less visited spots in South-India

pquekel · Oct 10th, 2007, 12:44

Itinerary next year July fairly sure (want to show my daughter some of the highlights of my own trips in South India, earlier, and we have only three weeks), we travel by our own car and driver this time (luxury I only rarely allowed myself when travelling alone). Still I wouold love to get some extra information on special not so well known places worth visiting in: Chennai/Pondicherry/Madurai/Munnar/Mudumalai/Cochin/Varkala and surroundings. I really mean places that are not to be found in guides (I read and used those with pleasure).

vandy · Oct 10th, 2007, 13:02

Hi there, I take it you are aware this is Monsoon
Season. Don't forget your umbrella.

Have been told Nth'n Kerala is less touristy.

rgds - vandy

pquekel · Oct 10th, 2007, 14:42

Love monsoon, sometimes hate it cause of trouble with travelling from a to b. Umbrella multifunctional, scares stray dogs too

kalbarri · Oct 10th, 2007, 15:26

MARAYOOR! 42 ks from munnar. look it up on wikipedia. great description there but sounds more touristy than i found it.no atm early 2006.
small town about 10 ks north of varkala, near river and beach, lovely spot!
pleasant walk from varkala and some out of the way accommodation along there, close to beach or short walk from beach.lots of greenery and not many tourists.

only did a day trip but vypeen island, short ferry trip from cochin, is a beautiful place also.

snonymous · Apr 21st, 2008, 17:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by kalbarri

MARAYOOR! 42 ks from munnar. look it up on wikipedia. great description there but sounds more touristy than i found it.no atm early 2006.

Please tell me more about Maraiyur. Planning to visit next month. Thanks.

kalbarri · Apr 26th, 2008, 16:51

stay at the marayoor tourist home with the loveliest manager, indrajith. he and his family and friends will look after you.
this is a lovely little town and as a female, single traveller i had no problems there. people took very little notice of me.
the area is beautiful and getting there on the bus via munnar was a fantastic trip. all the tea plantations and the mountains.
on wikipedia it has all the info about marayoor and mentions things that i didn,t know about when i was there. i did a 4 hour treck in the national park but unfortunately did not get to see elephants, maybe next time!
if you are a walker like me, it is a pleasant town to amble through and the area around has the sugar cane and i saw the huge vats that they heat the cane in to produce the sugar. i found that interesting and felt empathy for the poor old fellow that had to keep the fire going under the vat. the hard workers still had time to smile and i took some great photos of them and around marayoor. i love the place, so please let me know how you find it.

snonymous · Apr 28th, 2008, 12:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by kalbarri

this is a lovely little town ..
the area is beautiful and getting there on the bus via munnar was a fantastic trip. all the tea plantations and the mountains.
on wikipedia it has all the info about marayoor and mentions things that i didn,t know about when i was there. i did a 4 hour treck in the national park ..
if you are a walker like me, it is a pleasant town to amble through and the area around has the sugar cane and i saw the huge vats that they heat the cane in to produce the sugar. .. i love the place, so please let me know how you find it.

Thanks a lot Kalbarri. We are staying 4 nts in Munnar and want to do a whole day trip towards Maraiyur and Chinnar. I will check wiki. Love walking. Did you see the dolmens - muniyaras ? Thanks.

kalbarri · May 5th, 2008, 10:14

yes, snonymous, i did go to see the muniyaras and that was very interesting. i was also taken to visit an archaeologcal sight where the locals had got excited and smashed some ancient pots, hoping to find goodies inside. i got some great photos of the muniyaras.

snonymous · May 5th, 2008, 10:48

Thanks Kalbarri
I went through the wiki info. Quite a lot of useful details. Counting the days left to go !

mirjamd · May 5th, 2008, 14:10

I love Coorg, in Karnataka. It is full of coffee plantations and rice fields, very beautiful. Bandipur is a wild life reserve, also in Karnataka, which is lovely. You can see a lot of deer, elephants, and if you're lucky, tigers...

goa baba · May 7th, 2008, 20:02

Avanthi water falls or kaambakkam is one place less frequented by travellers. its on the andhra tamil nadu border.. near TADA village.
The place is beautiful with crystal clear waters and ideal for camping and trekking.. Tada is 55 kms from Chennai on the Chennai-Vijayawada Highway. Once you reach Tada, you need to take a diversion towards the Avanthi Leathers factory which is en route to the falls. The drive from Chennai to Tada will take around 2 hours to the first biotope. The first 55 kms are great, then the village road takes over for the next 2-3 kms and after that it’s a plain DIRT TRACK. You would require a SUV to reach the place.

Nick-H · May 7th, 2008, 21:26

Quote:

You would require a SUV to reach the place.

I was feeling tempted until then

.

Not a Maruti Swift, then?

Pity. It sounds great

snonymous · May 7th, 2008, 21:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by goa baba

Avanthi water falls or kaambakkam is one place less frequented by travellers. its on the andhra tamil nadu border.. near TADA village.
The place is beautiful with crystal clear waters and ideal for camping and trekking.. Tada is 55 kms from Chennai on the Chennai-Vijayawada Highway. Once you reach Tada, you need to take a diversion towards the Avanthi Leathers factory which is en route to the falls.

So this is what TADA is about. I read another member Peter's chennaitrek blog about a Tada trek and wondered about the name. Does it have any link to the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act or whatever TADA [now repealed] stood for?

Sounds nice for a days trip ex Chennai.

goa baba · May 8th, 2008, 22:54

..To answers Nick's question. You can also go by a small or a midsize car. The approach road 3kms before the falls is highly inaccessible by a small car.. One can park the car and trek this 3 kms stretch... Considering the temepratures in summer I wouldn't suggest this option..

But the place is worth a visit.. From the starting point of the water stream, there are many small hills one has to trek to reach the originating point of the falls. There are some arrow marks which will help to reach the final destination. It will be around 4 to 5 km from the starting point where the first pool of water comes, but if you can go up to the extreme end you can enjoy the beautiful falls which falls from a height of 100 meters..chk this wiki link for more info

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubbalamdugu_Falls

pmvelu · Jun 1st, 2008, 20:59

Hey Goababa,

It's interesting to see the "Tada" write-up.

During College days , Me alng with my friends (around 8 people) have camped in the Forest as well as visited the Falls you have mentioned BUT in a harder way. But now only I know the falls name is "Avanthi Falls" .. When we went there is no specific name for the same Or we are too ignorant.

We did this adventure 3 times totally ..

Normally we will start by 7 am from our houses and will reach Basinbridge Bus stand (Chennai) . From there we will board Tirupathi bound buses which runs via Varadhepalayam.

We will pack Rice,Dhal,Eggs, Maggi, Utensils, sickle, Knife, Rugs, 2 Kgs of new papers, 25 litre water can etc and we will distribute the work equally among us.

We will get down at varadhpalayam .. The Road to Tada forests start from here and there is NO bus or CaB or Anything except odd Company buses to the leather factory.. It's Thar / Mud track with none on the way and we will WALK that 12 kms and always we will choose PEak summer for this trip (Reason I will state below)

Just after the leather factory ,the last 3 kms are with Pebbeles/ rocks and People who do not know how to Cook Or Collect Wood for the Night need to carry the Water can and utensils.

We will reach atlast around 1.30 pm and the stream (ever perennial) will be a refershing treat .. We will just be in water for 2 hours or so and Normally me and another friend will start cooking using 4 Stones/ Wood .

Maximum by 5 pm we will finish the late lunch and one group will collect wood and another group will find out a place to sleep near to the stream itself and will clean /Remove the pebbles and use the rugs / Paper/ BEdsheet to form a sleeping place.

At 6.30 pm + around it will be pitch dark and it wil be thrilling as NONE will be there for next 3 kms at one end and another end is Tada Reserve Forests !

We wil start cooking night dinner and we will eat maximum by 8 pm followed by chat on several things.. With Perfect Forest Bugs noise and with Moon Light we will sleep around 11 pm or so

Next Day morning bye default all will get up at 5.30am + and will take bath again in the stream and We will make some bread / JAm and eat and then will start the trek to the falls you mentioned and will get back to the leather factory at 1 pm around and will BEG for a Lift back to vardhepalayam.

Everytime they will oblige and will ask us to wait there and when the company van is ready to go to the town we will get in and reach varadhepalayam and Have a Nice Andhra Meals and Board the bus back to Chennai .

This place is dangerous to stay especially in Slightest rainy season as the stream will be flooded and other Issues might arise and hence always we chose the peak summer.

We will roam for that 1 Day in the forests with only underwears (We thought that's the Maximum Freedom when compared to chennai Life) and will be invariably with Cough /Cold/ Severe body pain when we were back and we will do this on a Saturday / Sunday and Monday invariably we will be off and go to college on Tuesday to TELL the Adventourous stories......

Sorry for the long post & We did this 11 years back and Goa baba you re-kindled my memories !!!! .. Thanks for your post !!!!

And one last question, Is it currently a tourist place ?????

... With Wiki Links and all ??

Oct 10th, 2007, 12:44	#1
pquekel Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: The Netherlands/Eindhoven Posts: 157	less visited spots in South-India Itinerary next year July fairly sure (want to show my daughter some of the highlights of my own trips in South India, earlier, and we have only three weeks), we travel by our own car and driver this time (luxury I only rarely allowed myself when travelling alone). Still I wouold love to get some extra information on special not so well known places worth visiting in: Chennai/Pondicherry/Madurai/Munnar/Mudumalai/Cochin/Varkala and surroundings. I really mean places that are not to be found in guides (I read and used those with pleasure).

Oct 10th, 2007, 13:02	#2
vandy Maha Guru Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: perth-australia Posts: 515	Sth India Hi there, I take it you are aware this is Monsoon Season. Don't forget your umbrella. Have been told Nth'n Kerala is less touristy. rgds - vandy

Oct 10th, 2007, 14:42	#3
pquekel Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: The Netherlands/Eindhoven Posts: 157	monsoon yes Love monsoon, sometimes hate it cause of trouble with travelling from a to b. Umbrella multifunctional, scares stray dogs too

Oct 10th, 2007, 15:26	#4
kalbarri kalbarri Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: WESTERN australia Posts: 264	my favourite.. MARAYOOR! 42 ks from munnar. look it up on wikipedia. great description there but sounds more touristy than i found it.no atm early 2006. small town about 10 ks north of varkala, near river and beach, lovely spot! pleasant walk from varkala and some out of the way accommodation along there, close to beach or short walk from beach.lots of greenery and not many tourists. only did a day trip but vypeen island, short ferry trip from cochin, is a beautiful place also.

Apr 26th, 2008, 16:51	#6
kalbarri kalbarri Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: WESTERN australia Posts: 264	marayoor stay at the marayoor tourist home with the loveliest manager, indrajith. he and his family and friends will look after you. this is a lovely little town and as a female, single traveller i had no problems there. people took very little notice of me. the area is beautiful and getting there on the bus via munnar was a fantastic trip. all the tea plantations and the mountains. on wikipedia it has all the info about marayoor and mentions things that i didn,t know about when i was there. i did a 4 hour treck in the national park but unfortunately did not get to see elephants, maybe next time! if you are a walker like me, it is a pleasant town to amble through and the area around has the sugar cane and i saw the huge vats that they heat the cane in to produce the sugar. i found that interesting and felt empathy for the poor old fellow that had to keep the fire going under the vat. the hard workers still had time to smile and i took some great photos of them and around marayoor. i love the place, so please let me know how you find it.

May 5th, 2008, 10:14	#8
kalbarri kalbarri Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: WESTERN australia Posts: 264	yes, snonymous, i did go to see the muniyaras and that was very interesting. i was also taken to visit an archaeologcal sight where the locals had got excited and smashed some ancient pots, hoping to find goodies inside. i got some great photos of the muniyaras.

May 5th, 2008, 10:48	#9
snonymous Maha Guru Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Mumbai Posts: 511	Thanks Kalbarri I went through the wiki info. Quite a lot of useful details. Counting the days left to go ! Last edited by Nick-H : May 5th, 2008 at 11:28. Reason: removed quote

May 5th, 2008, 14:10	#10
mirjamd Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Zoetermeer, Netherlands Posts: 196	I love Coorg, in Karnataka. It is full of coffee plantations and rice fields, very beautiful. Bandipur is a wild life reserve, also in Karnataka, which is lovely. You can see a lot of deer, elephants, and if you're lucky, tigers...

May 7th, 2008, 20:02	#11
goa baba ife is short and the world is wide Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 27	Avanthi water falls or kaambakkam is one place less frequented by travellers. its on the andhra tamil nadu border.. near TADA village. The place is beautiful with crystal clear waters and ideal for camping and trekking.. Tada is 55 kms from Chennai on the Chennai-Vijayawada Highway. Once you reach Tada, you need to take a diversion towards the Avanthi Leathers factory which is en route to the falls. The drive from Chennai to Tada will take around 2 hours to the first biotope. The first 55 kms are great, then the village road takes over for the next 2-3 kms and after that it’s a plain DIRT TRACK. You would require a SUV to reach the place.

May 8th, 2008, 22:54	#14
goa baba ife is short and the world is wide Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 27	..To answers Nick's question. You can also go by a small or a midsize car. The approach road 3kms before the falls is highly inaccessible by a small car.. One can park the car and trek this 3 kms stretch... Considering the temepratures in summer I wouldn't suggest this option.. But the place is worth a visit.. From the starting point of the water stream, there are many small hills one has to trek to reach the originating point of the falls. There are some arrow marks which will help to reach the final destination. It will be around 4 to 5 km from the starting point where the first pool of water comes, but if you can go up to the extreme end you can enjoy the beautiful falls which falls from a height of 100 meters..chk this wiki link for more info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubbalamdugu_Falls

Jun 1st, 2008, 20:59	#15
pmvelu Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Mysore Posts: 294	Hey Goababa, It's interesting to see the "Tada" write-up. During College days , Me alng with my friends (around 8 people) have camped in the Forest as well as visited the Falls you have mentioned BUT in a harder way. But now only I know the falls name is "Avanthi Falls" .. When we went there is no specific name for the same Or we are too ignorant. We did this adventure 3 times totally .. Normally we will start by 7 am from our houses and will reach Basinbridge Bus stand (Chennai) . From there we will board Tirupathi bound buses which runs via Varadhepalayam. We will pack Rice,Dhal,Eggs, Maggi, Utensils, sickle, Knife, Rugs, 2 Kgs of new papers, 25 litre water can etc and we will distribute the work equally among us. We will get down at varadhpalayam .. The Road to Tada forests start from here and there is NO bus or CaB or Anything except odd Company buses to the leather factory.. It's Thar / Mud track with none on the way and we will WALK that 12 kms and always we will choose PEak summer for this trip (Reason I will state below) Just after the leather factory ,the last 3 kms are with Pebbeles/ rocks and People who do not know how to Cook Or Collect Wood for the Night need to carry the Water can and utensils. We will reach atlast around 1.30 pm and the stream (ever perennial) will be a refershing treat .. We will just be in water for 2 hours or so and Normally me and another friend will start cooking using 4 Stones/ Wood . Maximum by 5 pm we will finish the late lunch and one group will collect wood and another group will find out a place to sleep near to the stream itself and will clean /Remove the pebbles and use the rugs / Paper/ BEdsheet to form a sleeping place. At 6.30 pm + around it will be pitch dark and it wil be thrilling as NONE will be there for next 3 kms at one end and another end is Tada Reserve Forests ! We wil start cooking night dinner and we will eat maximum by 8 pm followed by chat on several things.. With Perfect Forest Bugs noise and with Moon Light we will sleep around 11 pm or so Next Day morning bye default all will get up at 5.30am + and will take bath again in the stream and We will make some bread / JAm and eat and then will start the trek to the falls you mentioned and will get back to the leather factory at 1 pm around and will BEG for a Lift back to vardhepalayam. Everytime they will oblige and will ask us to wait there and when the company van is ready to go to the town we will get in and reach varadhepalayam and Have a Nice Andhra Meals and Board the bus back to Chennai . This place is dangerous to stay especially in Slightest rainy season as the stream will be flooded and other Issues might arise and hence always we chose the peak summer. We will roam for that 1 Day in the forests with only underwears (We thought that's the Maximum Freedom when compared to chennai Life) and will be invariably with Cough /Cold/ Severe body pain when we were back and we will do this on a Saturday / Sunday and Monday invariably we will be off and go to college on Tuesday to TELL the Adventourous stories...... Sorry for the long post & We did this 11 years back and Goa baba you re-kindled my memories !!!! .. Thanks for your post !!!! And one last question, Is it currently a tourist place ????? ... With Wiki Links and all ??

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