In this blog post, I will share my travel experience to Coorg, over the long Independence Day weekend (in August this year) with a bunch of family members. Coorg is a popular coffee producing hill station in Karnataka. Located in the Western Ghats, at a distance of about 245 kms from Bangalore, it takes roughly 6 hours to get there, and the roads are pretty good.

The journey was fun, we were a group of 10, and hence hired a tempo traveler. I don’t recall seeing any fancy restaurants along the way. We had stopped at a Cafe Coffee Day outlet and then a modest restaurant called Amruth for some idli-dosa lunch. We enjoyed the greenery along the way – views of the lovely coconut trees and clear blue skies. We also saw some huge boulder hills, a spot great for adventure activities. I came to understand that this town is called Ramanagaram, where a lot of movies have been shot. And on that note, a fun fact – iconic movie scenes of Sholay – Arre O Sambha, kitne aadmi the and Tera kya hoga, Kaalia – were shot here!

Coming to our stay. Our home for these three nights was the Coorg Wilderness Resort & Spa in Madikeri. This is a Paul John’s property and it was truly lavish to say the least – it was luxury in the wilderness

• The resort is huge, very spread out, having over 100 rooms. The room size is bigger than a typical two-bedroom apartment in metro cities like Mumbai. The room has plush interiors, large bay windows, and a balcony. We were spoilt for choice given the complementary goodies and well stocked mini-bar – who could have imagined a free bottle of wine in the room 😉

• The property is gorgeous, we loved walking around and enjoying the scenic beauty. It has two restaurants – ‘Habba’, the all-day dining restaurant, serving the buffet breakfast and ‘Vembanad’, their coastal cuisine speciality restaurant, which we all liked a lot. The resort also houses two bars and goes without saying – a spa, pool, gym and recreation room with several games
  • The many shades and moods of the property, during the day and night time…

• In terms of activities, they have enough and more to keep guests occupied all through the day – bird watching, guided yoga sessions, ATV rides, adventure activities, organic farm walk, a nature walk to see the flora and fauna of the area, a coffee experience showcasing the journey of the coffee bean, from farm to cup; a walk to the sunset point, and so on…
  • The mesmerizing nature walk, where we explored the coffee plantation and understood the difference between arabica and robusta leaves. We also saw almond trees, bamboo trees, oranges, pepper creepers, fish tail palms, cinnamon, supari trees, and many types of different flowers. And some of us did get bitten by leeches (all part of the experience, I guess!)

• We also undertook the nice but somewhat steep/tough hike to the sunset point, but enjoyed the panoramic views from there

• The resort had something for everyone – coffee experience for adults and adventure activities for kids

• To be honest, the hotel experience was so brilliant that we didn’t feel the need to step out. We were happy enjoying family time doing different activities within the resort. In terms of sight-seeing in Coorg, the one thing we were tempted to see was the glass skywalk bridge, inaugurated just as recently as in June 2023. It’s known as the Pappy’s Bridge of Coorg, touted to hold 40-50 individuals at a time, and offering panoramic views of the landscape. Unfortunately, we were disappointed – for one, the bridge was really small and not too high and secondly, it was super crowded and there was a long queue when we reached, due to which tickets were not being issued. We were told that we will need to wait 1.5 hours, however, seeing the size and scale, we were quite underwhelmed and went back

• Coming to eating out and shopping, few of us were keen to try local cuisine, so we grabbed lunch at a restaurant called Thaliya, for traditional Kodava food – the food was spicy but tasty! We then headed for coffee to Ainmane Café, from where we also bought coffee and chocolates to take back home. For shopping, we went to Stuart Hill (specifically KSRTC, CSP Complex, Bus Stand Road) and could find everything between these two side-by-side shops – Coorg Greens and Choci Coorg – spices, soaps with fragrances, coffee, and homemade chocolates.

After a fun filled weekend, it was time for our drive back to Bangalore. We enjoyed the sites!

In summary, it was a lovely getaway and a chance to spend quality time with family – eating all meals together, playing games, shopping and taking strolls. The weather was a great sport; it was very pleasant, infact, a little chilly in the mornings and evenings, so we needed light jackets or shawls. When I plan Coorg again, I’d like to visit few of the following sites:

1. The Abbey Falls, surrounded by lush greenery
2. The Namdroling Monastery, also known as the Golden Temple
3. Nagarhole National Park / Tiger Reserve
4. Madikeri Fort, a historical site
5. Raja’s Seat, known for sunset views

I hope you enjoyed reading this post. And I hope you enjoy a weekend getaway to Coorg some time soon!