Sitaram Mountain Retreat - Ayurvedic Retreat at Munnar — Attraction in Kerala

Namaste. I and my wife underwent 21 days Panchakarma treatment at Sitaram Mountain Retreat, Munnar in March 2024. Yes, one needs to be there and experience to really fathom and appreciate what this place can do for you. Words would be inadequate to express the ecstasy? I would implore your patience to read through the following, for your full benefit.||The location is wonderful and vibrating – one can see the careful thoughts and the meticulate planning that would have gone into building the original retreat (kudos to Harish and Anju Chavda) that makes the place in the midst of nature, vibrating with continuous positive energy – a great natural ambience for Ayurvedic treatment very well fulfilled. What you do not find in most similar places today - all the various departments were so hospitable, cooperative and caring, besides being skilled - .be it physicians and therapists, front office / reception, Operations, Yoga / Meditation, restaurant, house keeping – all excelled in their respective work, besides Guest Relations!! Treating illnesses is both a Science and an Art – everyone would agree that with today’s lifestyle, most illnesses are psychosomatic – a big salute to the inimitable Dr. Sooraj who could deal with ease and conviction to all your ailment related issues, putting the patient at ease, rare in other treatment centres?? Dr. Alphons was always available with her pleasing persona to attend to all kinds of situations. Greatly appreciated the positive interaction of all therapists for your issues and quick consultations with the Physicians and corrective actions – no bureaucratic practice of an hierarchy of intermediates (supervisors etc) between the therapists and the physicians. Absolutely no communication barriers||Nikhil was always on call for all issues besides his onerous duties in retreat operations – from days before our arrival, attending to all your queries, especially Septuagenerians like me, with so many questions on mind. And Nikhil has been known since much before the start of the Mountain Retreat, from the Beach Retreat. ||So many other unexpected pleasurable experiences – interactive sessions with Dr. Sooraj for all patients, both within and outside the retreat in a Park, for your queries and all concerns on Ayurveda and treatments; Yoga Nidra at beautiful and quiet outdoor locations, cooking classes by Sarath, glass paintings by Shirin all thrown in to make your stay not only fulfilling for physical ailment / relaxation but also mental wellbeing. And to top it all illuminating post dinner Walk a Talks and lectures by Harish Chavda himself – Micronutrients, Self Awareness, Inflammation knowhow, besides a few Yog sessions – you are kept invigorated all through. Not to forget expose on Ashtanga Yoga or Kerala Astrology by the Yog teacher Sai Shiv, apart from his regular Yog and Meditation sessions and the Havans and Keertans on Sundays by Harish and Anju Chavda.||It would be a roster call of the retreat staff, if one were to thank or express appreciation for each of them. All the numerous male therapists who attended on me were excellent – similar for my wife who dealt with fewer therapists and would like to express our special gratitude to Sukanya, Sangeetha and Sreemol for being on hand with so much concern and care. Shirin and her staff ensured all clean and comfortable living, Sarath and his team in the kitchen and restaurant ensured your prescribed food is available on time, whether you could eat in the restaurant or in your room when situations so demanded??||And now both me and my wife pray and implore that the above attributes that left an indelibly excellent impression in our minds is NOT diluted in any way. This view is also shared by many of the other international and domestic patients that we could easily interact with. The overall charm and essence of the place with all the flora and fauna, the vast plantations, the informal well mixed with professional practices, the additional activities, and the well spread out non crowded and private accommodations, the hospitality displayed – well all that is existing making it a Niche treatment centre. We hope this will be kept up. This would definitely ensure that patients like me eagerly look forward to future treatments, actually make it at least an annual pilgrimage. Signing off with the hope of returning soon. All the best – Yashodhara and...

The wonderful, caring staff at this place made our experience here. We stayed for 21 days, signing up for a full PanchaKarma package which I will get into in a bit. First the pros: |The food, the chef and the restaurant staff were wonderful. I’ve seen a lot of reviews commenting on the food being just ok and not traditional Indian food and that’s because it isn’t… it is Ayurvedic cuisine. The resort is an Ayurvedic resort and the food is made with healing in mind therefore it is more mild than much of traditional Indian food with the heavy spices. It is the only type of food and it is delicious and vegan but if you are used to having your choice of what to eat, you may be frustrated with the way they do things. They are always willing to give more when you ask. (They will not offer or necessarily understand what you need if you don’t ask. The doctors were not attentive to our digestion needs and therefore didn’t coordinate properly with the kitchen so a couple times, we had to put our foot down. Being American, all of the rice and millet was not working for us and we had to explain to them that we usually eat lots of fresh fruits during the day and had to request that. ) Our main server, Jos, was exceptional. He was always so happy to see us and he and Ashish, Arjun and Prath explained the food to us, told us about their lives and cultures, shared their favorite music and movies with us. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal times getting to know them. Jos was attentive to our every need and went out of his way to make sure we were enjoying the experience. |Other pros: the cooking classes are great as are the beautiful grounds, the cleanliness of rooms (we stayed in the 2 story tree house and the porch was Everything!) and the cleaning staff, Saraswati and Radica were so wonderful. Anything we needed that was extra (like more pitchers of water, bath products, etc ) they brought immediately and they were so lovely and we enjoyed getting to know them. Their cleaning was impeccable. Our water was always hot and the bathroom was surprisingly great. |For the Ayurveda: while I was not impressed with the doctors and their attention to detail with us throughout the cleansing ordeal (not being concerned that we were constipated for days when supposing to be detoxing), my therapists, Sreemol and Rose were so wonderful. So attentive and caring. I requested they stay with me as when a new therapist came after days with them, it was like starting I went and they didn’t know or understand my body or where I was in the process of the panchakarma. The staff is so kind and would speak to the doctors on my behalf at times when I knew something needed to be shifted. |That being said- I am an Ayurvedic nutritionist and have studied Ayurveda for a long time. The doctors did not explain much to the guests , were not attentive to needs, and were not adjusting things accordingly. (Which wasn’t entirely their fault in some instances due to cultural differences and not understanding Westerners difference in bodies, digestion, way we eat, stress levels, activities that lead to conditions)… I felt as if u was merely seeing a western medical doctor who doesn’t really listen and just provides blanket cures rather than focusing on the individual Dosha/ constitution. |The tipping situation was also strange… we had specific people that took care of us the majority of the time. While we generously tipped the entire staff, we were annoyed that we didn’t kno if they received it. We wanted to give extra to the kitchen and our individual therapists and cleaning staff and it was just not allowed. I sincerely hope the staff received all of the money we left for them. |Overall, 21 days was too long there as there is not a lot to do and we went stir crazy after a while… but we had a pretty wonderful experience due to the staff that became friends. I would not go back here to receive Panchakarma again however and will further research the panchakarma reviews on our next place rather than just visiting/ vacation reviews which is why Sitaram is rated higher in my opinion. |But a huge thank you to the staff and the care they had for us. And for making our experience enjoyable when we were so far outside of our...

"Great location and choice of food in dinner, Plantation hike is best"

We stayed in luxury suite room. Duplex tree house and luxury suite room are best. Studio tree house is good but too small.

Pros

Friendly staff, prompt service, good behaviour. 10/10 for hotel staff

Providing umbrella , so in case u forgot urs, or u have small one, they provide big umbrella during Ur stay.

Dinner of ur choice. (Best thing , as u won't get bored to eat similar things daily)) U can order from variety of options and pure vegetarian. Good for veg/Jain people & Gujarati people. Feeling like home food. Breakfast was fixed but it was also good. They can included juices and parathas in breakfast as well & make it lavish.

I suggest to make it multicuisine , add Italian, Mexican , Continental also (Pasta, Pizza, Bruschetta, Sizzler etc) and Street food (bhelpuri, Dabeli etc).

Fruit custard and khichdi were very tasty, rest food which we tried was ok, not bad but not too tasty as well.

Jacuzzi is good, small bathtub with Jacuzzi. (Water force is not too high, so it will take much time (30-40+ min) for Jacuzzi to be filled 2/3rd even, and hot water doesn't come after less than 1/3rd Jacuzzi is filled, need to wait every 10-15min for 5-10min for hot water.)

Luxury suite room is very good. Gr8 view from balcony, I wish they had nice sitting arrangements or swing in balcony as well.

Tea and tasting, yoga-meditation inside resort, but unfortunately we could not experience it as owner wasn't available during our 3night 4 days stay and only he conducts these activities.

Plantation hike to riverside walk was aweful. Best experience! You will have nature walk, experience like walking in jungle , trekking etc...Tea garden walk to waterfall (Attukal waterfall) was also good. (If we haven't done plantation hike, i would have given 3.5/5)

Bird watching in the morning. We werent fortunate enough to see more birds but path from resort to uphill for birdwatching was awesome and great view..

I suggest to add ATV ride and iRide.

WiFi available with reasonable speed, but only at reception/dining area. (I feel it is good not to have WiFi inside the room, but I also feel it should not be inside restaurant as well, but reception and restaurant is same , so they don't have any option, suggest to make reception separate and nice sitting arrangements there.)

Mainthing is location, it's location is wonderful. Cons

Limited & ?poor toiletries (2/5 for toiletries) Soap dispenser bottle was too dirty and sticked with some dirty glue material, they changed after I showed it to them. (Check pic) But it should have been checked prior. That was first thing which made me suspicious for all toiletries quality.

They provide shampoo and moisturizer, don't provide shower gel. They have Jacuzzi as well in luxury suite room and I think they should provide shower gel in rooms with Jacuzzi/bathtub. It is the basic toiletry. Eve shampoo and moisturizer bottle were unlabelled, after i asked them, they sticked label over bottle.

No bathroom slippers, no bath gown.

No stand or anything to hang wet cloths (must needed in rainy season to hang wet cloths)

No chair-table , swing etc in balcony, it would be great if some gr8 sitting arrangements in balcony as well.

No refrigerator in room (Though considering it cool place, not needed actually). No mineral water bottles in room, RO water was provided though (we expect atleast 2 mineral water bottles should be provided.) (They provided us mineral water bottles on demand 2 times )

No spa inside resort.

Overall, it was memorable, can spend one day entirely inside a resort with in resort activities. I give it 7.5/10 as there is much scope for an improvement. I was thinking about Tall trees and Mountain club resort as well, but i didnt regret booking kaivalyam, still i suggest doing research of tall tress and mountain club as...