Trip to KodaiKanal
About Kodaikanal: To celebrate our “First wedding anniversary”, we recently visited picturesque/ spectacular hill station place “Kodai” (short form of kodaikanal) which means “The Gift of forest“ in Tamil language. This name is totally justified. It’s a popular tourist destination
Duration of the Trip: It was a 3 days and 3 night’s trip from Bangalore. We travelled through bus from Bangalore to Kodaikanal and back to Bangalore.
We started at 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday and returned back to Bangalore on 4:30 am on Sunday. It’s around 480 Kms from Bangalore and 12 hours’ journey by road
Details of the Trip:
Kodai: The whole city is situated around the Kodai lake, which is one of the famous tourist attraction in Kodaikanal and most of the good hotels are situated nearby.
Day 1: We reached Kodaikanal by 7:30 AM. The weather was nice and little cold. We checked into Hotel Sterling, the hotel staff were courteous and helped us with a smooth check-in. We had booked a suite room. Here is the pic of our resort. The hotel is quite good, clean and hygienic. They have other facility like restaurant, bar, conference hall, Body Spa and parking as well. The amenities they provide in the rooms are sufficient.
From our hotel reception we got a travel agency’s information. They had numerous number of travel packages like, here is the screenshot of package We selected only one-day trip hired a separate car for our sight-seeing.
Day 2: We had our breakfast in our hotel itself. The Car came at 10:30 a.m. and we started by 10:45 a.m. The places we visited were- Since it was season time, a huge rush was there in every other spot.
1. Coaker’s Walk: A scenic walk for around 1.5 Kms by mountain edge providing a stunning panoramic view of the plains. It names is derives its from Lt. Coaker, who had constructed this pedestrian path. There is a telescope house and local photographer is also in this place.
2. Upper Lake View: is a view point from where you can get the top view of Kodai Lake and a panoramic view of the city. They have a telescope house in that place as well. We took some photos here by local photographer.
3. Golf Course: this place is not open for general public and tourists. Only member and their family can go inside the place.
4. Green Valley View also known as Suicide Point: the view of green valley from that point is simply breathtaking. Many people have bid adieu to this world by jumping from this point so the name Suicide Point. I was bit scared and but excited to go but now it has closed by the Govt. as our guide told the story behind this.
5. The majestic Pine Tree Forest: Pine forest are one among the preserved treasures of Kodaikanal which would mesmerize the tourists by its ambience. The Pine forest is an impressive spot to visit. The scenery at pine forest is one of the most excellent locations to spend time to experience the most peaceful and memorable moments of life. You would love to stand under the gigantic trees and feel small and protected by the nature mother. These are evergreen trees growing 3–80 m tall. Our driver cum tour guide told us that Pine trees are long lived typically reaching ages of 100–1000 years, some even more. Here also you can go for horse ride to see the entire forest. watching the sunlight trickle through the trees was an awesome experience. My Indian movies songs and dance sequences have been shoot here like Roja Movie’s song.
6. Pillar rocks : Pillar Rocks are huge steep cliffs. Three giant rock pillars stand 400 ft high on yet another stupendous natural landscape. the middle one resembling Lord Ganesha.
7. Devil’s Kitchen: a scary name a famous tourist attraction, this cave has an air of mystery to it owing to is a dangerous deep hidden narrow ravine located between Pillar Rocks. Once There were troop of 12 got deeper into the cave and never turned back it seems. now this is closed to public and highly protected now due to this tragic loss. tourists can see sections of the cave system from afar. Now this place is also known as Guna cave because of Tamil Movie ‘Guna’. You will find amazing roots of trees all around the place which make distinct impression. We took some photos and sat here for some time.
8. Moir point. A scenic view point over cliffs. Also the site of a monument mentioning Sir Thomas Moir, who "turned the first sod" (beginning construction in 1929). A pillar has been erected in the memory of the above event and the opening of the road at this point.
9. Liril Falls (Pambar Falls): This falls is also locally addressed as 'Liril Falls' after the famous Liril Soap Advertisement filming in 1985. so the name Liril falls. Before it was known as Pambar falls. It was a small stream of water and doesn’t look like a falls. during rainy season this falls looks beautiful with full of water. So here is the picture of Liril Falls and Liril soap ad which recalls the famous music tone of the ad la la lalala....
10. Kurinji Andavar: Temple is quite famous for its Kurinji flower which blooms merely once in every 12 years, it was last in full bloom in 2006; its next bloom is expected in 2018. The god here is called Sri Kurinji Easwaran. Near the temple we could have Kodiakanal view.
11. Chettiar Park is a small precise and silent garden park which has beautifully landscaped and neatly maintained. You can see the colourful flowers. Many South Indian films have been shot here. We spent some time here and indulged in greenery.
With this our one-day itinerary of Kodaikanal completed. After visiting all the places, we had our lunch in a restaurant at the Kodai local market and then our guide took us to a ‘government approved’ shopping complex. he advised us to only buy from these cooperative shops, as they were the only ones selling genuine products. we purchased packets of filter coffee & masala tea, assorted homemade chocolates & ayurvedic oils (eucalytus oil) and spices. then headed back to our hotel by 4:30 pm. The entire trip was total 6 hours.
Day 3: All day we took rest in our resort and at evening time we decided to visit the Kodai Lake which is Lake is the most popular attraction of the town and its most important geographical landmark It is a non-natural; close to star-shaped, Boats Horses and bicycles can be hired next to the lake on an hourly rent. we rented a two-seater bicycle from our Resort.
The good thing about kodai lake is 5 kms cycling path around the lake. The cycling around the lake was non-tiring and we enjoyed cycling after a long gap. We felt nice to cycle We covered 5 kms in less than 40 minutes! It’s something impossible to do in Bangalore traffic.
We had a memorable stay thanks to Kodaikanal's pleasant weather. With heavy heart we boarded our Bangalore bus at 7 PM and bid adieu to Kodaikanal. We reached Bangalore next day at 4:30 AM welcomed by noisy traffic. Back to work for both of us now.
