Coorg - Unexplored India Incredible India
We were planning a break from hectic daily life and someone suggested COORG, a hill station situated near Mysore. It was really a trip to remember in the land blessed by Mother Nature. The main town is known as madikeri or mercara, with small towns like kushalnagar, virajpet etc.
I had done extensive googling for coorg and somehow was able to get contact no. for some hotels and homestays as well. We had two options for accommodations over there.
1. Hotels in madikeri / kushalnagar / virajpet.
2. Homestay in coffee plantations.
I suggest homestay; the homestay I booked for myself was Bethri Riverside Homestay (Ph. 08274254602), on the way from virajpet to madikeri at 10 kms from virajpet. It is situated in front of a river in coffee plantation of Mr. Boppanna. The only thing that you need to plan about homestays is their charge (1500-2000 bucks per day).
We started from Bangalore on Friday night by Airavat KSRTC bus 11 pm and thought of reaching there by morning 6 – 7 am however the journey was around 5 hours and we reached virajpet by 4 am. We decided to stay in virajpet till morning as my homestay was some 10 kms from there. We managed a nice deluxe room in a nearby hotel for 400 bucks.
Accommodation Alternative: You can easily find budget hotels in madikeri around bus stand (400-500 bucks daily). If it is not peak season, you can search hotel after landing there else you should have advance booking.
Travel Alternative (Recommended): Start by first bus in morning from Bangalore. Better to take own\rented car to reach homestay\madikeri by noon and stay there for that day. Roam around the homestay and enjoy the nature. Take nice sleep for next two very hectic days.
DAY 1:
We were tired of journey so had a nice sleep till 9 am. The moment we opened the door of my room’s balcony, I found myself in a whole new world of nature at its best. We roamed around in virajpet and then started for our homestay by 12 noon. We managed to get auto from virajpet to Bethri Riverside Homestay for 100 bucks. The homestay is maintained by Mr. and Mrs. Boppanna. They offered us nice lunch having traditional kodava food. By 3 pm we went to river in front of homestay and spent couple of hours sitting on the stones in the shallow river. All you guys planning to find some romantic place won’t find better alternative.
The problem that you may face in some homestays is mobile network coverage (BSNL is available in many places though). We too didn’t find it so planned to go either Madikeri or Virajpet for making phone calls. As Madikeri was in our next 2 days destinations so we decide for virajpet. We walked to main road, some 1 km from homestay and found an auto easily. There we made our phone calls and went to an old church which was well decorated for X-Mas. After this we came back to homestay by 8 pm. They served dinner by 9 pm, Guys don’t miss kodava cuisine, for sure you will find many new dishes.
DAY 2:
We woke up at 7 am and got ready for a morning walk. The climate was very chilled with dense fog making it hard to saw anything far. We passed coffee estates one after the other and clicked many snaps. Morning in a coffee estate was simply fabulous, must for anyone visiting coorg. By 9 am we were back to our homestay and got ready for our expedition.
We hired a taxi for 1500 bucks for whole day. You can easily find buses too but they take too much time, so taxi is recommended. We started at 10am and planned following destinations for Day 2 as they are all in close proximity.
1. Dubare Elephant Camp: It is 28 km from madikeri, so start early if you plan to watch elephant bath which starts at 9am. We reached there by 11:30am so missed it. Though we got elephant ride (100 bucks per head) for which time schedules are 11am-1pm and 4pm-5pm. After that half an hour journey to our next destination…..
2. Tibetan monastery: This is a must watch for all visitors. You enter a whole new world of Tibetan culture. Plan to have sufficient time to spend in monastery compound. You can also do shopping at the Tibetan market outside the monastery. By 3 pm we had our lunch in kushalnagar and went ahead for another 20 minutes ride to …...
3. Cauvery Nisargdham: It is bamboo forest on island sort of places surrounded by river Cauvery. You can have elephant rides here at much economic rates (10 bucks per head). Nice place to spend evening especially for kids. Next place was madikeri, an hour of journey through mesmerizing hilly coffee estates.
4. Raja Seat. It is located in madikeri near to bus stand. It is a garden with a beautiful scenic view of the valley. Moreover you can see musical fountain show, which is worth watching. Front of it you have a Toy Train, attraction for kids.
After this we started way back to our homestay, another 10 km from madikeri. By 9pm we were there and had a sumptuous dinner at homestay and planned for next day before going to sleep.
Alternative Day 2 (Recommended): Start early morning to reach Dubare camp by 9 am, then go to Monastery and add Harangi dam in to your plan, thereafter have lunch in kushalnagar and go to Nisargdham and be there till evening.
Day 3:
Next morning was as magnificent as the day before, chirping of birds and smell of fresh coffee added a new flavor to it. We had our tea and went for morning walk into the estate by 7am till 9am. By 10 am we packed our luggage, as we have to catch our bus in night from madikeri. We started after having another nice and heavy breakfast. Our first stop was……
1. Talacauvery: 48 kms from madikeri, it took us one and half hour steep mountain ride via Bhagamandalam. It is believed to be birth place for river Cauvery. After visiting pond and temple we climbed up 1000 steps on nearby hill and found amazing view of coorg.
2. Bhagamandalam: on the way back from Talacauvery we stopped here, place where 3 rivers are believed to meet, place of religious interest only, can be skipped.
3. Abbey falls: This waterfall is very near to madikeri. Nice water fall to watch, only thing we missed was bathing there as it was not allowed. You need to walk 1 km or so from main road through a beautiful way down to waterfall. I wish to see this waterfall in rainy season, hopefully next visit.
4. Omkareshwar temple: Next stop was omkareshwar temple, 1 km from bus stand. Only temple of its kind, having architecture of mosque, its worth watching.
Our taxi dropped us at bus stand by 6:30 pm, where we kept our luggage in a cloak room. Our bus was at 11:15 pm, so we went to Raja Seat to spend evening over there. After that we had our dinner and roamed around in market before catching KSRTC Airavat bus for Bangalore.
Alternative (Recommended): Start with Omkareshwar temple in the morning and then go to abbey falls. Move ahead for Kakkabe and Iguthappa temple. After this have lunch and go to Bhagamandalam and Talacauvery. Evenings will surely be more pleasant and lovely at Talacauvery, and then you can come back to madikeri and spent sometime at Raja seat before leaving for Bangalore.
I hope this review will surely be helpful to you in planning a memorable coorg trip.
Bon Vo……..
I had done extensive googling for coorg and somehow was able to get contact no. for some hotels and homestays as well. We had two options for accommodations over there.
1. Hotels in madikeri / kushalnagar / virajpet.
2. Homestay in coffee plantations.
I suggest homestay; the homestay I booked for myself was Bethri Riverside Homestay (Ph. 08274254602), on the way from virajpet to madikeri at 10 kms from virajpet. It is situated in front of a river in coffee plantation of Mr. Boppanna. The only thing that you need to plan about homestays is their charge (1500-2000 bucks per day).
We started from Bangalore on Friday night by Airavat KSRTC bus 11 pm and thought of reaching there by morning 6 – 7 am however the journey was around 5 hours and we reached virajpet by 4 am. We decided to stay in virajpet till morning as my homestay was some 10 kms from there. We managed a nice deluxe room in a nearby hotel for 400 bucks.
Accommodation Alternative: You can easily find budget hotels in madikeri around bus stand (400-500 bucks daily). If it is not peak season, you can search hotel after landing there else you should have advance booking.
Travel Alternative (Recommended): Start by first bus in morning from Bangalore. Better to take own\rented car to reach homestay\madikeri by noon and stay there for that day. Roam around the homestay and enjoy the nature. Take nice sleep for next two very hectic days.
DAY 1:
We were tired of journey so had a nice sleep till 9 am. The moment we opened the door of my room’s balcony, I found myself in a whole new world of nature at its best. We roamed around in virajpet and then started for our homestay by 12 noon. We managed to get auto from virajpet to Bethri Riverside Homestay for 100 bucks. The homestay is maintained by Mr. and Mrs. Boppanna. They offered us nice lunch having traditional kodava food. By 3 pm we went to river in front of homestay and spent couple of hours sitting on the stones in the shallow river. All you guys planning to find some romantic place won’t find better alternative.
The problem that you may face in some homestays is mobile network coverage (BSNL is available in many places though). We too didn’t find it so planned to go either Madikeri or Virajpet for making phone calls. As Madikeri was in our next 2 days destinations so we decide for virajpet. We walked to main road, some 1 km from homestay and found an auto easily. There we made our phone calls and went to an old church which was well decorated for X-Mas. After this we came back to homestay by 8 pm. They served dinner by 9 pm, Guys don’t miss kodava cuisine, for sure you will find many new dishes.
DAY 2:
We woke up at 7 am and got ready for a morning walk. The climate was very chilled with dense fog making it hard to saw anything far. We passed coffee estates one after the other and clicked many snaps. Morning in a coffee estate was simply fabulous, must for anyone visiting coorg. By 9 am we were back to our homestay and got ready for our expedition.
We hired a taxi for 1500 bucks for whole day. You can easily find buses too but they take too much time, so taxi is recommended. We started at 10am and planned following destinations for Day 2 as they are all in close proximity.
1. Dubare Elephant Camp: It is 28 km from madikeri, so start early if you plan to watch elephant bath which starts at 9am. We reached there by 11:30am so missed it. Though we got elephant ride (100 bucks per head) for which time schedules are 11am-1pm and 4pm-5pm. After that half an hour journey to our next destination…..
2. Tibetan monastery: This is a must watch for all visitors. You enter a whole new world of Tibetan culture. Plan to have sufficient time to spend in monastery compound. You can also do shopping at the Tibetan market outside the monastery. By 3 pm we had our lunch in kushalnagar and went ahead for another 20 minutes ride to …...
3. Cauvery Nisargdham: It is bamboo forest on island sort of places surrounded by river Cauvery. You can have elephant rides here at much economic rates (10 bucks per head). Nice place to spend evening especially for kids. Next place was madikeri, an hour of journey through mesmerizing hilly coffee estates.
4. Raja Seat. It is located in madikeri near to bus stand. It is a garden with a beautiful scenic view of the valley. Moreover you can see musical fountain show, which is worth watching. Front of it you have a Toy Train, attraction for kids.
After this we started way back to our homestay, another 10 km from madikeri. By 9pm we were there and had a sumptuous dinner at homestay and planned for next day before going to sleep.
Alternative Day 2 (Recommended): Start early morning to reach Dubare camp by 9 am, then go to Monastery and add Harangi dam in to your plan, thereafter have lunch in kushalnagar and go to Nisargdham and be there till evening.
Day 3:
Next morning was as magnificent as the day before, chirping of birds and smell of fresh coffee added a new flavor to it. We had our tea and went for morning walk into the estate by 7am till 9am. By 10 am we packed our luggage, as we have to catch our bus in night from madikeri. We started after having another nice and heavy breakfast. Our first stop was……
1. Talacauvery: 48 kms from madikeri, it took us one and half hour steep mountain ride via Bhagamandalam. It is believed to be birth place for river Cauvery. After visiting pond and temple we climbed up 1000 steps on nearby hill and found amazing view of coorg.
2. Bhagamandalam: on the way back from Talacauvery we stopped here, place where 3 rivers are believed to meet, place of religious interest only, can be skipped.
3. Abbey falls: This waterfall is very near to madikeri. Nice water fall to watch, only thing we missed was bathing there as it was not allowed. You need to walk 1 km or so from main road through a beautiful way down to waterfall. I wish to see this waterfall in rainy season, hopefully next visit.
4. Omkareshwar temple: Next stop was omkareshwar temple, 1 km from bus stand. Only temple of its kind, having architecture of mosque, its worth watching.
Our taxi dropped us at bus stand by 6:30 pm, where we kept our luggage in a cloak room. Our bus was at 11:15 pm, so we went to Raja Seat to spend evening over there. After that we had our dinner and roamed around in market before catching KSRTC Airavat bus for Bangalore.
Alternative (Recommended): Start with Omkareshwar temple in the morning and then go to abbey falls. Move ahead for Kakkabe and Iguthappa temple. After this have lunch and go to Bhagamandalam and Talacauvery. Evenings will surely be more pleasant and lovely at Talacauvery, and then you can come back to madikeri and spent sometime at Raja seat before leaving for Bangalore.
I hope this review will surely be helpful to you in planning a memorable coorg trip.
Bon Vo……..
posted by Manish at
8:57 PM
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