do not over-plan.
Putting it together
If you want clear views and active days, come between October and March. If you want to eat well, come in autumn. If you want quiet and green and a kind of beauty that is hard to describe, come in the monsoon. And if you cannot decide, stay a week: that is usually enough time to see the hills change their mind at least once.