Land of mystic mountains!

Kodai Kanal has always been my favorite destination, ever since I visited it as a kid. The beautiful mountains, the lush green jungles, the placid lake, the lovely mist, and the beautiful waterfalls always had remained etched in my memory. I had a chance to visit Kodai a few years back with my friends. A log of that trip is here. But it seems, I never had enough of Kodai, and my craving to visit that place is still the same :D

Kodai has always been a part of my family favorites. And guess, Ritesh had got so bored of listening to the dinner-time-kodai-stories, that he decided to visit it and become a part of the memoirs recitation :D. So when his parents were coming to stay with us for few days, we planned for this much awaited trip to Kodai Kanal.


Ever since we got our new car, we have actually never travelled anywhere without it, so this trip also had to be by car :-). We started on the friday evening and reached Salem at night for a halt, as we don't drive in the night (reason being, there is absolutely nothing that you can see in the night...driving in day is so much more interesting). And next day early morning drive from Salem to Kodai was all the justification we needed for the night stay at Salem :-).

When we reached Kodai, the scene was right out of a fairy tale. It was mist & fog everywhere. And the small town was abuzz with activity. And the best was a view from the lawn of our hotel. We just went all gaga over it...and stayed up at the lawn taking pictures and breathing in the fresh air and purging our lungs of all the pollution and toxic gases. The climate in Kodai in June was just amazing. You see a beautiful sunrise and nice "dhoop" in the mornings, then by the time its afternoon, the clouds come down as if to give you a hug, the late afternoon, there is slight showers, and then it miraclously clears up and you see twinkling stars in the sky.

We spent three full days in Kodai, each day exploring an area around Kodai that is not so well known, so as to avoid a lot of crowd. And yes, every day was followed by an evening ...cycling around the lake. Its one of the best activity you can do. Its healthy and you can take lot of beautiful pcitures around the lake. The rest of the evening was well spent at cards and food at the Kodai Club. :-)

We just enjoyed every bit of our time spent in Kodai and now Ritesh also has a craving to visit Kodai again and again...so watch out for more travelogues coming! :-)



Facts
Bangalore to Kodai - 480 kms
Route: Bangalore – Hosur - Krishnagiri – Dharmapuri – Salem – Bhavani - Erode - Kangeyam - Dharmapuram - Palani - Kodai
Kodai - Palani - Dharmapuram - Kangeyam - Mechcheri - Dharmapuri - Krishnagiri - Hosur - Bangalore
Google Map
Places to stay: Villa Retreat - Official Site, My review on trip advisor
The Kodai Club - Official Site
Best time to visit: April to June & September to October
Places to see: The Kodai Lake, Pine Forest, 12 Mile circuit and view points along the way, Coakers walk, Berijam Lake, any drive coz its so beautiful to pass through mist-ful roads and we are still exploring better places! :-)

Suggestions
Try to avoid the weekend rush and go on a weekday.
Better have your own car, so as to move around easily.
There are a lot of hiking and trekking trails in and around Kodai. Get more information from the DFO, office.
I have come to know of a trekking trail from Kodai to Munnar, and it sounds amazing. Me and Ritesh are waiting for the calendar to change, so that we can do it the coming january! :-)
There is this site 360Inn, they have an interesting and off-beat lineage of organized tour. This too is on our list and will do it soon!