Spice Tree Munnar

Every booking at SpiceTree plants two trees, and the counter on their homepage stood at 68,009 when we last checked, against a target of 100,000 by 2027. That tells you what kind of resort this is: 14 suites and 2 pool villas on the Muttukadu and Kumbappara hills, 23 km beyond Munnar town in Bison Valley, the spice-growing heart of the Western Ghats High Range where the area's small farmers still produce premium black pepper and cardamom.

Copper tubs and granite cottages

The Classic Cottages run over 600 sq ft apiece, colonial in style with hand-chiselled granite exteriors, parquet floors and a Victorian jacuzzi positioned for the valley view. The Honeymoon Suite adds a handcrafted copper bathtub, offered with infusions from milk and rose to wine and milk, plus a four-poster king bed and a private plunge pool on its garden patio facing Chokkanmudi Peak. The two Pool Villas each get a solar-heated private infinity pool and their own copper tub. The shared pool is solar heated too, filled with mountain spring water.

The best quality pepper and cardamom are produced in Bison Valley and surrounding villages by the local small scale farmers.

Spice is the house theme throughout: the Bliss Mountain Spa corridor displays 64 herbs and spices behind its two therapy rooms and couples' spa suite, and the resort is refreshingly honest that this is a relaxation spa, not a Panchakarma centre.

Tea at four, dolmens at dusk

300 BC, the bakery and coffee shop, hand-makes its breads and pizzas in a country oven and hosts tea tastings from 4 to 5 pm, ending with high tea. Ancient dolmens sit a 15-minute stroll from the property, with a guided evening trek to reach them. The kitchen is half supplied by the resort's own organic farm, and 2.5% of room revenue goes to the Mother and Child Foundation. Cochin airport is 160 km away; the quiet, in our judgement, is worth every one of them.