Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu

Photographs from a trip to Kodaikanal, in Tamil Nadu, India.

Madurai is closest airport to Kodaikanal at 135 kilometers, however I traveled via Coimbatore that is around 170 kilometers from Kodaikanal since there were no direct flights from Hyderabad to Madurai. There are very few buses that ply from Coimbatore directly to Kodai, in fact, I believe there is only one that leaves from Ukkadam bus stand at 10 AM in the morning. However, there are plenty of buses from Coimbatore (from Ukkadam bus stand, you can get a pre-paid taxi from Airport to Ukkadam for Rs 250) to town of Palani (every 10 minutes or so), and from Palani there are hourly buses during the day to Kodai. It takes around 2.5 hours from Coimbatore to Palani and another 3 hours from Palani to Koadi uphill via the winding Ghat road. Note that these are local buses that ply between towns and will be quite crowded, plus unless you can speak a bit of the local language (Tamil), it would be hard to identify the right bus to get on to. On the plus side, they are quite cheap – on an average it would cost you Rs 30 (less than $1) for each segment of the journey.







Coaker’s Walk is a beautiful 1 KM stretch of pathway along the side of Mount Nebo and offers a great view of the valley.


Pillar rock can be reached by an 8 KM drive from the Kodai bus stand, reminds me of the “Hanging Mountains” from Avatar.


“Green” windows of the Woody’s restaurant in Woodlands Resort, Kodaikanal.






Bryant Park is a very well maintained botanical garden located around half a kilometer from the Kodai bus stand.