Choosing a day out from Kodamanju

Most guests stay two or three nights, which leaves time for one or two outings. Here are the ones we arrange or recommend most, and who each suits.

The guided tea estate walk, ₹600 a person, leaves at 7 am and takes two and a half hours. One of our estate hands walks you through the tea, the cardamom under the shade trees and the pepper vines, and stops to talk with the pluckers. It is gentle, mostly on estate roads, and suits almost everyone, including older guests who walk slowly. It is our first suggestion for anyone with only one morning.

The sunrise viewpoint trip, ₹3,200 for a jeep seating six, starts at 4.45 am and takes four hours. The jeep climbs a rough track to a ridge above the clouds. On a clear morning between December and February it is unforgettable; in the monsoon it can be completely clouded over. It suits people who do not mind an early start and a bumpy ride, but not those with back problems.

Eravikulam National Park, about an hour away, is home to the Nilgiri tahr, a mountain goat found only in these hills. Visitors are taken up by the park’s own buses, and it closes for a few months each year during the calving season, so check before planning. A drive to the dams and waterfalls around Munnar suits a rainy day or guests who prefer to see the hills from a car. If you cannot decide, ask Thomas at dinner; he will look at the forecast and suggest one.