It has been 4 years since I came to Bangalore but I have never been out touring even with so many options around bangalore. We were never comfortable with bus travels and hiring a taxi too was not an interesting option either. All these changed when we got our ‘Estilo’ and I have been impatiently waiting for a blast as soon as I got my hands on it. In less than 6 months of our ownership of Estilo ‘Coorg’ was planned on the Easter weekend. We initially started with Ooty, but a good suggestion from our neighbour changed the destination to Coorg and we were all set.
I studied the various travellogues in mouthshut, team-bhp and blogposts and concluded on ‘Capitol Village’ Resort near Madikeri. I booked a room on first floor (the view is good from there) for four of us. I would have booked a couple of rooms had the pairings been right !!
Route
1. Take the Bangalore-Mysore highway. It is absolutely great to drive on it.
2. Reach Sri Rangapattnam (Bangalore –> Ramanagaram –> Channapatna –> Maddur –> Mandya –> Srirangapatnam)
3. Take the diversion to right after about 10 or 12 kms from Srirangapattnam (Note: The way is known as Rangathittu bird santuary route)
4. Reach Madikeri via kushalnagar (Hunsur –> Piriyapatna -> Kushalnagar –> Suntikoppa –> Madikeri)
5. Left road from madikeri goes to Siddapur
6. Capitol Resort is about 5km on this road
Day 1
We started on Friday morning about 6.45 AM. We had two drivers in our team, my brother-in-law who is a professional driver and myself.
I started and promised to hand over to him after Srirangapattnam. It was a great day with wonderful weather and the mood was excellent. With the stereo blasting we set off on a roll. We reached Maddur (80 kms from Bangalore) and I had noted down Madur’s Tiffany or Coffee day for the breakfast. We missed out madur’s tiffany and so stopped in Cafe Coffee Day. It was quite good. We then set off. I drove till the turn before Mysore to Hunsur and then my brother-in-law took over. As adviced by many we took the Kushalnagar route to Madikeri. We went straight to East End Hotel and it was quite some time before we got a place (it is usually packed with people). After that we retreated and went in the Siddapur road to our Resort ‘Capitol Village’ (5km from Madikeri). As soon as we reached we took a short nap and went to Rajah’s seat (Right in Madikeri town). Everyone enjoyed it though it was raining a bit. Then we came back and had dinner in resort and slept well.
Day 2
I woke up early to the sound of rain and birds chirping and even while others were sleeping I stepped out to enjoy the great valley view. It wasn’t a deep valley but quite enchanting.
Then eventually everyone got ready and we had the breakfast at hotel east end. We then headed to the Omkareshwara temple (Right in Madikeri town). The temple is not a great tourist place but it did have its odd architecture, sort of a mix between hinduism and Islam. Then we went to see the Fort (Right in Madikeri town), which was pathetic for a fort. Then we went to Abbey falls (8km from Madikeri) and it made the start of a great day. Due to recent rains the falls were pouring heavily and it was a beautiful site, can have it as a must see along with Rajah’s seat. The walk to Falls from the car parking is about a km, but if you travel in tourist bus you might have to walk atleast 3 km (since the buses can’t come quite near the falls due to restriction, I think the road is too curved/bent for a bus).. We went to resort for some rest and came back to dine at East end hotel. Then we set off for Tala-Cauvery. It was quite a ride (45km from Madikeri) but the roads were good and hence not much of a trouble. As went went up, the sight caught our breath. Amazing and beautiful views. Finally we reached it and my brother-in-law and I wanted to climb the 100+ steps to reach the peak. Seeing our enthusiasm my wife finally gave in. I almost ran the entire steps to the top (was surprised at my own interest and fitness). It was worth it. We were in the wide open on a peak, the breadth of which was about the size of the top of a house. The winds were too furious and with some rain it was something I will remember for a long time to come. I had to catch hold of a pole to stop the winds from tossing me downhill. My brother-in-law later commented that if someone had tied a thread to one of us he could be flying a human-kite. Such was the winds. Then we came back and this time we had a non-Veg dinner which was quite good.
Day 3
We set off to vist Rajah’s tomb which was another unattended tourist spot (around 5km from Madikeri).
Nothing special except the same dual architecture (Nandi bull on a mosque style dome). Then we went to visit the Rajah’s seat again, did a bit of shopping and headed for kushalnagar. In kushalnagar we visited the golden temple (in bylakuppe, 5 km from Kushalnagar). It was a grand place and the largest Tibetian settlement in India. The plaec was artistic and mysterious. Many tibetians were roaming around the entire area. Then we had lunch in a rather good restaurant which served very good Non-Veg and finally we set off back to Mysore. Again as the car reached the mysore-Bangalore highway I took over and drove till home, not as good as when I drove to coorg due to traffic but neverthless enjoyable.
About Capitol Village Resort
The resort was pretty good, the view was fantastic but the resort has to improve miles in customer care.
It was just not there. We got a room for 4 (1750 per day). I felt the charges reasonable. Overall the stay and food (breakfast and dinner) came to 5000. The food was not excellent but good enough. Though I was happy with the resort (good for the money), but next time around I want to be in a resort which will be entertaining to my kid as well. Still she enjoyed Coorg.
Windup
We were never in tourist mode and so we saw Coorg in a rather relaxed manner. So we did miss a few of the places like Dubhare Elephant camp and Nisarghadamma. But then Coorg needs more than a couple of visits.
More photos here