KERALA HILL STATIONS Location : Western Ghats and the Blue Mountains, Kerala Major Hill Station : Munnar, Wayanad, Vagamon What To See : Picturesque tea gardens, Spice plantations, Wildlife Best Time To Visit : After the monsoons (August-October)

Holiday on Blue Mountains of Kerala - On Cloud Number Nine

Munnar Hill Station - Kerala

Munnar Kottayam Shopping

Spice And Tea Plantations Kochi

Wayanad Thekkady

To experience Kerala at its best, you need to prepare yourself. Embark on it with a spirit of adventure, with relaxed body and open mind, curious to explore the unknown. The traveller prowling after disco lights, exotic palaces and chauffeured limousines must shy away from this ambrosial locale, for most of all, Kerala holidays puts forward a chance to be alone, quiet, part of a less complicated and easy life, but mostly it offers a rendezvous with oneself. Experience the joy of discovering Wordsworth, staged to perfection in slant hills of Nilgiris, the feel of life coursing through your veins as you drive through the hair-pin curves. Each turn is breath-stopping, not just because of the dangerous descent a fall promises, but also the picturesque scenery it affords. Does one worry about safety, or peer into the green blue, beautiful vistas in abandon? Fortunately, Kerala always makes the choice for its visitors.

Truly it is difficult to get irked about horse-shoe curves when mountains and valleys stretch all around amidst fluffy clouds, playing hide and seek with every gaze. The hill stations are the most beautiful after it has drizzled a little, when the lush green terrain is wrapped in mist. You can then truly enjoy a walk in the clouds, one that you will definitely foster for years to come.

Take Your Spirits To A Height

Hidden away in the heights of Western Ghats and the Blue Mountains, Kerala houses a number of enchanting hill stations. Ranging from the cool plantations of tea and spices to the dense wilderness, they bestow you with a choice of ambience too! Plan your holiday vacations in a different world - embroidered with meandering roads and trimmed with alluring rivulets and chilling springs - where tranquility is a breathe of life. The mist-clad peaks of this unexplored, and hence incredibly beautiful state, provide an ideal environment for the cultivation of cardamom, cinnamon, tea, coffee, rubber and pepper. While those mentioned in the end thrive on the lower slopes, cardamom is cultivated at higher ranges under the dense and rich canopy of the tropical rain forests.

Wayanad Hill Station - Kerala

No One Is Alone At The Top

With its sprawling tea plantations, photo-album towns, winding lanes and various holiday facilities, Munnar is possibly the most popular hill station in its fraternity. Tea is apparently Munnar's claim to fame. If you have traveller's luck, you can even see 'Neelakurinji', the exotic flower that bathes these hills in blue once in every twelve years! The first runners up position definitely goes to Wayanad in north Kerala, where the aborigines of the hills still live in a world of pristine purity, untouched by hands of sophistication. The high hills of Wayanad are visited for their scenic mist-clad beauty, spice gardens, luxuriant forests and vivid cultural traditions. Travel farther until you are touched by the cool air and easy placidity of Vagamon, a sincerity in appeal that makes this hilly terrain, the most beautiful hill station of Idukki. Apart from verdant spice plantations, a silent monastery and luxurious resorts, Vagamon has been made famous by a string of three hills, each dedicated to a different religion, all of them coexisting peacefully.

Pack Your Bags

The hills of Kerala nestles on the lap of the Western Ghats and is happily accessible from all major destinations of Kerala. Enjoy a trek through the lush green surroundings. Visitors can discover the unmarred splendour of the woods by themselves or with local guides arranged by the resorts. One can also pick up some exotic samples of Indian spices or aromatic tea and can take home to relish Indian flavour for a few more days. For more tourist related information, one can contact the District Tourism Promotion Council office at every major destination of Kerala.