Coorg

Karnataka

Visited in : Dec 2009

Distance from Bangalore : 230 km

Best way to reach there : By road (7 hrs)

Good place to stay at : We stayed in one of the Tata Coffee Plantation Trails' Bungalows (Woshully). Other good options to stay at are:

Jungle Lodges but the resort is not exactly in Coorg but in Dubare Elephant Camp

Orange County - very good resort with a lot of amenities and things to

do but a little expensive.

And also some Coorgi homestays

Places to see:

1. Dubare Elephant Camp
2. Namdroling Monastary in Kushalnagar
3. Abbey Waterfalls - less than 10 km from Coorg
4. Talacauvery - 36 km from Madikeri
5. Nagarhole National Park

Tata Plantation trail Bungalows are beautifully located amidst lush green coffee and pepper plantations. A place where you can actually forget the noise of vehicular traffic and get to hear the chirping of variety of birds, the pitter-patter of rain drops on the leaves and even the footsteps of a person crossing a trail not very nearby.

This gives a slice of the view from the sit out of the Bungalow.

One bungalow has three rooms, ideal for a big group of tourists or for three small families but the rooms are not very sound proof so if you are looking for complete privacy, this would not be the perfect option. The TV room and dining room are common for all the guests to share. The cooks are not too many so you may have to take turns dining in the place. The bungalow where we stayed had an excellent cook and made special dinner on Christmas eve but the other occupants had moved from another bungalow and they did not have very palatable stories to narrate about the food there.

During our stay we went on the plantation tour organised by the resort manager where they showed us different stages involved in the process of making coffee. It was an interesting tour. The property had a huge golf course and they provide the clubs and other equipment on reasonable rent for a couple of hours. But they did not have any tennis or badminton courts much to our disappointment as we had taken all the stuff seeing the same being listed on their website.

We had three days there and we opted to visit Dubare Elephant camp and Monastery while skipping the other things for a peaceful day in the bungalow surrounded by serene greenery. It was drizzling that day and made the perfect day to laze around with hot Tata coffee.

Important Tips:

1. Go early for the Dubare Elephant Camp because the elephants' bathing ritual is anyway in the first half of the day and the queues keep getting longer and longer by almost every minute.
2. The same road leads to the monastery so starting early helps in reaching the monastery also before lunch.
3. You can buy great souvenirs from the market outside the Namdroling Monastery.
4. Don't forget to pick Coorgi coffee, fresh pepper, cardamom or even vanilla pods.
5. The roads to Abbey Waterfalls and Talacauvery are not great so plan accordingly.

Important links:

Tata Plantation Trails

Orange County Coorg

Jungle Lodges - Dubare Elephant Camp