Not long away from the plantation town of Munnar, is a baronial building set on a hill slant. Ranked Number 1 among India’s top 25 luxury hotels on this year’s Travellers Choice Awards by TripAdvisor, Chandy’s Windy Woods in Munnar is styled in symmetry with white rectangular walls and grey stone facades that blend in with the Sacramento landscape of the lush forest around.
Inside, the lobby area is graced with walls and floor cloaked with wooden veneer, nature-inspired graphic motifs on the walls and glass and chrome embellishments, all giving a balance of the classic and the contemporary. A small stairway from the lobby leads to the restaurant and banquet area. Glass-walled elevators that let you visually revel in the sight of the mountainous landscape and the hilly gradients that surround the resort.
The components of the interior decor are woven around one enormous faux tree to create an ambient experience that is synonymous with nature outside. The common areas are designed around the enormous tree trunk and the gnarling roots that extend from the towering rocky slope to the artificial waterfall that streams around it. On the banks of this marvel is a bamboo bridge that navigates to the other segments.
There is an ethnic-themed coffee shop that renders the feel of yesteryear’s village experience, you sit down on the bench, click a selfie and capture the rustic moment, and voila, you are placed in a snapshot of history! The footpath then takes you to clay caverns with pre-historic inscriptions on its walls.
Accommodations are categorised into deluxe rooms/ super deluxe rooms and executive suites beside a Presidential suite. An elegant design theme inspired by the colours of nature runs consistently through the entire range. Gorgeous décor- plush beds with thick quilts piled with soft pillows, slate grey headboards, sofas, colorful cushions strewn around, slate grey headboards, ceiling to floor glass windows, balconies with splendid views and cane chairs to lounge in.The suites offer stunning views of the landscape outside especially when guests want to see the mist envelope the hotel.
The Enchanting Forest Tour
Early morning and late in the afternoon with dusk creeping in, with the wind whistling through every open space, the melodies of numerous birds, the calls of animals echoing in the hallways and the hiss of the waterfall, guests are led to the bottom of the slope where ‘The Enchanting Forest’ tour begins.
A stone paved pathway climbs to snake through the gnarled overhanging vines beside the stream. Guests arrive at a plane where framed historical photographs of Munnar are displayed on the entire length of a wall. From here a bridge overlaid with stone slabs leads guests higher up the slope with the stream flowing beneath. Ceilings in each stage of the journey are painted, inspired by different elements of nature. Pillars formed of bamboo entice guests to go further. Sturdy wooden rafters with decorative copper coloured bands stretch across overhead to join the walls on two ends.
On one side sits the resort’s coffee shop, built of wood and stone and designed like a rustic eatery popular in Kerala. Going further and further upslope, the clusters of vines get thicker and the vegetation lush. Guests will then pass through a cave, the walls engraved in the manner of Paleolithic cave etchings. Other activities include trekking, bird watching, mountain biking etc.
