Destination Coorg

In the region of southern India, about 2oo km from Bangalore there is a quite little hill station (sort of) known as Coorg. Also known as the Scotland of India, this place is very suitable as a weekend getaway from our boring and monotonous lives. I accept the fact that there are numerous places in our country for the nature lovers but this place has its own charm. The unvarnished environment makes you feel rejuvenated and the affable locals make it a pleasant vacation.

The town is pretty small and has limited resources, so let’s say there is not much of shopping you can do in this place, which means you can forget about taking a souvenir for your girl friend unless of course she is a coffee lover because in this place one thing you will never run out of is coffee! Public transport is quite good in this place and is not very expensive, you can also rent a car or a bike (don’t forget to take your driver’s license or you will end up cursing yourself or cursing the govt. like me) There are a few places you can check out around the town like Raja’s tomb, Medikeri fort, a museum, a temple, and some more small and boring places (now c’mon you do need some places to take a few snaps).

In the town one place that you shouldn’t skip is raja seat. It is kind of a park, has a sunset point and is quite famous among the tourists as well as locals. At about 5 km from the town there are Abby falls, a major tourist spot in Coorg. It is nice and felicitating but the drawback is it is restricted. You can’t go near the water you have to stay at a distance which I found very disappointing. If you are into religious beauties then you must check out the Golden temple. Also known as Tibetan camp or monastery, it is about 30-35 km from Medikeri and you can reach there by taking a bus for kushal nagar. It has beautiful architecture and surrounding it are various shops. Now this is the place where you can actually do some shopping! Though it is all Tibetan stuff but it is quite nice and inexpensive.

A few km s before kushal nagar is a place known as Dubare forest which has a resort Dubare Inn. This place is ideal for water rafting, boating and also if you would like to have a bath with your own elephant. A personal elephant will be provided to you with whom you can have a nice and refreshing bath (sheer drops of pleasure!). If you are into structures you can check out the harangi dam which is 10-15 km ahead of kushal nagar. One more site that you should visit is talla kaveri. It is the origin point of the river kaveri. It is about 25-30 km from Medikeri and a nice place to spend an evening. If you are like the very religious types you can also check out the nearby temples, there are quite a few.

One aspect that I haven’t discussed yet is the accommodation and food. Accommodation is in plenty you won’t have a problem finding a place to stay whatever be your budget, but don’t reach Coorg before 6 am otherwise you will have to wait outside hotels for them to open and luckily if you enter a couple of hotels you won’t be welcomed because you just woke up the sleepy guard who it seems had just gone to sleep a minute before you entered! Food is one factor that goes against this lovely place. There are hardly any good restaurants. If you have a nice hotel don’t bother dressing up and going out for dinner relax and have a nice meal in your hotel itself. If you have quite heavy pockets and you don’t mind emptying them, I would recommend having one dinner(more than one will definitely make a hole in your pocket) at either Mahindra resort or hotel Coorg international (both have buffet meals).

All I have done here is given you an insight about the place because when I went to Coorg it took me quite some time to figure out where to go and what to see. If you know what to do, Coorg can be one of your most enjoyed weekends. So go ahead and have a wonderful weekend!