Munnar (IPA: [muːn̪ːɐːr]) is a town and hill station located in the Idukki district of the southwestern Indian state of Kerala.

Munnar is situated at around 1,600 metres (5,200 ft) above mean sea level,[4] in the Western Ghats mountain range.

Tradition states that Colonel Arthur Wellesley, later the Duke of Wellington, was the first British person to pass through Munnar during Tipu Sultan's campaign in Travancore, but this is unsubstantiated.

The first survey of the terrain was undertaken by Benjamin Swayne Ward in 1816–1817, who followed Periyar into the Western Ghats and established a camp at the confluence of three rivers, from which the name of Munnar is derived.

[8] It was to be nearly 50 years later that Sir Charles Trevelyan, Governor of Madras, instructed Col. Douglas Hamilton to explore the hill country in the western part of the Madras Presidency, requesting special advice on the feasibility of establishing sanatoria for the British in the South and of developing revenue- earning projects without endangering the environment, as had happened in Ceylon where coffee had destroyed not only the rain forest but also paddy cultivation in the north-central rice bowl of ancient Ceylon.

Munro, Henry Turn, and his half-brother AW Turner obtained ownership of the Cardamom Hills from the Raja of Travancore and began clearing forest around Devikulam in 1879.

Eventually roads were opened to the lowlands and in Bodinayakanur in western Madras Presidency, planters got provisions from a local headman - Suppan Chetty.

He and his son, Alaganan Chetty (later an MLA) would continue providing supplies to the tea estates in the region.

Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus stand is in walking distance from Aluva Railway Station, and buses are available for Munnar every hour.

Coimbatore district lies to the north, Pallivasal to the south, Devikulam and Marayoor to the east, and Mankulam and Kuttampuzha Panchayats to the west.

[15] Most of the native flora and fauna of Munnar have disappeared due to severe habitat fragmentation resulting from creation of the plantations.

[16][17] There has been action to address the problems of property takeovers by the land mafia that have, according to successive governments, plagued the area.