Day 2 – A Well Spent Day in Coorg

Date: 26-Dec-15
We woke up to a pleasant chilled morning at 6.30 AM. Instead of trying to stick to our plans, we decided to go out for a walk near our guest house. We decided to have breakfast at the hotel and start our trip at around 9 AM.

Morning walk in coffee estate
Near our guest house, there were few coffee estates. The place was absolutely calm and quiet. There was hardly any one on the road. We saw few beautiful small village houses on our way and felt jealous to see such a contented life of those people.
All the plants were bloomed with coffee berries which was a very rare sight for us. Both of us were not at all in a mood to go back, but we had no choice. We had lots of things to do for the day. Walk through these coffee estates at the early hour of the day was truly an unexpected unforgettable experience for us.

Nalknad Palace
After having a good breakfast at the guest house, we started our trip at 9 AM. Since we were delayed by an hour, we decided to skip Chelavara falls and made Nalknad palace as our first stop for the day. The palace was aound 50 km from the place where we stayed. We took Gonikoppal > Virajpet road and then travelled towards Kakkabe. The journey was amazing. The road was not a straight road, it had lot of curves and was nestled between the lush green coffee estates which gave us a pleasant feel throughout the drive. Just 2 kms before we reached Kakkabe, we took a left towards Nalknad palace. The road from this point onwards till Nalknad palace (around 2 kms) was horrible. The road was filled with potholes and was very very narrow.

We reached the palace at 10.45 AM. Behind this palace, we could see the popular Thadiyandamol hill. The palace was built during the year 1794 and was a hiding place for kings of that time. Though it is a palace, it is not a grand structure. It is like a big old house. There was a guard who explained the history and took us through the rooms of the palace. He showed us the hiding place which was pitch dark when lights were switched off. He also showed the paintings on the walls which are almost erased over the time. Near to the palace, there is a beautiful school. The children and staffs of the school were playing some games when we visited which gave us a real good entertainment.

Igguthappa Temple
We left Nalknad palace at 11.30 AM and reached the temple called Igguthappa temple (via Kakkabe) at 11.50 AM. Since there was some function happening at the temple, we could not go inside the temple. But, we could see the rituals celebrated by the Kodava community there. We left the place at around 12.15 PM.

Sri Bhagandeshwara temple, Bhagamandala

• Timings – 6.30 AM to 1.30 PM and 3 PM to 8.30 PM

Our next destination for the day was Bhagamandala which is one of the major attractions of Coorg. The road from Igguthappa temple to Bhagamandala was again very scenic. Because of narrow curvy roads, it took us around 1 hr to reach the 27 km distance. There are two places to visit in Bhagamandala. One is Triveni Sangama and the other is Bhagandeshwara temple. Triveni sangama is a place where river Kaveri is joined by two side streams Kannike and Sujyothi river. Many tourists visit this place to take a dip in Kaveri and perform rituals to their ancestors. Luckily, when we visited the place, it was not that crowded. Just a few minutes of walk from Triveni Sangama, there is Bhagandeshwara temple where the deities Bhagandeshwara (Shiva), Subrahmanya, Mahavishnu and Ganapathi are worshipped. This temple is huge and beautiful.
Note: Follow decent dress code in this temple.

Talakaveri

• Timings – 6 AM to 6 PM
• Entrance/parking fee – 20 Rs (collected in Bhagamandala)

We left from Bhagandeshwara temple at around 1.45 PM and thought of having lunch at a nearby Kamat restaurant. But, the hotel was over crowded and there was very less chance for us to get seat. So, we decided to have lunch at our next destination i.e Talakaveri. Talakaveri is around 8 km from Bhagamandala. The drive from Bhagamandala to Talakaveri was beautiful.
Talakaveri is located in Brahmagiri hills and is considered to be the birthplace of the sacred river Kaveri. This is one of the most important place to visit in Coorg.

We reached Talakaveri at around 2.30 PM. Talakaveri is surrounded by huge mountains. In Talakaveri. Here a small tank (Kundike) has been constructed where Kaveri is considered to be originated. Many devotees take dip in this holy tank and offer prayers in the nearby shrine. There are two temples in Talakaveri, one is dedicated to lord Shiva and the other dedicated to lord Ganesha.

Another main attraction of Thalakaveri is the climb to the nearby Brahmagiri mountain peak. There are around 200 steps to climb the mountain. We need to climb a steeply mountain, but, the layers of surrounding mountains provides more and more spectacular views as we climb. So, with enough breaks, the trek seemed effortless for us. The view of the Brahmagiri hill ranges from the peak was absolutely magnificent. The perfect combination of the blue sky and the green mountains left us speechless.
Note: Since shoes are not allowed within the premises of Talakaveri, this trek has to be done barefoot which can become challenging during peak summer and if you are not used to walking without shoes.

Raja Seat

• Timings – 6.30 AM to 8 PM
• Musical fountain timings – 7 PM onwards
• Entrance fee – 5 Rs/person
• Parking fee – 40 Rs (for car) (I am not sure if this is the regular fee or only we had to pay because of peak season)

By the time we left from Talakaveri, it was already 4.30 PM and we had to reach Raja Seat which was around 1 hr drive from Talakaveri. Since we were running short of time, we had to skip our lunch/evening snacks for the day.

Raja seat is a beautiful garden situated in Madikeri. It is said to be the favorite spot of Kodagu kings who used to watch the sunset and spend time with their queens here. As we estimated, we reached Raja Seat at around 5.40 PM. The place was extremely crowded. There was no proper place to park the vehicle also. The authorities took 40 Rs for car parking, but the parking lot was a complete mess. Somehow we parked our nano and ran towards the garden. Raja seat is famous for its sunset point and we did not want to miss it. There was huge crowd in the sunset point and we were lucky enough to get a proper place to stand and see the beautiful range of mountains. Within 10 minutes after we reached, the sun started to hide behind the lush green mountains. Within 10 minutes, the sun completely vanished from our sight.

The other attractions of the Raja Seat are – artificial musical fountain and the toy train. We spent some time watching the musical fountain and decided to return from there at 7 PM.

There was huge traffic jam in the entire Madikeri town because of large number tourist vehicles. So, it took some time for us to come out of Madikeri. After Madikeri, we did not stop anywhere and straightly headed towards our guest house. We skipped to visit Omkareshwara temple as we were short of time. At 8.45 PM, we reached our guest house, had dinner and retired for the day.

Some pics of the beautiful roads that we traveled today:

• Route Travelled: Coorg Guest House > Gonikoppal > Virajpet > (towards Kakkabe) Nalknad Palace > Igguthappa Temple > Bhagamandala > Talakaveri > Bhagamandala > Raja Seat > Virajpet > Gonikoppal > Coorg Guest House 
• Photos: Day 2 – A Well Spent Day in Coorg Photos

See also:

• Coorg and Slice of Wayanad
• Day 1 – On the Way to Coorg
• Day 3 – Touching Wayanad

Route Map: