coorg trip

Hi Latha,
I had been to coorg last year stayed at the coorg International.Very nice hotel and food was also good.lot of coffee and tea estates there.

 

Dear Latha,
sorry, I am logging only today after a long time. But I can give you some good info about Coorg, I had been there last year on a holiday. I enjoyed thoroughly. It was a good trip.
I would suggest that you book all the tickets in advance so that you need not have trouble. You can go to Mysore or Bangalore from here by train and go to Coorg by bus. We went from Mysore. There are ordinary buses,A/c buses etc. and also taxis available from Mysore. Karnakata State transport has got bookings from Chennai itself, go to Koyambedu and enquire at their counter and you will be able to plan your travel better.
Hotels are plenty but I aqm not sure about the tariff of other hotels. I booked at the Hotel Valley View, Karnakata Tourism dept. hotel. Room was goo but service was really bad. Browse in the net and get the address and phone number of hotels. Call them up and then decide.
Once you go there, talk to a taxi person outside the hotel for cheaper travel. The hotel people charge you a fortune. we got a taxi from outside and it was economical.
You can visit many places there.
1.Thala Kaveri and another temple on the way to it. Take a set of dresses for all of you and a plastic bag to carry them back-you can have a holy dip at the Thalakaveri pond and do the pooja with family. This place is really nice , you will enjoy it.
2.Elephant camp - please make sure that you reach that plance before 8.30 so that you can see the elephants being fed and also go for a ride if you like.
we saw two cow elephants and a baby elephants being given a bath inthe river and enjoyed it very much.
There are some places around to see. You can do that in half a day.
Then there is a place called Rajah's Seat, this place has beautiful scenery. You can go there by 4 and watch the valley for a long time. There will be musical fountain show, it is spectacular, everyday there in the evening.
There is a small hotel there, called Krishna Bhavan, on the College Road. This is a small place but food is ok, the helpings are large. The sambhar vadai etc. are good. Also on the same road, there is a small shop where you could get home made jams and juices, they are also good. Try that.
These are the phone numbers of the drivers whom we had there.
Mr.Prashanth - 09448504626
I spoke to Mr.Prashanth just now and confirmed that his number is still the same.

You can call them from here itself and book, if you want and ask them to come to the bus stand and pick you up. You can even ask them to get you rooms according to your preference.
If you need anything further, do post a query here.
Happy Holidays!

 

Hi Latha:

Madikeri is a place we used to go to regularly in the past. Hotel Mayura Valleyview is quite good in terms of the room and the view but as Varloo mentioned the service is very slow.

We had lunch at Coorg International once and it was quite good. In the past we have been to East end Hotel and we have always been happy with their food.

There are a couple of good but very simple hotels (one of them is hotel Tifannys) near the bus stand. You could have your meals there.

Places to visit are Abbe falls (8-9 kms from Madikeri) - earlier (about 10 years ago) we were allowed to trek right to the top of the falls but unfortunately now there is a bridge across the falls and it remains locked so there is no way you can trek to the top unless there is a way to take permission.

Rajah seat - there used to be toy train here, I'm not sure if it is operational anymore. So if you have children they would love a ride on it. Well, forget children I enjoyed the train ride when I went there 10 years ago:rotfl.

Talakaveri - about 45kms from Madikeri is the starting point of the river Kaveri - I believe the trek to Talacauvery from Bhagamandala (8 kms) is very good but have always missed doing the trek. At Bhagamandala, a small climb to the top of Brahmagiribeta gives you a lovely view of the surrounding area on a clea day. And this climb is good in itself. Bhagamandala also has the confluence (sangama) of 3 rivers - Kaveri and 2 tributaries - Kannike and Sujyothi. There is a temple here built in Kerala style.

Kushalnagar has the Tibetan settlement and buddhist temple.

Nagarhole wildlife sanctuary is closeby. If you are spending more than 3-4 days in Coorg, you could check it out. There are safaris that take you inside the forest and you might sight deers, wild bisons, elephants, etc. But do check the details on google if you are keen. If I am right, you have to make a prior booking.

The other places to visit would be Harangi dam and Irruppu falls - check the distances from where you are staying and then make the trip.

We missed the elepants being fed at the Dubare elephant rehabilitation centre (read it as wild elephants being tamed), so all we got to see was the huge elephants being confined to a very limited space - we found it pretty sad (I don't see a reason why we need tame elephants). Anyway, that is my opinion.

We had been to Madikeri from Bangalore 3 weeks ago. We drove down by car. We had a wonderful time there. We stayed in one of the bungalows of Tata tea plantation. They have 5 of them but they are not in Madikeri town - they are about 30-40km away around a place called Polibetta.

All of these bungalows are within coffee /tea plantations, so there is lot of greenery and quiet. Within the bungalow you can rent out one of the rooms. The bungalows come with their cooks which I think is pretty good idea! Apart from the greenery, you find plenty of birds to watch. You can google for tata plantation trails coorg for all the information.


Hope this helps to plan your trip, have a good trip.

Sindhu