Munnar Main Bazaar

The market strip in the middle of town by the bus stand, where the smell reaches you before the shopfronts do: cardamom, pepper and cinnamon, eucalyptus and ayurvedic oils, tea by the sack, homemade chocolate in more flavours than anyone needs, and whatever the hills produced that week. Long-standing merchants such as Abbas & Co. Tea Merchants trade beside newer spice and chocolate stalls. Prices are low and quality varies, so read the labels and ingredients and favour shops that can tell you where the goods come from. Evening is calmer, once the day-trippers have gone.

Spices, oils and chocolate on one walkable strip; read the labels before you pay