KodaiKanal (கொடைக்கானல்), the misty hill

As you all know, Kodaikanal is the King of Hill Stations.  If you love driving, you would enjoy driving in those ghats (not so dangerous curves if you are thinking !!). You don’t need a powerful car to drive in this ghat section unlike ooty’s nilgiris. 
Here is my briefing :
1) We started from bangalore on 3rd July 2010 at 6 AM with 4 of us me, my wife and my in-laws. Road is just amazing and you can maintain an average speed of 70KMPH through out. (On road you can drive steadily 110KMPH without any problem)

2) Filled petrol at HP petrol pump (near Shri Krishna Inn, Shoolagiri) as pertrol is 2 Rs cheaper compared to bangalore.
3) Breakfast not at A2B (Adyar Anand Bhavan) as most of us do. I didn’t like that hotel because it is always crowded and service is pathetic. While travelling to chennai, i found out a decent place at krishnagiri where you can get very good food and it won’t be too crowded. The hotel name is Hotel Sri Saravana Bavan [ I didn’t misspell Bavan but the hotel board is like that ;-) ].

 My favorite Hotel at Krishnagiri

After crossing A2B, may be in 5 min you would find a fly over. If you take the service road instead of flyover (which is marked to show the Krishnagiri town path) and take left towards RoyaKottai road, you can find this hotel. 

Its a small but a very neat hotel. You can also find the Kamat hotel in this way but I don't like that one either. All these are just like a fish market and it will kill your travel time.

You will find a waiter named "sekar". He is very energetic and lively. Whenever i travel on that side, i make sure to visit this hotel. They server hot food and hotel is clean. By the way, Sekar can speak decent kannada. Not many know about this small hotel.

He is Mr Sekar, from Saravana Bavan

4) After breakfast & some small photo session (can’t help if your wife is fond of it) we headed towards Salem. It was a straight forward road and mind you there are 100’s of toll gates and for the whole trip you might end up paying around 300-400 bucks for the toll. But driving in the NH7 is just a pleasure and you don’t mind paying that amount.

 5) The route was very easy. Bangalore – Krishnagiri – Dharmapuri – Salem – Namakkal – Karur – Dindigul – Batlagundu – Kodai. We stay in Girinagar, it was around 480Kms and took around 9 hours of drive (including frequent breaks for breakfast / lunch / and so on)

 6) While climbing kodai, the first view point we found was Rat tail falls which is nothing but a valley.

 For every kilometer you travel, you will find lot of fruit shops. First we stopped by near jackfruit shop. And had stomach full. Mind you a little bit of bargaining is needed.

For every kilometer you travel, you will find lot of fruit shops. First we stopped by near jackfruit shop. And had stomach full. Mind you a little bit of bargaining is needed.

Then we reached the Silver cascade falls. Spent few minutes and some photo snaps. You can try Fresh carrots and bhel with boiled groundnut masala. Oh! if you feel bored you always have monkeys around to keep you entertained. Its nice to watch the monkey pranks and you see hundreds of them in kodai.

 7) Headed towards kodai and we stopped by a big fruit stall. You can find different kinds of fruits which you normally won’t find it bangalore. These includes mangostan, litchie, plums, and some other fruits which i can’t remember the names. But you must try all and its just awesome.

Fruit shop - Feast for fruit lovers

 8) Reached kodai around 3 PM. We didn’t book the hotel in advance as we wanted to see the hotel and then decide. As this was the off season, we were confident that rooms are easily available. After searching for some hotels (outside and close to the kodai town) we found Hotel Bala to be the best bet. As it is close the bus stand, we can just walk to a restaurant nearby or for shopping. It was a very good decision. Hotel Bala is maintained very well and you find professional staff. Rooms are neat and well maintained. You can check-in / check-out 24X7. The only catch is that the parking place is cramped but it is not an issue as they will take care of your parking. Tip : First see the room and then decide. We found some rooms to be stinking with cigarette smell.

 Since it was offseason, we got room for almost half the price. We took rest for an hour and went for a walk in the evening at 5 PM. We went near the lake. Ordered masala tea and mirchi bajji. Sat in front of lake (don’t worry you will find benches similar to the ones in the park) with tea and bhajji. Thought of taking a bicycle ride or horse ride but didnt find it so interesting. It was a relaxing evening. We were not so keen on boating too so we didn’t try.

 Kodai Lake

Then we went around the lake for some shopping. Bought few stuff. Then headed back towards bus stand to visit Coaker’s walk. It was 7 PM by the time we visited and there was no power inside that place. So, we went for around 500 mtrs and returned back.

 Kodai Bus Stand

Had dinner in a hotel called "Tava". Since we are vegetarians, this was the ideal place. The phulkas (chapatis) with the palak panner was just amazing. They serve hot chapatis and you would just love it.
By the way, inside kodai you are always welcomed by sudden mist and you feel the chill. Its a splendid experience.

Day 2 : We got up at 8 AM and got ready by 9 AM. Till 9 AM the sun was shining and all of a sudden we saw mist being covered everywhere. The 24X7 hot water at hotel bala helped us to fight with the biting cold weather. Breakfast at Hotel Annaporna. We successfully planned and covered the following places :

a) Upper lake view 

b) Pine tree forest 

c) Guna Caves 

d) Pillar rock 

e) Green valley view (Suicide point) and returned back to hotel.
Tip : You don’t find any hotels for lunch outside kodai town. So make sure you comeback before 2 PM. For shopping bargain. There is a lake called Berijam and Caps Fly valley. It is supposed to be very good and clean place as not everybody is allowed. If you can get a permission from DFO (District forest officer) seeking permission to enter, this places seems to be worth. But can you really get the letter!!??
After visiting these places. Most of these places was covered with mist. So, we couldn’t see any thing. But the drive and the weather is more than enough to enjoy and we didn’t mind about not seeing those places. Try ICE creams in this weather. Its a different experience. Try all the fruits. Evening we went for shopping chocolates. Found a small shop called "Chocolate factory" and they make amazing chocolates. Its priced litte high, but its worth the price. Other shops quote 300 - 400 / KG, here it is 650/KG. You can visit other shops and have a sample of chocolate and then decide to buy. I tried at other places and in some places its so pathetic that you will forget the taste of chocolate. Along with that we bought the spices and few herbal oils.

Photos of these places are posted below

Day 3 : We had plans to visit some temples and the bear shola falls. Due to shortage of time we had to return back on Monday. We checked out of the hotel by 9 AM (by the way hotel checkout time is 24 hours. Thats a plus). Finished breakfast and headed toward bangalore and did some shopping of fruits. Bought mangostan for a price of 200Rs/KG, litchie for the same price and plum for 120 /KG. 

A playground in Kodai. 

Interesting Banner. Check this one.

 Morning 10 AM, on our way back. 

Our favorite shopping

 View point

With a small change of plan, we went to visit madurai as it was 55KMS from kodai road. By the time we reached it was 12 : 30 because of bad road near madurai (around 15 kms). Temple was closed and will be opened after 4 PM. So, we couldn't wait till that time. Mind you, Madurai's climate is tough to bear after coming from kodai. It is very humid.

 Madurai Temple - Main entrance (there are 4 ways to enter this temple)

Finished lunch at the "Modern Restaurant". Its a very clean and tidy hotel with tasty food. This hotel was once showed in NDTV Good Times. Make sure you go to this place, if planning to visit madurai. Hospitality is excellent.

Check out these pics. 

NH 7 Road view

The details below are for the travellers who are planning to visit Kodai :

Started on  :  03rd Jul 2010 morning 6:00 AM 

Returned on  : 05th Jul 2010 night 9:00PM

Place of Start : Bangalore

Hotel Stayed : Hotel Bala (priced around 1000 / day since it was off season)

Restaurants : Hotel Annaporna (for Breakfast / lunch), Hotel Tava for Dinner {All are Veg Hotels) 

Route : Bangalore – Krishnagiri – Dharmapuri – Salem – Namakkal – Karur – Dindigul – Batlagundu – Kodai. (around 480Kms)

Tips : Fill petrol at HP petrol pump Shri Krishna Inn, Shoolagiri, NH-7. So, you can fill around 10 Litres of petrol in your car tank before you leave bangalore. Rest fill at this place.

 Reference for my travel plans : 

Very nice review about Kodai in MouthShut from Deepak

My favorite Team BHP

Enjoy :)