Coorg, is this quite little town near Bangalore in India. Once you reach, you’re surrounded by a lot of green and if you’re vacationing in the winter months, then by this cold breeze that is really comforting. Reaching Coorg – if you loathe road travel – is a long drive from Bangalore airport. It took us 7.5 hours (and google maps shows you 5.5 hours so be prepared for traffic and road works). There are alternate ways to reach Coorg as well ( Check here! ).
We spent three full days in Coorg (at Club Mahindra’s Madikeri Resort) and went around to a lot of touristy places (plus, we tried local food!). Here’s a list of things we did and food we ate:
1) Madikeri Fort – The fort is barely a wall around some old buildings. If you’ve seen forts in other parts of the country, this really is a disappointment. There’s a government run museum inside the building of an old church.
2) Talacauvery – The origin of the river Cauvery is around 30 kms from the Club Mahindra Resort and 35 kms from the main town. The drive takes about 1.5 hours (remember that you’re driving on hilly roads!). The place is essentially a temple and thus has clothing restrictions. You have to be fully clothed but you can take clothing on rent as well.
3) Coorg Cuisine – Coorg Cuisine is this little place quite near to the Fort right in the center of the town. Its always full and you might have to wait a bit. They serve traditional coorg dishes: we tried the bamboo shoot curry, akki otto and rice dumplings. The food was quite good and filling, however fair warning: if your stomach isn’t accustomed to food like this, you will most probably end up with a stomachache.
4) Abbi Falls – The waterfalls is a one hour drive from the main town. Once your car reaches the main entrance, you have to walk down to the falls. The walk is just a long paved path that takes you about ten minutes. The falls themselves are huge and probably will have a lot more water during the monsoons season. The entrance has loads of little shops for you to get refreshments and junk food from.
5) Raja’s Seat – In the middle of Madikeri town is this park called Raja’s Seat (we crossed it atleast twice every single day). Its just a small town park with a fountain in the middle and a pathway around it, but the view from the edge of the park is beautiful. It takes you ten – fifteen minutes to walk around the whole park.
6) Dubare Elephant Camp – The Elephant camp is 35 kms from the main town and it only makes sense if you arrive there early in the morning: keep 9:30 AM as your target time and leave. Your car will leave you at the entrance on the boat and you’ve to take a five-minute boat ride to the entrance of the camp. Here you can pay a simple fee to bathe the elephants along with the camp residents, or alternatively watch the elephants being bathed. The camp also lets you watch elephants being fed and you can get a few pictures along the way. They shut at 11:00 AM and re-open again in the evening.
7) Raintree Restaurant – Raintree is located on one of the side roads from the main town. Its a small place on a bungalow’s property and the menu has both Indian and Chinese dishes. We tried kadhai paneer, dal fry and kerela paratha and everything was really yummy. We had coffee afterwards and I think if you’re visiting coorg, you should definitely try this place!
