Trip to “The Scotland of India”, Coorg

I was reading the newspaper the other day and came across an article which mentioned about the mad rush in Coorg during the long weekend… A thought just crossed my head that I have visited Coorg a number of times in the past and I have never written a blog about my experience in Coorg… So here goes my write-up on this beautiful paradise nestled in the Western Ghats which is also known as The Scotland of India, Coorg.

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Coorg or Kodagu as it is often referred to is situated on the beautiful Western Ghats of India. The distance from Bangalore to Coorg is approximately 240 kms.

There are a number of routes leading to Coorg from Bangalore and the below mentioned routes are the most used routes to Coorg
Route 1: Bangalore  Maddur  Mandya  Srirangapattana  right turn towards Ranganthittu bird Sanctuary  Hunsur  Coorg
Route 2: Bangalore  Maddur  Mandya  Srirangapattana  Mysore  Hunsur  Coorg

The 1st route mentioned above is the best route to Coorg as you do not have to enter the crowded roads of Mysore and this route takes you through some beautiful country side roads near Ranganthittu bird sanctuary and KRS…
I had visited Coorg recently in the month of April and in this blog I have outlined 2 days itinerary which was planned as part of this trip to Coorg since I feel 2 days are more than sufficient to visit all the major tourist attractions of Coorg.

The Plan…
One of my colleague at office had bought a new Hyundai i20 Elite and the car was craving for some mettle testing on the highway  . So I along with my office colleagues decided to beat the work pressure and test the limits of this car by hitting the highway. And as most of you are already aware that after marriage you are barely allowed to go on a trip by keeping your better half behind at home ( Hope my wife isn’t reading this blog ;) ). So to avoid the guilt feeling or I would say emotional blackmail ;) we decided not to indulge in Bachelor life much and restrict the trip to just the weekend   .

 So moving on… The best place to visit during the summer months would be the hill stations and due to the time constraints we decided to visit a place nearby and what better place than Coorg which has the apt climate conditions for a great weekend outing.
 Initially we were about 8 people who had originally planned to come on the trip but due to the above mentioned constraints, the better half constraint to be specific the count was reduced to 4 ;) .
So Coorg it was...

One car 4 people and the road….The Trip Begins….

Day 1: 

We planned to start by 5 am on Saturday to beat the mad rush on Mysore road. My friend who owned the vehicle picked us all up and we left Bangalore only by 6. We planned to have our breakfast in A2B restaurant in Maddur but however due to hunger pangs we had to pit stop in Kamat in Channapatna. We had the breakfast buffet as we would get to taste all the items on the menu and it worked out cheaper ;)
Once done with the breakfast we started off from Kamat by 8 and headed off to our destination. We planned to directly go to Coorg without wasting time in having lunch etc. on the way as we were running on a tight schedule.

Plan for Day 1 : check-in at the homestay by 12. Visit Raja seat Mantap by 3 then head to Abbey falls and later finish off with a visit to Pushpagiri wildlife sanctuary or Mandalpatti as it is often called.
We reached Coorg by 12 and it took some time to locate the homestay. We stayed at Misty Heights homestay which is located at a secluded hillock. The homestay had studio accommodation with just one loo… Since we were bachelors it wasn’t a problem at all ;)
So we freshened up and headed off to our first destination for the day, Raja Seat Mantap

Raja Seat Mantap

As the name suggests this was the place from where the King of Kodagu used to watch the beautiful sunset along with his wife. This place is close to the Madikeri town and a must visit place for tourists visiting Coorg. You can catch some spectacular views of the Madikeri town and the surrounding hills from this place. The best time to visit this place would be during early morning or during the sunset. This place also has the dancing fountain show just like in KRS.

After visiting Raja seat we headed off to another must visit place in Madikeri i.e., Abbey falls.

Abbey Falls

Abbi falls/Abbey falls is located some 8 kms from the Madikeri town. The falls is situated inside a coffee plantation. This falls can be reached by 5 mins walk through the beautiful plantation. River Kaveri flows through this place and the falls is in its full glory during the monsoon and hence the best time to visit this place would be during the monsoon months i.e.,  July to September.
After a quick visit to Abbey falls we headed off to the most awaited destination of the day whose beauty lures me to go to Coorg time and again.

Pushpagiri Wildlife Sanctuary also known as Mandalpatti

Mandalpatti is located some 20 kms from the Madikeri town. This is a must visit place while you are in Coorg.  You can get spectacular views of the Western Ghats form this place. There are few viewpoints in this place which can very well be termed as suicide points ;) hence one need to be very careful while you are standing at the tip of the mountains especially during the monsoon months.
Driving options to this place –  If you are travelling by your own vehicle You can drive upto 15 kms in your vehicle till you reach a point where you can see the Mandalpatti board. From this point onwards for 5 kms one needs to hire jeeps for around Rs 600 to 700 since the roads are bad and cannot be done by normal cars unless you own a 4X4 vehicle with huge ground clearance ;).
 The jeep ride is very bumpy hence if you have back pain or accompanied by elderly people you can give this place a skip.
The best time to visit this place is late in the evening or early in the morning. This place is also known as Mugilupete as it is always covered wit clouds

After experiencing the spectacular views from this point we headed back to the accommodation and this ended Day 1 of our visit to Coorg.

Day 2:

So after a fruitful day 1 we all woke up excited and we were eagerly looking forward to things to do on day 2.
So here was the plan for Day 2.
Visit Bhagamandala @ 8AM, Talakaveri by 9AM visit Bramhagiri view point and return to Accommodation by 12. Check out from the homestay by 1. Head to Bangalore and have lunch on the way. Visit Kaveri Nisargadhama by 3 & then Golden Buddha temple by 5 and finish off with a sumptuous dinner in Fish land or Bhuwaneshwari military hotel.
So there was so much planned for Day 2 and we were all excited to start the day. We woke up early and after freshening up we headed to our 1st destination of the day i.e., Bhagamadala.

Bhagamandala

Bhagamandala is a temple town located at a distance of 35 kms from Madikeri town in Kodagu district. This place houses a famous Shiva temple called Bhagandeshwara temple. The triveni sangam i.e., confluence of 3 rivers namely Kaveri, Kannike & Sujyoti river is also situated at this place. Piligrims visiting Talakaveri (place where the Cauvery river originates) usually take a dip in this holy confluence of 3 Rivers or the triveni sangam before heading towards Talakaveri.

We visited the famous Bhagandeshwara temple at Bhagamandala. After the temple visit we headed off to Talakaveri.

Talakaveri

Talakaveri is situated at a distance of 40 kms from Madikeri  town in Kodagu district. This is the place where the Cauvery River which feeds or if I can say gives life to most of the places in Karnataka originates.
This place is situated on the Bramhagiri hill. A small tank is constructed at the top of the hill and it is said that the Cauvery River originates at this particular point, under the tank.
I guess this place has a special significance to we the people of Bangalore because I cannot imagine what would have been the state of Bangalore in the absence of this River.
This place also has a temple for Goddess Kaveri.
There are stairs leading to the Bramhagiri hill view point from the temple. We need to walk around 250-300 stairs to reach the view point. Once on top you will definitely forget the pain you took to reach the top of the hill and instead you will be awestruck at the beauty this place has to offer.

We visited the temple and the Bramhagiri view point. After which we came back to Bhagamandala for a quick brunch. We reached our accommodation by 1.
In case you are planning to visit Talakaveri , the best place to have breakfast or lunch will be at Bhagamandala as this place has many small hotels offering breakfast and meals.

Leg 2 of our journey…. Nisargadhama & Tibetian Golden Buddha temple.

Kaveri Nisargadhama 

Kaveri Nisargadhama is a small forested land through which the Cauvery River flows. This place is located in Kushalnagar in Kodagu and one can visit this place when travelling back to Bangalore from Coorg. There are designated spots in this place where one can get into the flowing Cauvery River and even swim. There are options for boating too at this place. This place makes for an ideal picnic spot for families who are looking for a one day trip from Bangalore.

We reached Nisargadhama by 3 and cooled off in the water for an hour after which we headed off to our next destination i.e., Tibetian Golden temple.
Below are some pics of the temple.

After the temple visit we were very late to dine in at either Fish land or Bhuwaneshwari military hotel hence we had food at A2B in Mysore and headed off to Bangalore.

There are few other famous spots in Coorg which I have not covered as part of this trip. In case you have an elongated time of stay in Kodagu you can explore these options too.

• Dubbare elephant Camp.
• Mallalli Falls near Pushpagiri hill
• Raja’s tomb
• River rafting at Barapole river 

So with this we concluded our short but sweet trip to Kodagu.

 Hope you enjoyed reading this blog and hope it was informative and helpful for you to plan your next trip to this beautiful paradise Coorg also known as “The Scotland of India”.