A Luxurious, yet an eco-friendly homestay where you Holiday &
Co-exist in Harmony with Nature

What does Prakritilaya mean?

Prakriti Laya is a Sanskrit term which means "absorption into nature." Prakriti means "nature" and Laya means "to dissolve".

A holistic & meaningful holiday destination

Nestled amidst the verdant tea gardens of Kotagiri in the resplendent Blue Mountains of the Nilgiris, Prakritilaya unplugs nature at its best to soothe your souls. Wake up and sit in our wraparound verandah, enjoy a cup of hot garden fresh tea whilst listening to the symphony of birds in a heritage bungalow built in 1905 , breathe in the crisp & unpolluted air to revitalize your lungs, take a stroll around the tea gardens, enjoy our farm to fork wholesome home cooked vegetarian cuisine and curl up with your favourite book.

Responsible Hosting – by putting Nature First

Creating awareness about responsible travel is an absolute need of the hour. Every year the volume of tourists visiting the hill stations especially to the Nilgiris is increasing enormously and this causes an increased volume of waste generation by traveler’s and their hosts.

There are 36 Bio-Diversity Hotspots in the world, out of which 4 are in India. The Himalayas, The Western Ghats, The Indo Burma region & The Sundaland (includes Nicobar group of Islands).

The Western Ghat is the largest bio-diversity hotspot in India & Prakritilaya Nature Homes located in Kotagiri of the Nilgiri Hills is a part of this hotspot. This means that as a host it is our responsibility to conserve this pristine eco-system around us by minimizing impacts caused to the environment through our activities and this is exactly what we do at Prakritilaya.

How we minimize our impacts to the environment around us?

• We compost our kitchen and garden waste and use the organic manure for our kitchen garden where we grow most of our vegetables and herbs.
• We have replaced tea bags with tea infusers and provide tea/coffee/sugar in small glass containers in the rooms there by avoiding enormous plastic waste.
• We get fresh milk from the local milk vendor thus avoiding milk packets.
• We provide soap & shampoo liquids made from natural extracts in dispensers in the bathrooms thereby avoiding soil & water contamination and also plastic waste.
• Upcycled flower pots & furniture’s made from re-claimed wood are a common sight at Prakritilaya.
• Stainless steel buckets/mugs/ bamboo coat hangers/steel dust bins/ copper water jugs & tumblers are some of the other eco-friendly products that you can find in our rooms.
• Home made Jams, pickles, red chili powder, Kashmiri chili powder, coriander powder, sambar powder,etc are prepared by the owners mother in Coonoor and stored in ss containers in our kitchen.
• Organic products like Coconuts, whole black pepper, unpolished boiled ponni rice, jeeraga samba rice& organic ground nut , coconut & gingely oils are some of the products which are sourced from our Pachamalai Organic Farm near Trichy.
• We use energy efficient bulbs in all our rooms.
• Guests are advised to avoid bringing single use plastic products.
• Despite our best efforts to go zero-waste there is still a minimum quantity of non-bio degradable waste which we generate & this is disposed off in a responsible manner.

Responsible Tourism

The Biggest Problem with us HUMANS is that,” We think the World is Only for Us”.

In Today’s fast moving 9-5 world we don’t stop to see or appreciate the wonderful creations of Mother Nature around us or what is left of it in most parts of the world.

At Prakritilaya we encourage guests to get outdoors’s and indulge in nature activities. We focus on eco awareness for guests, our staff and especially children by organizing various activities likes.

• Educational bio diversity walks &nature treks- explaining the importance of conservation & the necessity to shift towards a zero-waste lifestyle.
• Hands on gardening activities which emphasizes more on conservation of soil health.

If you're looking for a peaceful family staycation amidst nature away from the hustle & bustle of city life look no further.

You have reached your destination!

Nature is calling for you at Prakritilaya!

To reconnect with nature!