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Most lodgings can arrange a tea plantation tour, where you can walk through the steeply pitched, dense green hedges, and see how the leaf is processed.
You may like to also take a drive to see two of Munnar’s lakes that have resulted in the area being compared to England’s Lake District—the Sita Devi lake at Devikulum (7 km or 4 miles away) or Mattupetty Dam (13 km or 8 miles away). Cardamom plantations can be quite idyllic. The shade-loving spice needs plenty of forest cover, so a walk through a plantation feels like a stroll in the woods, complete with dappled sunlight, mountain streams, and birdsong.
Visit the Rajamala Wildlife Sanctuary to catch a view of the rare Nilgiri tahr (mountain goat), and the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary (60 km or 37 miles) to see deer, bison, or elephants.
At one of the only museums of its kind in India, you can learn about the history of local tea growing and view the antique furnishings of an estate manager's bungalow. Another highlight is the 2nd-century-BC urn found at one of the tea estates nearby. You also can sample this area's famous blends in the tasting room. There's also a demo factory here.
At this heritage tea-making factory set among rolling tea plantations, you can witness how tea was produced in an earlier era. Here, the six-stage process starting from the drying of the tea leaves to packaging the final product is still done on old-school machines that whir and hum as they produce an impressive 2,200 kg (4,850 pounds) of tea daily. Complete the tour with a tea tasting session of black, green, and white tea---the last has medicinal properties. There is also a small souvenir shop where you can purchase the teas.
