A small, warmly run collection of stays in the Nilgiri foothills, where the forest begins at the edge of the garden and the day is set by the light rather than the clock. We would love to have you.
Avenue Tree is a small family of stays in Masinagudi, at the foot of the Nilgiris and right up against the Mudumalai forest. Two properties carry the name today — Labdhi Resorts and Aranyasun — and they are happily different from one another. One is built around wildlife and an early start; the other around a garden and a slow, unhurried morning.
What they share is how we like to look after people: know the roads, know the seasons, be straight with you about what the forest may or may not offer, and then step back and let this extraordinary place do the rest.
Discover Avenue Tree →Both sit in Masinagudi, a short drive from the forest gates, and each suits a rather different sort of holiday. Have a look at both — and if you are torn, call us and we will happily help you choose.
Warm timber rooms, home-cooked vegetarian food and an easy drive to the Mudumalai safari gates.
Labdhi Resorts is our wildlife-facing property in Masinagudi — a comfortable, welcoming base for guests who like their holiday to begin at first light. Come back to a hot breakfast, spend the middle of the day doing very little, and end it around the fire.
Three-quarters of an acre of garden beside Masinagudi village, looked after by a family of Nilgiri tea planters.
Aranyasun is the gentler of our two properties — small, green, wonderfully quiet and happy to welcome your dog. It is built around a garden rather than a lobby, and it suits families and couples who want the forest close by and the day entirely their own.
Nine things our guests tell us they loved — described the way we would over the phone, rather than the way a brochure might.
Both properties sit against the forest. Deer on the grass and birds from first light are ordinary here, not an event.
Aranyasun is about 9 km from a Mudumalai safari point; Bandipur is around 25 km. You can be at a gate before it opens.
Aranyasun is run by a family with generations of Nilgiri tea planting behind it. You will meet the people who own it.
Dogs are welcome across the grounds at Aranyasun — confirm the current policy when you book.
Rooms angled at the Nilgiri range. Mist sitting in the folds at dawn, warm light on the ridge before sunset.
Three-quarters of an acre of planted garden at Aranyasun, with shaded seating and room to do nothing.
Hornbills, bee-eaters, barbets and a long list of Western Ghats species — most of it visible from a chair.
An evening fire at both properties, weather and forest conditions permitting.
No crowds and nothing scheduled. The forest gates close at night, which keeps it that way.
Masinagudi sits in the Nilgiri foothills where Tamil Nadu meets Karnataka and Kerala, directly beside the Mudumalai landscape. North of here the forest runs into Bandipur; west it runs into Wayanad. Elephants move through all of it, and through the village edges, which is why the highways close at night.
The Moyar river cuts a dry, dramatic valley below. Above, the road climbs through hairpins into tea country and on to Ooty. Between the two you have safari, birdlife, walking, viewpoints and a temple on a hill — comfortably more than a weekend.
Explore Masinagudi
These are the things we most enjoy sending guests off to do from Masinagudi, with a friendly account of how each one works and what it needs from you.
Forest department safaris into Mudumalai and Bandipur, timed for the two hours at each end of the day when the forest comes alive.
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Slow ground-level walking on permitted paths at the forest edge, where the detail is.
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The Nilgiri foothills sit on a genuine birding gradient — dry scrub to moist forest inside a few kilometres.
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Mist in the folds, hard light by nine, and a golden hour that lasts about twenty honest minutes.
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Short, guided hill walks on permitted routes — quietly spectacular, and easier than they look.
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Enough to keep children happily occupied, and enough space to let them be gloriously bored.
Read more →Four places that make Masinagudi worth lingering over, each with a proper guide written by the people who drive out to them.
The reserve that Masinagudi sits beside, and the reason most people come.
One of the oldest elephant camps in Asia, on the banks of the Moyar.
The hill station above the forest, and the classic day trip from Masinagudi.
Across the state line in Karnataka, continuous with Mudumalai and easily reached.
Rooms, gardens, forest, wildlife and the light that changes all of it through the day.
Route guides, safari know-how, seasons and itineraries — written by our travel desk and kept current, with the date of the last check at the foot of every page.
Where it is, what it is actually like, how long to stay and what to plan around — written for people who have not been before.
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Season by season — what the weather does, what the forest does, and how it changes what you can actually book.
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How safari here actually works, what you can and cannot arrange in advance, and how to give yourself the best morning.
Read the guide →Masinagudi sits inside one of the largest continuous wild elephant ranges in India, and there is a great deal to see. Here is the honest list — what is common, what turns up now and then, and what is genuinely rare — so that whatever you meet out there feels like a gift rather than a shortfall.
Quietly the best part of a stay here. The gradient from dry scrub near Moyar to wetter forest toward Ooty packs a remarkable amount of habitat into very few kilometres — and most of it is visible from a comfortable chair.
Five shapes of stay rather than five price tags — a family weekend, a wildlife two-night, a group retreat, a Nilgiris tour and a slow stay. Open one to see exactly what is in it.
Pets welcome — mention yours when you enquire.
Sightings are never guaranteed. We will tell you what is likely and what is not.
Group capacity, minimum nights and whether both properties can be combined all need confirming with the properties.
Masinagudi makes a lovely base, and the district around it is the reason many guests add a third night. Twelve places and activities within a day's reach, roughly in order of how far you will drive.
The metre-gauge rack railway between Mettupalayam and Ooty, a UNESCO World Heritage listing. Slow, steep and worth doing one leg of rather than the round trip.
The highest point in the Nilgiris, above Ooty. Clear early mornings give the whole range; by midday it is often cloud.
Lake, shola forest and falls on the Ooty side. The falls depend entirely on recent rain — ask before making the drive.
Quieter high-country lakes in shola and grassland, well beyond the main tourist route. Access can be restricted — check locally.
Working estates and factories around Coonoor, where you can follow leaf through to cup. Aranyasun's family have generations of Nilgiri tea planting behind them.
A terraced botanical garden on a slope, less crowded than Ooty's and better for plants.
Escarpment viewpoints above the Coonoor valley, looking down toward the plains.
Open rolling grassland and shola pockets on the Ooty–Gudalur side — the classic Nilgiri downs landscape.
High-altitude grassland and shola, and home to the Nilgiri tahr. Entry is regulated by the forest department and requires permission.
One of the largest rose collections in the country, terraced above the town.
A dry, dramatic gorge landscape below Masinagudi — about 7 km from Aranyasun. Raptors overhead and a complete change of terrain from the forest above.
On the steep Masinagudi–Ooty ghat road. Flow depends on rainfall; best combined with the drive rather than treated as a destination.
Masinagudi is a village in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu, in the foothills below Ooty and beside the Mudumalai wildlife landscape. It is the usual base for people visiting Mudumalai from the Tamil Nadu side.
Wildlife safari into Mudumalai or Bandipur, the elephant camp at Theppakadu, guided walking at the forest edge, birdwatching, photography, the Moyar valley, and a day trip up to Ooty.
Wonderfully so. It suits families who would rather have space, animals and fresh air than organised entertainment. We simply ask that children stay with an adult outdoors after dark, since we share this landscape with its wildlife.
Ooty is a day trip from Masinagudi, reached either by the steep Kalhatti hairpin road or the longer route via Gudalur. Distances and travel times differ significantly between the two — check current road conditions before choosing.
Two warm places to stay, one beautiful corner of the Nilgiris, and a travel desk that really does know these roads. Send us your dates and we will help you shape the days around them.
Or enquire now and we will reply the same day.
