Tea Plantation In Munnar? It’s Gotta Be The Kanan Devan Hill Station.
THIS POST: will cover everything you need to know about visiting the Kanan Devan tea plantation and museum in Munnar, Kerala.
Visiting a tea plantation is a must if you are in Munnar! The scenery is stunning. Vivid green tea plants coat the land for almost as far as the eye can see!
Top Tips:
- Leave enough time for your visit (a morning I’d say) in case the tour guide is on their break and you have to wait for a tour of the plantation.
- Wear long trousers and sensible shoes and keep your eyes peeled for the leeches
- Don’t book this as part of a big group tour. Hire a local tuk tuk driver who can take you here and wait for you outside whilst you visit.
- Watch my little youtube vid below for a real impression of the place
Opening Times and Prices of the Tea Plantation
You can visit this tea plantation and museum in Munnar between 9 am to 5 pm, except on Monday’s when it is closed. There is an entrance fee of 75 rupees and the tour fee I believe is 200 rupees with an additional charge of 50 rupees for a camera.
I see a fair amount of complaints online about this price but at the time of writing this post, that translates to £2.46. This is definitely worth the visit, in my opinion (and in my circumstances).
I don’t think some of these people got to walk through the plantation on their visits, or to see the processing machinery at work. So make sure you enquire about these when you arrive.
The Tea Plantation Tour
We had to wait a little bit for a guide to come and walk with us around the plantation. However, it was so interesting and definitely worth it. Everything was pretty chill, I believe the guide was on lunch. So the deal is, if you want the tour, you wait for him to have his lunch break!
It ended up being a private tour ( as I don’t think anyone else was really aware this was an option, I just so happened to ask?) and it was fascinating. An absolute highlight of the trip.
As someone who works in the coffee sourcing industry, I found this tour extremely enjoyable. We also got to meet some incredible women who were harvesting the tea leaves at the time of our visit.
We also saw the tea being processed, oxidised, and rolled. The employees, upon seeing us interested in what they were doing, were more than happy to let us take a closer look and bring us samples to touch and smell.
There is also a shop where you can buy tea to drink or to take home, as well as some other nice gift ideas.
Kanan Devan is quite unique in that the shareholders of the company are mainly its employees. It claims to be the largest employee-owned tea company in the world. They credit this forward-thinking concept to their late Founder and Managing Director, Mr. T.V. Alexander.
The Dawesy Roundup of Munnar’s Kanan Devan!
My advice is don’t book this as part of a big group tour. Book a tuktuk driver via your accommodation and go by yourselves. It will be much more personable, especially if there aren’t many other visitors at the time when you go.
This is a wonderful way to spend a morning in Munnar. The place really came to life walking amongst the tea, listening to stories of the odd tiger strolling into the plantation, and other local trials and tribulations.
Speaking of trials and tribulations, beware of the leeches, best bet is to wear long trousers. But even then, as Nicee found out, they will still get you!
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ALL IMAGES TAKEN BY DAWES WIDE OPEN
