Kodaikanal

Early morning view at Coaker's Walk

Kodaikanal is called the Princess of Hill Stations in South India and it is situated in Dindigul district in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is located at an altitude of 2133 meters in the Western Ghats.

Before visiting Kodaikanal I just knew some things about this place:

1. It was amongst the best honeymoon destinations in the late 90's.

2. Many Bollywood/Tollywood movies were shot here.

3. Most of my relatives in North India have already visited this place when they came for their South Indian trip.

All the above reasons made a good background for Kodaikanal to be the next destination for us.

We went in mid-Jun. We boarded a bus from Bangalore at around 9:30 pm which dropped us to Kodaikanal early in morning at 7 am.  Ticket charges were around INR 849 per person for one side. We booked Hotel Tamil Nadu Double Deluxe Room for our stay for 2 days. The room was pretty decent and value for money.

Day 1

After having a feisty meal, we took a bus from Kodaikanal bus stand for Mannavanur.

You need to catch the one going to Kilavarai and this would drop you to Mannavanur in around 2 hours.  Ask the conductor to drop you at Mannavanur Lake. Ticket charges were around INR 45 per head.

First bus starts at around 7 am and there are buses (private/public) running every 90 minutes. Last one while returning from Mannavanur is around 6 pm. You can hire a taxi also and this would charge you around INR 2000 for return trip. Also there are not much options of food available there so would be good if you get something packed for yourself from Kodaikanal itself. Though there are some small food outlets inside the Tourism Site of Mannavanur Lake.

Poombarai Village

On the way to Mannavanur, bus stopped at Poombarai village for around 10 minutes.

What views I must say. The valley was looking amazing.

It is a good stopover for 20-30 minutes and offers a good photo opportunity. There is no need to go inside the village.

Stunning views of Poombarai Village

After this the bus headed over to Mannavanur.

Mannavanur Lake

Mannavanur is famous for the spectacular views it offers and the sheep farm. This sheep farm is a part of Mannavanur Eco Tourism Site which has a beautiful Lake too.

Bus dropped us in front of Mannavanur Eco Tourism Site. This is actually the entrance to Mannavanur Lake. You need to walk for around 500 metres to see the awesome views of the lake.

Mannavanur Eco Tourism Site Entry Gate

On the entrance, there is a ticket counter for entry tickets, boat riding and horse riding. Suggest to take the tickets there itself as there is no other counter to buy the tickets.

Ticket Price List at Mannavanur Eco Tourism Site

After taking tickets, we started moving towards the lake. We wanted to do horse riding too but it was not available that time. On the way to the lake, there was a signboard which showed Lake on one side and a trekking area on the other side. There were some couples with their candid photographers and photo-video shooting was going on.

After walking for around 500 meters, we could see some awesome views of the lake. The place was very clean and maintained properly. It was not so crowded also. We relaxed there for around 2-3 hours. There was a Coracle Ride also which we enjoyed thoroughly. The closing time of Mannavanur Lake is 5 PM.

Very first views of the lake. Sometimes you find sheep also at this place as it is a part of sheep research center.

Views around the Mannavanur Lake

After having a wonderful day in Mannavanur we headed back to Kodaikanal by taking the bus at 5 pm from Mannavanur bus stand. On the way back, we enjoyed beautiful views.

Views from Mannavanur Bus Stand

Somewhere near the Poombarai village 

Day 2

After some serious planning, we decided to visit Vattakanal on the second day. Other option was Berijam Lake, but since we already saw a lake the other day we finalized Vattakanal for the second day.

There are many Tour services in Kodaikanal which have various packages for day trips. We took their Picnic tour for Vattakanal for the second day. They took around INR 200 + INR 60 (forest fee) +INR 30 (tourist guide) per person. You can even hire a taxi which would cost you around INR 1200.

Vattakanal is around 30 minutes’ drive from Kodaikanal. It is called ‘Little Israel’ by the villagers as a large number of Israeli tourists flock there. Altaf’s Café is very famous for Israeli food in Vattakanal.

The tour service picked us from our hotel at around 8 AM.

Vattakanal Waterfalls

There are 2 waterfalls adjacent to each other, known as Vattakanal Waterfall 1 and Vattakanal Waterfall 2. Next to Vattakanal Waterfall 2, there is a lion cave too as per our tourist guide. Unfortunately, we dint see any.

Vattakanal WaterFalls

Vattakanal Waterfalls were pretty decent and we had a good time there. After this, our taxi took us to Dolphin Nose.

Dolphin Nose & Echo Point

These are view points and as per the locals these offer some very good views. Roadfrom Vattakanal Waterfalls to Dolphin Nose is quite narrow and only a car can go. Also car can go up to 1.5 km only and after that you need to walk for around 1.5 km to cover both Dolphin Nose and Echo point. 

Also while returning from Dolphin Nose, it is kind of uphill so might be you can struggle while returning. But I have heard it is worth the pain if mist is not there.

There was mist all around when we were going to Dolphin Nose.There was hardly anything we could see from Dolphin Nose & Echo Point.

The day we went it was really misty and we were not able to see any good views. We were back to Kodaikanal at around 2 PM. We had our lunch in Kodaikanal as there were not many options for food during our day tour. After a good feast, we headed over to Bryant Park.

Bryant Park

Bryant Park is a 20 acre Botanical Garden.  Every year in the month of May, Kodai festival is organized in Kodaikanal. It is a ten day festival in Kodaikanal and as a part of this festival a 2 day flower show is organized in Bryant Park.

Bryant Park is maintained very well and you could see so many flower varieties there.

Beautiful Flowers at Bryant Park

We had a good time there. Families/small children were having a picnic there. It was a good rest time for the day. After this we returned to our hotel to mark the end of the day!

Day 3

We had no big plans for the last day as we just wanted to rise up early and see the early morning views at Coaker’s Walk and do some boating at Kodaikanal Lake.

Coaker’s Walk

It was identified by Er.Coaker in 1872 about a kilometre from the lake. It is a 1-kilometre (3,300 ft) paved pedestrian path. You can walk along the path and experience beautiful views of Kodai. Entry fee is collected here.

Coaker's Walk. You could see so many breathtaking views while taking the walk. This was an early morning view.

We spent around 2 hours at Coaker’s walk taking some nice pictures of the valley and returned back to the hotel.

Kodaikanal Lake

This was the last tourist spot for the trip for us. It is a 24 hectare manmade lake and is the most popular tourist spot in Kodaikanal. There are boating facilities provided here by the Tamil Nadu Tourism at nominal costs. You can opt for Pedal Boats, Row boats depending upon the number of persons.

You can even do horse riding, cycle riding and some souvenir shopping around the lake.

We did pedal boating here and it was real 1 hour fun.

In the evening, we boarded a bus back to Bangalore at around 6:30 PM and it dropped us at around 5 AM to Bangalore.

Kodaikanal is truly the Princess of Hill Stations! It was a time worth spending with family.

Food

1. Astoria Veg (http://astoriaveg.com/)  Very famous Pure Veg restaurant in Kodaikanal. You would find their hoardings all over the place. It serves South Indian Food. Service and food is very good. Also it is pocket friendly. It is next to Kodaikanal Bus stand. Timings are 7:00 AM – 10:00 PM
2. Tawa - It is a North Indian Pure Veg restaurant. Small place but crowded all the time. I think this is the best place for North Indian food in Kodaikanal. It is closed on Wednesday. This is in Satya Complex P.T Road. Timings are 11:30 AM – 8:45 PM
3. Pastry Corner - As the name suggests, it is very famous for its pastries. Usually, all bakery items are consumed in very less time. Timings are 10 AM-2PM & 3 PM - 6:30 PM
4. Café Cariappa, Cloud Street are also very popular and famous cafe

Shopping

1. Tibetan Market - This market is at the Kodaikanal Lakeside and you can buy good winter clothes from here. We din't get anything from here but you can do a good bargain here.
2. Chocolates and Spices - There are many shops for this near bus stand, Kodaikanal Lake.
3. Satya Complex P.T Road - There are 2 shops here which I really liked. Noah Crafts and Linen Plus Kodai in the basement. Noah Crafts had some really unique crafts and souvenir. Prices are on the higher side but you can try bargaining. Linen Plus Kodai has a really good collection of household items.
4. There are many shops near the Kodaikanal Lake too for souvenirs, chocolates, spices.

Travel Tips & Suggestions

• Carry some winter clothes as it is generally cold during the day and temperature drops down even more during the night.

• Public transport is not so good in Kodaikanal, you need to walk/hire a cab in case you don’t have a car of your own and you need to go around. My suggestion is stay near Coaker’s walk and everything would be easily accessible to you.

• Most of the people here speak Tamil & English.

• You can opt for day tours also. I have attached a copy of pamphlet of day tours from one of the Tour services. This could be on non- sharing/sharing basis. Don’t be fooled by the long list they mention in the tour summary. Sometimes they try to fool you by showing a silly thing at the name of a tourist spot.

• To make it more relaxing and beautiful, stay in Mannavanur for 1 day at least. If you have your own transport, this would be feasible for you.

• You can even visit Solar Physical Observatory, Berijam Lake, Upper Lake view and Pine Forests in case you are interested.

• There is a temple in Palani around 64 KMS from Kodaikanal - Palani Andvar Temple. It is one of the six abodes of Lord Muruga. You can even plan to visit that.

• You can add other places too in your trip. Could explore any of the  following options:

1. Kodaikanal -> Madurai -> Rameswaram
2. Kodaikanal -> Munnar

How to Reach

Train

Nearest Railway Station

Kodai Road Station – 80 KMS. It takes around 3 hours to reach Kodiakanal from here. There are buses, cabs available from here.

Palani Station – 64 KMS

Bus

Well connected by road to all the major cities and towns such as Madurai, Palani, Kodai Road, Trichy, Chennai, Bangalore and Coimbatore.

Air

Nearest Airports

Madurai -121 KMS away

Coimbatore- 135 KMS away

Picture Travel Book

Variety of flowers at Hotel Tamil Nadu. There is a huge garden area in Hotel Tamil Nadu and it is maintained very well.

Tamil Nadu Tourism Office, Kodaikanal. You can get information related to Kodaikanal and other places in Tamil Nadu from the officials here.

TTDC Hotel Tourist Destinations Map



Tours offered by Local Operators



La Saleth Church, Kodaikanal



Pastry Corner. Favorite spot for Indians as well as foreigners for bakery items in Kodaikanal.

Hotel Tamil Nadu early in the morning.