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As a region famous for its coffee plantations, and featuring landscapes that have caused it to be coined The Scotland of India, Coorg was a must-see for our time in the Southwest Indian state of Karnataka.

Coorg (Kodagu) can be reached from Bangalore but another useful gateway, and the one we chose, is Mysore. While you’re there, Mysore City Palace is definitely worth a visit, along with the impressive zoo but yoga lovers would be sure to stay for longer than a couple of days in the yoga capital of south India.

Mansion 1907 was our hostel of choice, an oasis of calm away from the busy streets of Mysore. The garden cafe was where we spent most of our time, it became our restaurant of choice with delicious daily morning dosas and simple Indian dinners.

How to get to Coorg

Getting to and around Coorg was a major headache for us but we’ll try to breakdown some options so it isn’t such a drag for anyone else who plans on visiting the beautiful region.

We went with the most reasonably priced tour operator we could find called Fox Travels. They arranged a driver at 2500 rupees a day for 3 days which was the cheapest offer we’d had for the distance we were covering. The itinerary was up to us but we followed a well trodden route on the first day where our driver took the lead.

If you’d like to explore the region without a driver, KSRTC buses to Bylakuppe leave from the main bus station in Mysore, next to the city palace, every 2-3 hours. Another option is go straight to Madikeri. Direct buses leave from the same bus stand in Mysore, we were told these depart every 15 minutes but timetables aren’t posted online, just head along to the station and ask at the enquiry office, or better yet the Station Master’s office. Finally, there are private buses that you can book in advance on Yatra or Red Bus.

In hindsight, buses would’ve given us greater control over what we did when, but would’ve meant we saw less. If you want to cover a lot of ground, see a lot but are short on time we’d suggest organising a driver.

Entry to all of the points of interest listed below range from free to around 100 rupees.

Our top things to do in Coorg

• Bylakuppe – on route to Coorg you’ll find the second largest Tibetan settlement outside of Tibet and its star attraction the Golden Temple in the Namdroling Monastery. We ended up here on Tibetan New Year, expecting a party we were met with shut shops and restaurants, disappointingly we left without eating any momos but it was still worth the stop to admire the temple.
• Tandiandamol – the highest peak in Coorg and well worth the hour and a half drive from Madikeri or two bus rides and cab to Nalknad Palace at the base to start the climb. The trek is on a well marked track and goes through varying landscapes, including open fields, rocky outcrops and a welcome shady forest section as you get closer to the top. This was a highlight for us, the views were stunning and unlike many of the attractions in Coorg, this didn’t feel like an over commercialised tourist trap.
• Raja’s seat – great view point overlooking the hills in Madikeri, especially good for sunset.
• Abbey Falls – a short auto rickshaw ride north of Madikeri, the falls are nice add to your list to vary the scenery but you aren’t able to swim in these. For taking a dip Iruppu falls, located 100km south of Madikeri, are your best bet.

Other places to visit

• Raja’s Tomb – a short walk from the main town of Madikeri, it has a nice view over the town and three tombs with one that you can enter.
• Omkareshwara temple – right in the middle of Madikeri, a calm place to stroll through and relax by the pushkarni.
• Talakaveri – the source of the river Kaveri, here you can find great views of the surrounding hills and the Talakaveri Temple. It’s quite out of the way from Madikeri so easier to visit if you have a driver.
• Dubare Elephant Camp – we were a bit sceptical about the treatment of the elephants here, it was a sanctuary for retired (now illegal) logging elephants but each still had a chain on one leg, even though this wasn’t attached to anything. This, again, felt like a tourist trap and so it isn’t something we’d recommend for those with are particularly Eco-conscious but we aren’t knowledgable enough to make a real judgement on this place.

Places we wouldn’t recommend

• Madikeri Fort – a very run down fort which had an unorganised museum onsite.
• Nisargadhama Forest – this was a river cauvery on the way to dMadikeri, the park had a small deer enclosure, a nice peaceful area down by the river where you could paddle and some boating. We wouldn’t have missed this if it wasn’t on our itinerary.

Key attractions which are easily accessible on foot or via a short taxi ride around Madikeri include:

• Abbey Falls
• Raja’s Seat
• Raja’s Tomb
• Omkareshwara Temple

As a well-known hill station in North West Kerala, Munnar ranked highly on our list of places to visit in India. The less straightforward part was how to get there, with no trains running close we had to tackle the local buses. Arriving at Ernakulam bus station all the signs were in Hindi but we were helpfully directed around until we were finally shepherded onto the correct bus, ready for the 6 hour ride to the hills. 

The accommodation we’d chosen was perfect. After disembarking the bus at 2nd Mile stop just before the main Munnar town, we caught our first glimpse of the incredible view as we looked out over tea fields and the windy road we’d just taken. Climbing the hill to Winter Gardens, our homestay, the view kept getting better. The double doors opening up onto our balcony, along with the delicious food made by our friendly hosts, made this the best place we’d stayed so far in India. 

For such remote villages in the region we lucked out with evening entertainment in the form of Keralan martial arts, Kalaripayattu, which we had missed out on seeing in Kochi. After returning from the thrilling show, with a finale that included guys jumping through a ring of fire, we enjoyed a starlit dinner on our balcony cooked by our fabulous host. It was all very enjoyable until we were targeted by a huge lotus-type bug that cornered us in our room for the rest of the evening!

The boisterous bug was still waiting for us in the morning, and it took Katie building up the courage to shoo it away so that we could have our first delicious breakfast on the balcony before going on a hike.

Munnar is mostly private land owned by major tea producers so we were told to take a guide to avoid hefty fines. Ours turned out to be the star of the martial arts show from the previous evening and we slowly trudged behind him in our full hiking gear as he bounded up the mountains in flip flops.

The walk was tough, made tougher by the good weather, extreme UV and energetic guide, but the views were worth every bit of sweat and sunburn. There were a few places on the tourist list to visit in town, we ended up at a tea plantation tour which was short but informative before stopping for a late lunch and then heading back to relax on our balcony.

The following day, wanting to have a more independent walk, we took a very dusty (much less scenic) road which led to a lush green route near a Tata tea packing plantation to Attukad Waterfall. On the way we bumped into one of the workers from the factory who was keen to practice his English and show us the shortcuts to the falls. After crossing the partially repaired bridge which we found out was destroyed in the most recent monsoon season, we parted ways. A cute cafe was set at the base of the falls where we drank cardamom tea, surrounded by plants of the same kind.

That night, a storm rolled in and we watched lightning light up the sky above, and the mountains and valleys below. We were sad to leave Munnar, but left with a new found love for this type of landscape, and are now keen to add hill stations to our itinerary as our adventure continues!