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Not Kashmir to Kanyakumari but Indeed ‘Bangalore-TO-Kanyakumari’

Yes, as the title of my blog shows the excitement, I am equally excited to pen down our 10 days trip on paper (technically a blog :-).

Yes, yes it was a trip full of adventures which really kept us on our toes. Yes, I said it right 10 days road trip which covered – Pondicherry, Mahabalipuram, Thanjavur, Madurai, Rameswaram, Kanyakumari, Kodaikanal, Tiruchirappalli and back to Bangalore. Yes, I am going to write all the nitty-gritty details here but let me just gather my thoughts together and keep the excitement low.

Yep, Yep the trip was actually planned in the month of October during my kids Dusshera vacation timeframe. So here I start….First things first:

Make sure you make the detail itinerary on paper- it does help on not relying on digital at times.
When you will be where and which hotels you are staying, as well from which app you have booked the hotels.
As well the weather forecast is very important to carry wardrobes accordingly

Coming to the planning part, yes if you are very particular about hotels/stays and affordable trip make sure you read reviews and book hotels accordingly. On our 10 days trip we had experience from Luxury to just 1 night stay hotels as per our requirements. When you are on 10 days trip make sure your choices are affordable and accommodatable and doesn’t go to far from your budget. But again, if you prefer LUXURY just go for it. We have even explored those experiences. Enough of advising now coming to the actual trip!!

Pondicherry

We started on Saturday early morning and headed towards Pondicherry. We were right on-time and started sharp at 4 am to avoid all the major traffic in city and enjoy the drive and nature and yes indeed we made it. Our 357 kms and 7 hours journey was not at all exhausting for any of us.

We even visited the Golden Temple at Vellore on our way without wasting any time and rush as we were the first few devotees at the temple…now isn’t that amazing.

Post our stop at Golden temple we stopped by for Breakfast on the way and final stoppage was – VILLA MEENA – the most amazing stay we could have ever imagined. Yes, it was like a home for us and one of The Best places to stay on this trip. The accommodation is just like a HOME and walkable to everything in Pondicherry. So, we actually saw sunrise on both the days of our trip and sunsets on beach and soaked ourselves in the Ocean water.

The stay has all amenities from coffee maker to fridge, so not to worry if you have an infant or a senior citizen. But just be watchful to ask for a room on lower floors if there is a need. The owner is very good and will make sure that you are at your comfort with zero disturbance.

Post our two days stay at Pondi we headed towards Mahabalipuram.

Mahabalipuram

At Mahabalipuram you really don’t have to worry much. The day we landed we visited The Shore temple in the evening which was walkable from out Hotel.

Here we stayed at Hotel Vilasam. The hotel served good south Indian meals and was close by for all places. The stay is not luxury but just OK but as we had just a night stay we chose this as the best option to save time.

The next day we visited the Pancha Rathas, Arjuna’s penance, Light House, Varaha Cave and Mahisasurmardini Cave.

I must say each structure is a beauty and Unique in itself and will be very exhausting so keep yourself hydrated and keep munching some health snacks and peanuts. You can find sugarcane juice and lemonade outside the premises as well. A word of advice if you can plan to cover all places at one go because the Ticket is valid for all these Temples for one day, in our case we ended-up buying tickets the next day as well as we didn’t know this fact ..No regrets though!!

Then next day after 1 night stay we headed towards Thanjavur or we can say Brihadeswar.

Brihadeswar/Thanjavur

The Great Living Chola Temples, a UNESCO World Heritage site designation refers to three temples in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu- the Brihadisvara Temple in Thanjavur, the Temple of Gangaikonda Cholapuram and the Airavatesvara Temple in Darasuram. Built between the 11th and 12th century A.D., these temples are fine examples of architecture from the Chola dynasty. Visit these 3 temples on a day excursion from Thanjavur.

But I must say it’s a beauty how these architectures are built and it’s definitely a must visit in one’s lifetime.

Please go to visit these temples without a doubt in your mind. Your soul will be reunited to God and your will seek some inner peace in the ambience.

Do suggest sitting for some time and feel that positivity.

Madurai

Our next stop was Madurai. At Madurai we stayed at Avea accommodation, yes another good accommodation for our requirement. The hotel was in great location and enough parking and eats nearby. You can even choose to do Zomato/Swiggy for food. There is dinning space to actually spread the food and enjoy your meals. We visited just Meenakshi Temple at Madurai and few nearby spots and headed towards Rameswaram.

At evening, please spare sometime to explore the Street food near the Lake. We tried this and it was surely worth visiting. Lots of interesting stores by college kids and passionate folks were available on very economical rates and very tasty.

Rameshwaram

On the way to Rameshwaram you will come across Pambam bridge.

The bridge is a beauty, many visitors stop by and take a complete 360 view of the bridge. I can bet you wouldn’t have seen anything so beautiful in your lifetime. The experience and drive is just remarkable and memorable. At Rameshwaram we stayed at Hotel Raghavendra.

The Hotel was so close to the Arulmigu Ramanathaswamy Temple – It is also one of the twelve Jyotirlinga temples. From the Hotel restaurant and terrace you can see the Ocean and the Temple peaks. If time permits, please take Holy bath at Rameswaram.

The evening we reached, that day itself we visited the temple and did snan in 22 Kunds. The experience is good and it will be quick. After this one should change their dresses so keep spare dresses(though changing rooms are not maintained at all but just manage).

Dhanushkodi

The next day we went to Dhanushkodi Beach point. The town of Dhanushkodi is believed to be the place where Lord Rama had ordered Lord Hanumana to build a bridge which could carry his army across to Sri Lanka, where Demon King Ravana had kept Sita captive.

The town was destroyed during the 1964 Rameswaram cyclone and remains uninhabited in the aftermath.

OMG these treasures of nature are mind-blogging. We stopped around 4 times on the was seeing the view here. A place where the Bay of Bengal and the Indian ocean meet and the submerged Danushkoti enters the sea. The huge waves and quiet Sea. While our way back, we stopped by at Vibhishan abhishek point.

Then we headed towards Kanyakumari.

Kanyakumari

At Kanyakumari we stayed at new Cape Hotel. To visit Kanyakumari you just need 1 day as all spots are very closeby. We started at 5:30 in the morning to the nearest Sunrise Point.

We walked till the extreme end of India. Post Sunrise we had breakfast in the nearby hotel and grabbed a hot cup of tea and headed to our Ferry for Vivekanand Memorial.

Yes, the ferry ride is cool, and the spot has a beautiful temple in the middle of three oceans. It is the southernmost point of the Indian peninsula where the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal meet.

After our excursion at Kanyakumari, we were heading towards Kodaikanal.

Kodaikanal

Yes Kodaikanal a hill station on our list. Though it was our second visit to Kodai, we still were excited as after so many hot days we were looked forward to some cold climate. The hotel we booked – The Park@ Kodai is a great place to stay.

The Hotel as well offers Bonfire at night on request and is not a very crowded place. The place is very close to Chettiar Park and lots of gloomy views around, so we actually just roamed around the Hotel and enjoyed the stay.

The Park – again a very good property to stay and must recommended. Food gets little tricky for North Indians as not many options are available but rest everything was perfect and Top-notch. You can actually get connected Luxury suite at affordable prices.

If time permits, please go ahead to visit Bryant Park it’s worth visiting especially in mornings. But this time it was little far for us and we visited that on our last visit so we skipped it for this time. As we were nearly on our 9^th Day of the Road trip. We did visited a Waterfall nearby and had some tasty snacks.

Post our stay here we headed towards Tiruchirappalli.

Tiruchirappalli

We stopped at Trichy as complete stretch to Bangalore was too much for my Mom at one stretch. At Trichy we just visited the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in the evening and next morning we started our way back to Bangalore.