Araku Valley

After returning from a weeks vacation to the less explored parts of South India Wayanad, Bekal and the most popular hill station in trend Coorg, i would like to share some of my joyous moments and insights of my trip.

Wayanad is a dense forest with quite a good amount of sightseeing places from lakes to waterfalls, Eddakal caves, Banasura Sagar Dam, forest treks, temples, tea estates to give you a perfect holiday break and unwind yourself admist nature. Its a trekkers paradise. Every sightseeing point expects you to walk atleast 1/2 a km to explore it..

Wayanad is also known for its luxury 5 star resorts with private pools villas offering facilities like artificial waterfalls, ziplining, plantation tours, adventure trail to name a few. Vythri resort is the most popular one offering all the above mentioned activities. I being a passionate traveller love to be more close to the nature which lead me to'WILD WAYANAD' a CGH Earth experience, my first stay in the dense forest. You can have a quick look to the reviews from my friend who travelled with me.

 We stayed at The CGH Earth – Wayanad 2 nights in the last week of October 2017. The approach road to the hotel (4km) is avery rough patch, however gives u an adventure ride feeling in midst of the dense forest. As soon as one reaches the property, an immediate reaction is of a breadth of fresh air amidst lush green trees all over. It surely must have been extremely difficult for the owners to construct this property and maintain it.

Why should you choose this property :

 The rooms are without TV, hence it is the kind of peaceful environment which city lovers look for. A nice place to detox.

 The rooms are in midst of forest so a good chirping sound of various birds and insects can be heard clearly early morningand in evenings.

 The food surely tastes different as few of ingredients used are organic and its a fresh feel to eat any category of food here (such as salads, dry fruits, deserts etc).

 The staff is extremely helpful and will make sure you have a good time at the property.

 The meenmutty waterfalls and Banasura Sagar Dam inWaynad have an amazing view and both are worth a visit.

What bothered us during the stay :

 The extremely rough patch of the approach road for the property as one may hesitate to step out of the property, but if you can live with it rest all (including the tourist places) is excellent.

Our next destination was The Lalit Bekal -

The LALIT Bekal was a luxury stay with facilities of a 5 star resort and scenic beach connected to the hotel. The weather was pleasant early morning, however warm for rest of the day. The property is spread across 24 acres and the guest are welcome with fresh coconut water in the grand lobby area relieves your exhaustion in the travel easily by 50%.

Why should you choose this property :

 The rooms are with good interiors and have a supernormal height.This coupled with attached Jacuzzi in every room is like icing on cake.

 Early risers can enjoy beach walk and cycling followed by spa(good part being the spa is not highly priced). Post noon one can engage in kayaking and fishing (both complimentary, yes kindly

believe it).

 The evening can be spent in beach volleyball , games and cultural dance arranged by the resort.

 Food is good and the service staff is quite helpful.

What bothered us during the stay :

 There are 3 small size trees inside the swimming pool that come in between your swim.

 The lights in the resort during night time is very dim.

 The indoor games room is also with dim lights and limited options.

Club Mahindra, Coorg was more of a activity oriented resort with a host of activities going on throughout the day. To name a few would be magic workshops, karaoke sesions, indoor and outdoor games, aqua aerobics, cooking sessions, dance workshops, seperate children play area, evening parties, fun zone etc. They make it a point to keep every age group occupied with something or the other. So you can easily spend 3 nights here.