Estate walks
Roads through the tea that are at their best early, when the mist is still lifting off the slopes.
Plantation & farm stays
Plantation stays in Munnar and Kodaikanal
Wake up to tea bushes, walk estate roads before breakfast and end the day around a fire. Hostyard+ has two stays for people who want to sleep among green hills rather than in town: a plantation hostel in the tea estates of Suryanelli and a home in ten acres of green in Kodaikanal.
Hostyard Suryanelli
A tea plantation stay near Munnar
Hostyard Plantation Hostel is in HML Estate, Suryanelli, about where the Munnar hills turn towards Chinnakanal and Kolukkumalai. Working tea estates run right up to the hostel, so the view from the garden is rows of tea and drifting mist.
Mornings start early in tea country. The estate roads around Suryanelli are quiet enough for long walks, and the team can help arrange a jeep for the Kolukkumalai sunrise. When you walk the estates, keep to the roads and give way to the people working there: these are working plantations, not a park.
Stay in a dorm or the private room, with a garden, a lounge and a fire-pit shelter for the evenings.
Life on the estate
What a plantation stay here feels like
Sunrise at Kolukkumalai
A pre-dawn jeep ride up to one of the highest tea estates in the region, for sunrise over the cloud.
Evenings in the garden
Fairy lights, the fire pit and the company of whoever else is staying. Plans for tomorrow get made here.
Hostyard Kodai
A nature stay in Kodaikanal
Hostyard Kodai sits in about ten acres of green, tucked away in the Palani Hills. It is a farmhouse-style stay rather than a hotel: slow mornings, quiet corners to read in, and evenings that often end around a fire.
The lower slopes of the Palani Hills are coffee, pepper and fruit country, and the upper villages such as Poombarai and Mannavanur are terraced farms and grassland. Stay here and spend your days among them, then come back to the quiet.
Choose from hostel beds and private rooms, including the Suite Room with its wall of windows onto the trees.
Which one?
Choosing between tea country and the Palani Hills
Suryanelli, Kerala
For tea estates and sunrise
Pick Suryanelli if you want to be inside the tea, close to Kolukkumalai and the Munnar viewpoints, with a social hostel atmosphere.
Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu
For space and quiet
Pick Kodai if you want room to breathe, forest walks and the lake, and a calmer base for a longer stay or a retreat.
Both
For groups
Friends' trips, college groups and teams stay at both. Tell us the group size and dates and the team will suggest the right fit.
Plantation stays: quick answers
Is Hostyard Suryanelli on a tea plantation?
Yes. Hostyard Plantation Hostel is in HML Estate, Suryanelli, among working tea estates near Munnar in Kerala's Idukki district.
Can we visit a tea estate or factory?
The estate roads around the hostel are open for walking, and the team can help arrange a jeep to Kolukkumalai. Factory visits depend on the estates and change through the year, so ask the team what is possible for your dates.
Is there a coffee plantation stay in Kodaikanal?
Hostyard Kodai is a nature stay in about ten acres of green, not a working coffee estate. Coffee and spice farms are found on the lower slopes of the Palani Hills, and you can spend your days exploring them.
Are these stays good for families or groups?
Both stays have dorms and private rooms and host friends' trips, families and groups. Send your group size and dates and the team will suggest options.
Plan a plantation stay
Tell us which stay, your dates and how many of you are coming. The team will come back with options and the rate.