My family and I stayed at Niraamaya Retreats, Cardamom County (NRCC) for 5 nights last week. The resort is beautiful, clean and quiet, tucked away from the hustle and bustle of traffic and city life (it's a 10-minute drive in from the Kumily-Periyar main road). The forest canopy in and around the resort is teeming with a variety of birds which we enjoyed spotting and identifying. We saw over 50 species of birds during our time at the resort!
We stayed in a lovely wooden cottage called "Fennel". It is higher up on the mountain side and is just a small uphill walk from the main lobby/restaurant building, with a balcony sit-out overlooking the surrounding forests and cardamom plantation. The bed was extremely comfortable and the room was large enough to accommodate an additional full size bed for a third child/adult. The bathroom was spacious and well designed, and the shower had an openable "porthole" window with a green view, which was a very charming touch. Our mountain-view cottage was equipped with a split air-conditioner, a minibar, a tea/coffee making facility and a TV - which we never even switched on during our stay!
The resort has a collection of books (most donated by past guests) and indoor games that you can use during your stay. The gorgeous outdoor infinity pool is surrounded by tall trees that are full of birds in the morning and evening. The pool offers a perfect way to spend a couple of hours of your day. Be sure to book your timings in advance with the staff, as they maintain a schedule for usage by different guests (part of their current Covid safety protocols).
The team at the resort was extremely welcoming, warm and super-helpful. All of them stringently followed hygiene and safety protocols and remained masked during our interactions. Yet their smiles and genuine care effortlessly shone through their eyes and their body language.
We were sent a customised, multi-course menu by WhatsApp before each meal period with a combination of Indian and Western food to choose from. In particular we recommend their breakfast selection and their South Indian food - it was fresh, tasty and healthy.
Special shout-out to Himadri (Operations Manager) along with Ashok and Shikha (F&B Service) and Dhanya (Front Desk) for all their assistance during our visit. They are all superstars!
We highly recommend NRCC for anyone planning a much-needed getaway from reality.
Travel notes: we drove to NRCC from Bengaluru and the roads are in great condition. Google showed the travel time as 9.5 hours, but we did the journey (both going/coming) in 7.5 hours. The resort helped us get a Kerala travel e-permit and I also got an e-permit online for Tamil Nadu (both for our in/out journeys) but these were not asked for at any state border crossing. Also, though we took RT-PCR tests in Kumily 48 hours before returning, they were not checked anywhere while crossing from Kerala to Tamil Nadu or Karnataka. Go figure!
