Munnar Turns into a Floral Paradise as Neelakurinji Blooms

The hills around Munnar are witnessing one of their most anticipated natural events of 2026.

• Neelakurinji (Strobilanthes kunthiana) has started flowering in large numbers across the Chokramudi and Korandakkad areas, near Mattupetty.
• The Chokramudi–Mattupetty population last flowered in 2014, which makes the current 2026 bloom part of its expected flowering cycle.

When Neelakurinji blooms across the hills at the same time, entire stretches of grassland can look blue and violet from a distance. What makes the sight even more unusual is that the plant does not flower every year. After blooming and producing seeds, the plants die, and a new generation slowly grows in their place over the years.

The bloom is currently at its most noticeable around Chokramudi and the Mattupetty–Korandakkad stretch. As the monsoon rains ease, flowering is expected to spread to more of Munnar’s higher slopes, bringing additional areas into bloom through September.

Areas being watched for further flowering include:

• Chokramudi Hills – currently one of the main accessible bloom areas
• Korandakkad and Mattupetty – extensive flowering has been reported here
• Idalimedu/Edalimedu – expected to see more widespread flowering
• Meesapulimala – flowering has started in patches, with mass blooming expected as conditions improve
• Sevenmala and Gundumala – among the areas where flowering may spread
• Chinnakanal – scattered flowering has also been reported

If seeing the Neelakurinji bloom in Munnar in 2026 is the main reason for your trip, Chokramudi is the place to focus on right now. The flowers are not spread across every Munnar viewpoint, so heading to a designated bloom area gives you a much better chance of seeing them in large numbers.

The flowering at Chokramudi has already attracted visitors, prompting the Forest Department to regulate access.

The tourist entry arrangements announced for the Chokramudi bloom include:

• Opening: August 24, 2026
• Visiting hours: 7 AM to 4 PM
• Entry fee: ₹200 for adults
• Children up to 18 years: ₹50
• Access point: Near the Devikulam Range Office on the Munnar–Bodimettu stretch of the Kochi–Dhanushkodi National Highway
• Authorities have also planned bus connectivity from the Munnar KSRTC depot to Devikulam to help reduce vehicle congestion on the route.
• Visitors have been advised to follow regulated access arrangements rather than driving directly into sensitive flowering areas.

The flowers were expected to become more abundant around Onam, with the first week of September tipped as the likely peak of the bloom.

Meesapulimala is also seeing the 2026 Neelakurinji bloom, although flowering there has been slower to develop. Initially, only scattered patches were reported, and the area was to be opened to visitors once the flowers began appearing more widely.

The Kerala Forest Development Corporation (KFDC), which manages tourism at Meesapulimala, planned to keep visitor numbers controlled, with an initial limit of around 750 people a day. The proposed visit was also structured differently from Chokramudi, with a package costing around ₹1,200 per person, including travel and food arranged by the corporation.

Neelakurinji has a rather unusual life cycle. The plants spend years growing on the hills before suddenly flowering in large numbers at roughly 12-year intervals. Once they bloom and produce seeds, the plants die, leaving behind the next generation to grow over the years.

That long gap is what makes a Neelakurinji bloom such a rare sight. A hillside covered in these flowers is not something you can expect to see every monsoon or even every few years, which is also why travellers plan well ahead when a major flowering season is announced.