This trip happened sometime back in June 2016. I was just done with my sem exams. So it was the period of the usual "Boring" holidays, where in you stay entirely at home doing nothing. Tired of staying at home, this trip came back as  a sudden surprise. A friend of mine called me for a trip and everything was set in a day or two! The place was set for Pollachi! Had never heard much about this place earlier but knew it was a good shooting place.

So, we were set! One fine day I left Udupi, my hometown, to reach Chennai. My friend who was eager for this trip was already waiting for me there! The next day, we took a car and started off! On the way, we covered Mahabalipuram & Pondicherry.

There is already mention of the  places around Mahabalipuram & Pondicherry in this post : 3 day Trip to Chennai & Surrounding Places.

Panchrathas of Mahabalipuram

Shore Temple, Mahabalipuram

From Pondicherry, we headed straight to Coimbatore! Pollachi is a calm and quiet place located near Coimbatore. Its hardly 2 hours by road from Coimbatore. So, the next day we left Coimbatore. The road to Pollachi is so scenic which made me believe that no doubt Pollachi is used as shooting spot for variety of movies. Pollachi really is such a green place and has variety of landscapes. It boasts of huge mountains, dams, waterfalls, and not to forget the clean and curvy roads!

A ride in these roads will definitely make you forget all your worries.

Firstly we headed to TopSlip. The place is actually located in a  protected forest and in order to enter the TopSlip one has to take permission and pay an entry fee at the check post located below the hill. The road atop the hill isnt in a good condition but its  compensated by the view it provides. So finally we reached top the hill, but there was nothing much special atop except for a few amenities, an elephant ride, a park, and few log houses to stay. Disheartened, we again drew further to reach Anamalai Wildlife Sanctuary. But unlucky we were, for we were stopped at the entrance as the safari for the day had already closed. When asked when would the next safari be, the officer informed us that the next is only on the next day. Disheartened, we left back traveling down the hill  back thru the same check post.

Our next destination was Aliyar Dam. Aliyar Dam, a calm and quiet place to spend ones day, was a worth a visit. On one side of the dam, had beautiful garden and the other side had a boating facility which apparently had been stopped after some incidents. Nevertheless, one can spend some quality time in this dam.

 Aliyar Dam

Panorama at Aliyar Dam

After the dam comes the Monkey falls. But again, lady luck wasnt with us. They had closed Monkey falls sighting some maintenance work.

The road further leads to Valparai! So, we further headed to Valparai. Believe me  it was one epic road! Such  a curvy road offering scenic spots everywhere . In fact one forgets that he is climbing atop a hill by seeing the scenic beauty around him. The section has around 40 hair pin bends and each one is very unique with the view it provides .

Roads en route to TopSlip, Pollachi

Valparai is also a tourist attraction. The best part is not much people flock to these regions. So, now that we had some time left, we decided to explore Valapari. First we headed to Kadampari Dam, but again to our dismay, the place was closed saying roads leading to it arent proper. So next we headed towards Nallamudi view point and through out our way we could fine beautiful tea estates everywhere.

When we finally reached the view point, it was fully covered with clouds and we were disheartened again. It was already evening and we finally left back to Coimbatore.

The next day a long ride was awaiting us to Chennai  from where I came back home finally marking the end of the trip! Anyhow, not to be disheartened as I am planning to visit the place one more time to re-discover the hidden treasures.

Someone has rightly said, your life is short so make the most of it! And do visit Pollachi and Valparai, not many are aware of these names. These places are just like heaven on earth!

Pollachi , Valaparai : The Undiscovered treasures

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Yercaud , rightly called as the Jewel of south , is truly a memorable place to visit! Situated in the Shevaroys Hills of the Eastern Ghats, at a distance of around 230km from Bangalore is a perfect weekend getaway!

Yercaud, located in the Salem district of Tamil Nadu, gets its name from the abundance of leaves present near the lake, called by locals as Yeri caud and finally over the years pronounced as Yercaud. Yercaud being just a 4 hours drive from Bangalore has become one of the ideal weekend getaways apart from Ooty, Mysuru ,etc. This weekend getaway boasts of various places of interests for tourist . 

This trip dates back to sometime last to last  year, around the months of Oct-Dec.  It was a really unplanned one and we just decided to go as we had a car booked for 2 days.  One fine Friday evening, after the usual office routine, we friends decided to have a small trip. Not sure of the destination, we just had our car booking done. Finally after some searching on net, we found this place to be more suitable as it was around winter and moreover this was just 4-5 hours drive from Bangalore. So, the next day we set off from Bangalore. We set off quite early and managed to reach by around 12 in the noon. We visited quite many places in our 2 days trip . Some of them are :

Yercaud lake

It is one of the most famous point of visit in Yercaud. Situated in the heart of the town, it attracts all the visitors. This is a huge lake with lush green surroundings providing boating along with retreat to eyes. Also with boating facility, its a relaxing place to rest and enjoy the nice surroundings.

Panaromic view of Yercaud Lake

Anna park 

It is situated just besides the lake. The park is a good place to spend time and boasts of variety of flower and some small games for your little ones to enjoy. This is one of the place to awaken the creativity in you. There are varieties of flower here that youll not stop clicking pictures of them. Also, the park has some small games for children where in your little ones can enjoy.

Welcome carving at the entrance of Anna Park

Rose Flowers inside Anna Park

Pagoda point

Located a bit away from the city, this place has a awesome view. Basically it's just a point in open located at a higher altitude but the view it provides is just mesmerizing. People usually drive here for the serene view it provides. This is one more calm composed place of this city.

View around Pagoda point

32 km loop road

The 32km Loop Road

This is one of the best part of Yercaud. Not many are aware of this but one must not miss this as there is no particular markings for this road. It starts near the lake and comes back to lake after covering whopping 32kms. Throughout the journey one sees different landscapes. The loop road covers stretches thru different variety of nature and natural vegetation. It passes thru the bamboo cover, paddy fields, dense thick forest, narrow curvy road, hill view points. Though the road is quite narrow at many points, but the journey is equally awesome.

Sunset View en-route along the loop route

Ladys Seat

This is one more favourite tourist attractions of Yercaud offering a splendid view of the valley and surrounding areas. But the time we went in, the place was covered with clouds making it not so visible. However, off winters, the place will be fully filled with tourists, enjoying the view.

The view-tower in Lady's seat

Shevaroy Hills

This is one more outstationed-place, located quite away from main Yercaud town. This place is named after the famous Shevaroy temple. On top the hill, theres a small temple, located inside a cave. Though the temple isnt that big, the view it surrounds attracts many. Also, one can have amazing tea here in the nearby tea stalls and shacks.

View from somewhere around Shevaroy hills

Kiliyur Falls

This is one of the best waterfals in Yercaud. Though located quite down the hill, there are steps provided. People have to walk down the stairs for around 300-500 mtrs to reach the base of the waterfall. The waterfall is really nice but is usually crowded during weekends. The waterfall here is friendly, allowing people to get into it. If you want to enjoy getting down into the water, its advisable to go on a weekday. 

Kiliyur Waterfalls

Kiliyur water falls

Overall Yercaud is a perfect weekend getaway to be spent with your family or your friends and would be highly recommended as its quite close to Bangalore.

Yercaud truly a Jewel !

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Ooty , also called as Ugadamandalam, the jewel of Nilgiris , is a very famous tourist attraction in southern India. Ooty, a hill station with a lot of tourists density , is an ideal place to be visited all throughout the year,but people generally prefer the months after the monsoon(i.e., months of Sept-Dec) due to heavy downpour during the monsoon season . But nevertheless , each season shows Ooty in a different attire . Visiting Ooty in any season should be pleasant , as one would see mother nature in a different outlook during each seasons .  Coonoor , another famous tourist place is also located very close to Ooty. Ooty is also the largest hill station in the Nilgiris , followed by Coonoor.

The  Trip :

It was  a Thursday and  the weekend was about to come soon, and I wasn't  interested to spend the whole weekend in Bangalore . Soon enough, just to have a change from the usual city weekend, I decided to visit Coonoor . Coonoor was in my TODO list from long back but somehow I thought of visiting this place at least this time. Coonoor and Ooty are very close (approx 20kms ) . Even though I had been to Ooty many times before, I had never been to Coonoor , I still wanted to visit this place, for the charm it provides .

The plan was all set : We would be leaving Bangalore on Saturday morning . Reaching Ooty in the afternoon , seeing few places in and around Ooty . The second day was reserved entirely for Coonoor . We were supposed to return to Bangalore by Sunday night ! But unfortunately or fortunately, nothing actually happens as per plan . Fate has its own play !

The First Day :

It all started very well . We left Bangalore in the morning around 06:00 a.m. After having breakfast at Kollegala, we managed to reach Ooty around 01:00 p.m. After having lunch there , it was the time to explore few places in and around Ooty . We started by visiting Doddabetta .

Doddabetta is the highest mountain in Nilgiris region , located around 10 km from Ooty City . Doddabetta provides a panoramic view of the entire Ooty city ! There is a watch tower with  a telescope located there, thru which one can see Ooty City Streets .

After Doddabetta , we visited Ooty Botanical Gardens . Ooty Botanical Gardens is a very huge garden built in terraced layout . The garden boasts of varieties of plants and trees , all of which is beautiful and well maintained .

The famous Ooty Botanical garden

Later we headed towards Ooty Lake . Boating in this lake is so calm and peaceful that one would forget all his worries and get lost in the natures beauty.

Ooty Lake

After Ooty Lake we headed towards Kamraja Sagar Dam . Its a small dam  located very close to the main road .

Kamaraja Sagar Dam

It was already 06:00 p.m in the evening ,  and we thought to call it off for the day. Since we had our stay booked , we directly headed to our hotel .

The Second Day :

The second day started a bit late for us . We were supposed to wake up early and leave for Coonoor , but the cold weather was such that , none were ready to get up  ! Finally we left for Coonoor at 11:00 in the morning.

On the way to Coonoor , one can see some very beautiful landscapes . The scenery is really mind blowing.

On the way to Coonoor from Ooty , one can come across Valley View Point. The view point provides a very beautiful view of terraced Layout, Valley  and adjacent mountains. After Valley View we headed towards Sims Park.

View from Valley View Point

Sims Park is another beautiful place located in Coonoor . Its a  very huge park which is again in terraced layout. Its an ideal place to spend time with your family and kids .

Beautiful View on way to Sims Park

 After Sims park, our next destination was Lambs Rock. Lambs Rock is a another view point which provides a spectacular view of the scenic mountains around . But unfortunately , for us , the place was covered by thick clouds making it difficult to see ! Next we headed to Dolphin Nose.

MISTified Tea Estates

View from Top of Lambs Rock

A small bug @ Lambs Rock

Dolphin Nose is another famous tourist attraction located in Coonoor ! The place was named so because the tip of the peak resembles the shape of Dolphins nose. From here ,one can see the Coimbatore plains as well as the mountains of Nilgiris .

View from top of Dolphin Nose

View from top of Dolphin Nose

From Dolphin Nose,  one can also see the beautiful Catherine falls . Though its quite far , the waterfall looks amazingly beautiful from this distance too !

 Catherine Falls as seen from Dolphin Nose

Dolphin Nose marked the end of our trip .But the journey was still pending . We headed back to Ooty to return to Bangalore .  Just for a change , we decided to go through another route , ie., via Gudalur , crossing Madhumalai Forest and entering Karnataka thru Bandipur Forest . But unfortunately , the time we arrived the Gudalur check post , the gate was already closed.  So, we had to stay at Gudalur for that night and left next day early morning . ( Kindly note that the gate closes at 08:30 p.m and opens at 06:00 a.m and do plan your journey accordingly.)

Overall the trip was very good and Ooty-Coonoor is a place which everyone must visit . The scenic view that these places provide , are much more worth , and will never be perished .

(Note : Below Image gives various tourist attractions in and around Ooty )

Ooty-Coonoor Map & Places

Ooty-Coonoor : The Jewels Of Nilgiri

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It was February and the summer was all set to begin. Already the temperature had sored up quite high and would reach its max in next few days.

Though not the perfect time, we decided to explore Chennai & neighbouring places. So, places were searched from Google, wiki, and many other blogs and finally few of the hand picked ones were selected. The hand picked one included few places from  Chennai, Mahabalipuram & Puducherry(Pondicherry). Since our journey started from Bangalore, the plan was to leave Bangalore by Friday early morning. Visit Pulicat Bird Sanctuary, and later stay in Chennai. The next day, it was planned to visit the sight-seeing places in and around Chennai & by afternoon leave to Mahabalipuram, and visit the few prominent places there .The stay for second day wasn't decided and we were hopeful of travelling to Pondicherry for stay.The third day, was to explore Pondy and return to Bangalore by night !

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Day 1 : Pulicat & Chennai :

Our journey started from Bangalore. Since we had to cover a long distance we had planned to leave the city early in the morning by 06:00,also avoiding the city's rush-hour traffic. Our first destination was Pulicat. Pulicat is a bird Sanctuary located in the Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh. Famous for the various migratory birds arriving there, its almost similar to the Ranganatithu of Mysore. But this one is quite huge and spread over a large area. We reached the Pulicat bird sanctuary entrance by around 1:30 p.m, but were shocked to see not even a single tourist there. When asked with the local care-taker, he informed us that the season of the migratory birds are over. They usually come in the months of Nov-Jan. Disheartened as we were about to leave, the care-taker suggested us to visit the nearby Nelapattu bird sanctuary,which was 20km from there. Also, there was a small information centre, which was well  maintained, displaying the various birds that come here, along with some 3D models of few birds.

3 day Trip to Chennai & Surrounding Places

Kiran K 0

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