Ela Ecoland Munnar - A Nature Retreat — Hotel in Kerala

They have 7 to 8 rooms, including 1 tree house, rock house ,river facing rooms, and luxurious tents.

We had a stay in the tree house.This the highest tree house munnar.Its built at a height of almost 3 to 5 floors.Its built with help of 4 to 5 tall and strong trees.

The place is quite unique close to nature.Hosts around 70 plus bird species.Lot of spice varieties almost all found in western ghats.

There i a small river and waterfall.Can go rafting on bamboo raft.

Good for clicking pictures.

Restaurant available around 200 steps above the reception.

Parking available.

Staff friendly and co-operative.

Food : we opted for dinner and breakfast included Dinner : we opted 1 veg and 1 non veg meal.It Rice, Curd, salad, 1 chicken curry, 1 veg curry, Gobi manchurian , pickle and papad. The good quality rice was used.Salad fresh.Chicken curry good.Veg curry ok. Starter was really good.Papad oily.Dinner, ok

Breakfast : no buffet option.They serve it in a bowl.It includes tea, watermelon juice, upma, puttu and kadala curry, bread butter, jam , ketchup

Upma was cold, not good. Puttu and kadala Curry ok. The tea was very sweet.

Restaurant did not have power back up, so we had to wait for the electricity to come to get our bread toasted.Breakfast is below average.

Room : We had opted for a luxury tree house with a river balcony view.

Pros : unique and one time experience. Basic amenities are available at such a height. Great for honeymoon or couples. Good for staycation or workation. Good for those who love to spend time amidst nature in a cool environment, especially during monsoons. Lovely place to unwind from hustle and bustle life of the city.

Good for photography.

Cons : Warm water is only available via gas gezer. The lpg is located right below the tree house, so accidents can happen as the entire area is surrounded by trees. Couldn't locate fire extinguisher. Only table fan and dim lights available. Water in the bathroom gets accumulated after bath and takes almost 30 minutes to clear out. 70 plus steps to climb up the tree house. Difficult for aged people or people who are scared of heights. The steps reaching the tree house are narrow, rough, and rugged , and it gets slipped, especially during monsoon. Insects would be present. No ac and couldn't locate Telecom also. You have to go to Restaurant for having food all the time even for drinking tea which bit hectic as you need to climb around 50 plus steps again. Various sounds of insects would come. If it rains or something falls on your roof can become scary. We paid around INR 8000 for 1 night per couple, so it is costlier if you would prefer to live in a 3-star hotel. Located away from the city center or town, there is no additional time fortraveling and reaching this place.

Overall, it was a unique experience for us. we must try if we are aware of both...

Overall, medium value for money, great forest living experience in the lap of nature but it ends there as Munnar town is far away and the hill station experience isn't felt here. For the facilities possible and provided, the price is too high. Will recommend if you want a forest experience with natural sounds and calming stay, not if you want to roam around Munnar

I would suggest the resort to include more in property activities considering how far away Munnar town is and more variety of books and board games to while away time while enjoying the forest. The access to the water body should be better and more accessible in terms of facilities. Also please don't upload edited pics and elongated angles, let the guests make a fair decision to book or not book the resort.

Pros :

a. Absolutely amazing Food, homemade excellence, served hot and probably the first place where I asked them to reduce the quantity provided, they are very generous with it. All the meals were steeped with love and local prep style. Must try: Their chicken curry is worth dying for so do try it at least once.

b. The experience of being in the lap of nature amongst the wild forest with calming sounds of flowing water and chirping birds is incredible. This is a very unique and beautiful experience.

c. They'll arrange for sightseeing, travel and moving around and guide you very well. Our cab driver Mani was excellent is providing us with stories of the area and general chit chat making an already beautiful journey worth even more. (Note: Munnar has a taxi union so prices are fixed, you will actually save some money by using the resort cab as the cab doesn't charge you for reaching your resort from Munnar town)

Cons:

a. At quite a significant distance from Munnar town which is the hub of all activities and is the actual hill station with mist, mountain views and chilly temperature. None of this can be experienced within this resort. It will take you 40-60 minutes to reach Munnar from this resort on a tuk tuk which is easily arranged for though by the resort(600 rupees approx for one way trip)

b. If you aren't in need or have experience in a forest environment living this place is not for you. It will have a lot of bugs and sounds of various species around.

c. The tree house we were in was unreasonably small with no space for a closet too. The mattress was hard, the pillow slightly uncomfortable. At the price point I expected better comfort as it really felt like a budget hotel room

d. The service is slow especially in the evening, we asked for extra doormats as floor gets wet and the washroom gets wet and never got them. The used cutlery is not cleared even after requesting multiple times.

e. No mobile signal available(except BSNL), although the resort does provide...

The property location is inside a jungle with a river flowing through this property. No doubt, the location, the view etc was beautiful. As it is part of a nature, you need to walk and climb to reach your respective room. They have categories of room - Tree house, luxury tent, Rock house etc. Our stay was in Rock house, which has 2 rooms adjacently. Rooms are build on top of a big rock with iron pillars which doesn’t seems to strong as you literally feel the vibration when you walk inside the room. If somebody in the adjacent room walk then also you feel that the entire room is shaking. This is not good. Inside the room, it was covered throughout with some PVC sheet which has wooden texture and they can be broken easily. Infact, those are the walls. Doesn’t feel safe in room. Flooring was basically made of wooden planks arranged together on the support pillars which were elevated from the top of the rock. Less plug points throughout the room. Bathroom had no shower, getting hot water was a terrible thing. One whole day the hot water service was not provided. It would have been better to provide a geyser in each room rather than having solar heater for all rooms. Bathroom flooring was basically a rubber mat which is just like the ones used inside the bathrooms of a train. They accumulate lot of dirt, hairs when taken bath. Looks like they never take them out and clean it. The commode u- bend pipe was leaking. While sitting outside the room, a small balcony with 2 foldable chairs which are from Decathlon were not clean, it was dirty. Irrespective of A/c required or not, A/c and fans needs to be fitted. It is necessary sometimes. Room service was not that great, asked for one towel, they do not have stock. Towels have gone for washing and have not come itseems. Per day, only 1 water bottle is provided for occupancy of 2 person in the room. Atleast 2 bottles should be provided every day as a complimentary. Parking is not good. If you have small cars then 4 cars can only be parked. View from every room is good, you can hear the sound of gushing water in the river, greenary all around, tall trees. Feels good about being in a jungle. Food was good. They should work on the room services, room facilities, strong construction which feels safe. Parking for vehicles should be taken care. Refer the photos for the problems pointed out. Overall feeling of staying inside a jungle and food were good. Hope these issues are taken seriously and Hotel management can resolve these issues. These issues are not something to be ignored for the price rooms...