Month: October 2021

Hello everyone, if you are planning a road trip to Chikmaglur or Coorg (Madikeri), and looking for travel tips, do read on this blog. I have also shared the awesome experience we had during this trip while driving, staying in a homestay amidst the coffee plantation and feeling the breathtaking views of hills & waterfalls. So do read on till the end to experience this 5 days trip to Chikmaglur & Coorg with us.

So it was a long weekend of 1st October 2021, we added couple of more days to make it a 5 days trip. As it was our first long road trip, hence i had done bit of research online to plan a perfect trip.

So the 5 days itinerary was like this :

• Day 1 : Travel from Bangalore to Chikmaglur & explore few places
• Day 2 : Explore Mullyangiri Peak & Jhari Falls in Chikmaglur
• Day 3 : Travel from Chikmaglur to Madikeri & explore few places
• Day 4 : Explore Madikeri
• Day 5: Visit Dubare Elephant Camp & return to Bangalore

Day 1 : Travel from Bangalore to Chikmaglur & explore few places

We had planned to leave early at 6:00 AM but as usual we got delayed ☺, now that we were already delayed, we decided to have a nice breakfast at ‘Udupi’ before leaving Bangalore.

Bangalore to Chikmaglur by road is about 6 hours drive, so we planned one stop to have brunch and our second stop was at Chennakeshava Temple, Belur. We took Bangalore->Neelamangala Town->Kunigal->Channarayapattna->Hassan->Belur->Chikmaglur route.

So after breakfast we finally left Bangalore at 7:30 AM & headed straight to Yesvanthpur. Crossing Yesvanthpur amdist the Bangalore traffic took more than an hour, and in another 30 mins we passed the Neelamangala town. Once we hit NH75, only then we felt the pleasure of driving and immediately hit the top gear, from there it was a smooth breeze and an enjoyable drive for 1 hour, till we reached our first stop – ‘Swati Delicacy’ in Kunigal at 10:00 AM. We halted there for a break and had our brunch, and after 30 mins we were off on the highway towards Belur.

It was a pleasant morning & we thoroughly enjoyed the drive. While there are few places on the NH75 where road development work is going on, which slows you down, but barring that you can easily drive at 100 km/hour. So this drive from ‘Swati Delicay’ to Chennakeshawa temple took another 2 hours & 15 minutes, which is about 134 Kms.

Halt at Chennakeshava Temple, Belur

This is one of the oldest temple which dates back to 12th century, dedicated to Lord Vishnu. We hired a guide who gave us the tour and explained the historical importance of this temple. Quite frankly we were mesmerized by the temple’s remarkable architecture, sculptures, reliefs, friezes as well its iconography, inscriptions and history. For me it was unbelievable to imagine the intricate artistry made in the sculptures in 12th century. I would strongly suggest to stop by this temple atleast for 30 minutes.

In case you are more interested to read about the temple, here’s the wikipedia link : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chennakeshava_Temple,_Belur

We bought couple of soft stone idols from the shops outside the temple, which were available at less than half of what you would get in Bangalore. From there we headed straight to our destination in Chikmaglur. It was another 1 hour 15 minutes drive from Belur to our homestay in Chikmaglur.

We had booked a home stay which was on a hill amidst the coffee plantation. It was our first experience in a home stay( we had earlier stayed only in hotels) and since it was on a hill and in the coffee plantation so we wanted to experience it.

We reached our homestay at 2:30 PM and after a nice home cooked South India meal which was the best meal we had during our trip, we took a short nap to get rid of full day travel tiredness. In evening we left to explore the town of Chikmaglur.

We wanted to go to the ‘Hirekolale lake’ but since in the hills the evening become darker quite early, so at around 5:30 PM, we changed our plans and went to the town to explore. We went to a nice place in MG Road – ‘World of Cofee Experience Cafe’. It is great cafe with coffee experience zone where you can eat and have fresh coffee. After that we called it a day and headed back to our hill top home stay.

Day 2 : Mullyangiri Peak & Jhari Falls

If you are in Chikmaglur on a weekend, do ensure to leave for Mullyangiri peak before 8:00 AM if you are planning to go in morning. During weekends due to heavy rush, they don’t alllow more than 150 vehicles to pass through at the Kaimara Check post, which is the entry point you have to pass to go uphill to Mullyangiri peak. After a 6km drive from the check post, it is a 9km scenic drive overlooking the hills. Since it was a narrow road and we wanted to enjoy the drive we hired a local cab for full second day & it was worth since the local cab drive knew the best route to take us to the Mullyangiri peak and further.

Once we were at the top it was a completely refreshing and an amazing experience. It was like experiencing nature at it best; cool wind blowing and touching your face, tiny droplets of mist floating all around, mesmerizing view of smoky white clouds & greenery laden mountain peaks, all of it makes you feel extremely happy. I had also taken my DSLR to capture some of the beautiful shots of the lake and the hill view.

We didn’t feel like going from Mullyangiri peak due to the pleasant weather, but then we headed towards the next stop – ‘Jhari falls’. The road to Jhari falls is an off-road trip only to be done by Jeeps and by only those drivers who could drive on those roads. It is about 3km off road drive where you need to hire a Jeep. While the view of falls is great we could not enjoy much due to the heavy rush and hard to absorb off road trip. For families with kids or elder parents, i don’t suggest to visit Jhari falls.

Day 3 : Travel from Chikmaglur to Coorg

Madikeri is around 150km journey, 4 hours from Chikmaglur by road, so we left from our beautiful homestay early at 8:00 AM. We had the fresh filter coffee of the homestay & set for another scenic drive from Chikmaglur to Madikeri.

The route is Chikmaglur-> Belur -> ShanivarSanthe->Madikeri. While it is a single road in most parts, the lush greenery all around make you feel you are driving in the dense green forest. I would suggest to take this route in the day time.

We reached Madikeri at around 12:30 PM, checked into the hotel. We had our lunch & then dozed off after a 4 hours travel. Since we wanted to make the most of the day, we left the hotel at 3:00 PM for Abbey falls.

Abbey falls is about 6Km drive from Madikeri town, drive is quite scenic and take you through lots of curves and turns. Also the google map has pretty good accuracy even in the hills!

Abbey falls was absolutely refreshing experience and literally water droplets hitting your face with the air once you are at the waterfalls. The natural scenery took my breath away as it was beautiful amalgamation of different colors of nature – pure white water, lush green trees and blue sky which looked stunning and i couldn’t resist capturing it.

We spent sometime at Abbey falls and then came back about 3km towards the junction point from where you can hire a jeep for Mandalpatti.

Mandalpatti is a view point situated at height of 1600 meters, from where you can see fascinating view of the greenery laden hills. As much as the view is refreshing, the experience to reach Mandalpatti is adventurous. It is an off-road trip where only the designated vehicles can ply and that’s why you have to hire the jeep from the junction point.

It costs about 1800 rupees, which is worth spending for that experience. It takes about 2-3 hours to complete this trip, the ideal time would be during the day time when the chances to have a clear view of the hills would be higher.

We started our trip at 4:00 PM, planned to finish this by 6:00 PM, fortunately the day light was there till 5:30 PM so we could view the peak and spent some time there at the top.

But the highlight of the trip is the off-road drive experience which feels like a roller-coaster drive taking you through jumps & bumps on the rocky road. We could also see the beautiful Neelakurinji flowers, which grows on these hills once in 12 years and had made the whole hill look blue. We couldn’t resist getting down and got some pictures clicked.

We reached the peak at about 5:00 PM and enjoyed the breath taking view. Soon there was a dense blanket of fog all around, hence we had to cut short our sojourn at the peak and climbed down. We then headed back and reached the junction point in another hour thus ending the exciting off road trip to Mandalpatti.

We ended the day with a nice dinner at our nearby restaurant – Big Cup cafe which is a good place to hangout. You can also explore the coffee roasting process inside the cafe, they have a big roasting machine & you can smell the fresh roasted coffee powder there.

Day 4 : Exploring Madikeri

Madikeri has lot of places to visit and plan your itineraries, one of the other good day itinerary is to visit Talakaveri which is a 1.5 hours drive from Madikeri. Talacauvery is the place that is generally considered to be the source of the river Kaveri and a holy place. It is located on Brahmagiri hills near Bhagamandala in Coorg district. Since we had visited lot of peaks and were already coming from Chikmaglur we wanted to spend the day a little relaxed and wanted to explore the Madikeri town.

Hence we decided to take the Mercara Coorg Coffee and Spice Estate Tour. This coffee estate was about 11 Kms from our hotel and we thoroughly enjoyed the car drive in the hilly terrain. Once we reached the coffee estate we were given a guided tour of the entire plantation which is spread in 12 acres. The farm has a wide array coffee, spices and fruit trees & luckily we could see the 3 varieties of coffee plantation(robusta, arabica & liberica) and almost all varieties of spices(cardamom, clove, bay leaves, turmeric, cinnamon) grown there. I could also click lot of pictures through my DSLR. We also bought different varieties of spices which were freshly packed right from the farm & were much economical than what you would get in the market.

From our way back from the estate, we went to the market and stopped by the ‘sparrow coffee & spices’ shop at Stuart Hill, Madikeri to buy some spices & chocolates. This is a cooperative store hence the prices were reasonable & the quality was authentic. Post our shopping we went to ‘Udupi’ to have lunch and then headed back to hotel to relax.

We had planned evening time to visit the General Thimmaiah Memorial museum, Raja’s seat & Omkareshwar Temple. So we left at around 4:00 PM to visit the museum but as it was closed on Monday, so we headed straight to Raja’s seat.

Raja’s seat is a park with valley view, famous as a Sunset point. You can spend some time in the cool pleasant weather while gazing at the lush green valley view.

We then visited the Sri Omkareshwara Temple which is a beautiful temple with a different style architecture consisting of a dome in center. After doing the prayer, we spent time near the pond which is situated at the center of the temple premises. it is inhabited with different varieties of fishes, where we enjoyed feeding them.

Day 5 : Dubare Elephant Camp & return to Bangalore

Dubare Elephant camp is about 30 Kms from Madikeri, an hour drive coming down the hill from Madikeri. We decided to leave early at 8:00 AM so we could enjoy the drive and also we had planned to reach back Bangalore by evening so that we can take rest. The camp opens at 9:00 AM hence make sure you leave early to reach on time.

Dubare is an elephant camp where you can see elephants getting bathed and fed. Earlier they used to allow people to bathe & feed the elephants themselves but post Covid-19 they have stopped. This kind of spoils all the fun & experience which one used to have while visiting Dubare Elephant camp, as devoid of all this this camp remains a mere elephant zoo.

We spent around an hour, clicked few pictures and then headed back. There is a boat which takes you ‘to & fro’ from the other side of the river bank to arrive at the camp.

We did some shopping here at the government shop where you can buy souvenirs, banana stem saree, spices and host of other items, so do drop by to explore local items. We bought a small sandalwood stick for our home temple.

At 10:30 AM we started our road trip back to Bangalore. We followed the Kushalnagar- Ramanathpura>Arkalgud->Holenarasipur->Channarayapattana->Kunigal->Neelamangala->Bangalore route. The route till Holenarasipur was okay, but once we hit the NH75 from Channarayapattana, i startedt to enjoy the drive when the car started to hit 100 km/hr.

From there it was smooth drive till our food stop – Swati Delicay in Kunigal. We reached there at 2:15 PM as planned, had our lunch and left from there for our home at 3:00 PM.

The drive from Kunigal to Neelamangala town was a breeze and the rain showers made it even more pleasant. Once we crossed Neelamangala, the city traffic started and we reached back our home in Whitefield at 5:00 PM.

It was a great 5 day road trip we had after a long while & a break from work, which we enjoyed to the fullest.

Thanks for reading it till here. Hope this post could give you some tips or can help you plan your next trip to Chikmaglur or Coorg!