Year end annual trip 2025
The annual road trip for the year ending 2025, was a 17-day itinerary covering 5 states , driving through various cities having a mix of temples, beaches, historical places, shopping, eating , nature walks and much more. The total trip from Pune to pune was ~4400kms(4388 calculated precisely).
Individual day blogs have been published already. This one is the merged version of all the days along with some more information.
I've also included hyperlinks for each day as this blog in it's entirety could be very lengthy to read.
Day 1
We had packed and loaded most of our bags on the previous day itself. We targetted to start by 2 am. By God's grace and cooperation from the kids we could start by 1:34am.
We had to cover ~800kms and hence this midnight travel was much needed to skip the traffic.
The roads were very smooth making the drive pleasurable and convenient. We covered around 450kms before taking a stop for breakfast at around 8:30am. It was a small outlet who could serve us tea, coffee and some dosa. We had some paranthas from home which served the purpose.
The next stop was at 12:55pm for lunch at Hotel Sunrise. It was a clean place with decent food. The curry was on the spicier side and the tandoori roti was made of maida. We started at 1:35pm after having lunch to reach pathala ganga by 4:20pm. This is a sacred holy water on the banks of river Krishna. You need to descend around 450 steps to reach the bank. We stepped in the water to put some water on us and then floated a lighted diya in the water. Ascending the steps back was a bit exhausting and took time.
We then proceeded towards our hotel - AP tourism hotel Haritha. This hotel was located at walking distance from the Srisailam main temple. We checked in to the hotel and rested for a bit and then proceeded towards the temple for darshan. We kept our footwear in the stand and got into the queue by 6:20pm. Mobile phones are not allowed inside. The temple was closed for aarti till 8pm and we had to wait. We were allowed to proceed inside by 8:07pm. The temple comprises of both shivalinga and Shakti peeth. We had our darshan and were on our way back by 9pm. There were nearly no options for good food. We found a restaurant by the name of Bhramari which claimed to be serving south Indian food and some North Indian dishes as well. We ordered aloo poori, idli wada and Dosa. None of the ordered dishes were good enough. I also had tea which was still okay. Post the dinner, we went back to our hotel, prepared for the next day and then got into our beds.
Day 2
We checked out from our hotel in Srisailam and started our onward journey towards Tirupati at 6:20am. On the way we were on the lookout for a place to eat. The very few places that we found on the way were supposed to be serving only by 12 noon. Surprisingly there were not many restaurants or eateries on the way. At around 12:45pm, we found a restaurant - Supreme Restaurant in Venkatagiri, Nellore. We went to enquire and got to know they were serving and had vegetarian options too.
We had a delicious lunch there and then started back by 1:20pm to reach out first destination at Sri Padmavathi ammavari temple dedicated to goddess Lakshmi. With a ₹50 per person entry ticket, it took us around 30 mins for the darshan. We entered through gate 3 , removed our shoes in the shoe stand. The exit was from gate 2, so it was needed to enter the temple premises through gate 3 again to get our shoes. Outside the temple premises are the usual shops. We had nice sugarcane juice at one of the shops there. We were back in our car by 3:45pm to start towards Sri Govindaraj temple and reached there by 4:10pm. It took nearly 20 mins for darshan in the general queue. There were a few more temples in the same campus and another one near the car parking. We took blessings and started towards our accommodation - hotel southern suites at 5:10pm. The accommodation was quite near the railway station and hence the traffic. We checked in around 5:45pm. After settling the kids and luggage, we went down to wash our car. Got back and ordered burgers for dinner. We played a round of Uno in the meanwhile. Once the burgers were delivered, we are them watching Chhichhore movie on the TV.
Preparations for the next day and we were good to retire for the day.
Day 3
The day was reserved for Tirupati Balaji darshan.
We started for Kapila teertham at 7:35am. It was at a short distance from our hotel. Car parking was around the road side. We visited the temple and took a dip in the holy water. The water from the fall was refreshing however the one accumulated was rather dirty.
We exited by 8:50am and moved towards the Tirumala hill. A check post on the way does a thorough checking of all passengers and luggage that has to be passed through a scanner machine.
A person checks the complete vehicle as well. This consumed around 45 mins. The onward journey on to the hill through the ghats was very scenic. The best part was there were separate roads for upward and downward journey. This allowed the vehicles to zap through smoothly.
We had already booked "Special Entry Darshan" (SED) so entered through the ATC gate to park our car.
There are 2 major temples in the same campus - Sri Varaha swamy temple and Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple. Now, it makes sense to remove your footwear in the car, leave all electronic items as well, carry other required items like ID proofs for all adults, some snacks, water, hard copy of the ticket and a piece of warm cloth as it is cooler on the hill.
We were not aware of the way etc so missed certain things. Nevertheless, we were in the queue for Sri Varaha swamy temple by 10:30am. The story goes Swamy varaha permitted Swamy Venkateswara to stay on the Tirumala hill and hence Varaha swamy gets the first darshan. The darshan queues are ill-managed and hence a lot of human jostling in all the Andhra temples. We came out after the darshan by 11:15am and proceeded to enter the SED queue for lord Venkateshwara darshan which took around an hour. However, exit again was over crowded and took considerable time to come out. We were able to edit from the car parking by around 3pm.
There are a few other renowned places/temples around the area. They are all located close to each other. We started with Srivari padalu - the padukas of sri Venkateshwara, onto Tirumala chakrateertham followed by Sri Venugopala swamy temple. Next was Akashganga and papavinasanam.
Papavinasanam closes at 6pm and we were just in time. It was already getting dark, we had our darshan and started our journey towards the hotel by 6:15pm. Soon we were on the downward route from the Sri Venkateshwara temple. There was a separate track for pedestrians as well on this route. We reached Adyar Ananda Bhavan in the Tirupati city to have dinner. Post that back to our hotel by 8:30pm. We prepared for the next day, loaded the bigger luggage pieces in the car and slept.
Day 4
The day started early and we left from our hotel by 5:25am.
Our first destination was Sri Lakshmi narayani temple in Vellore. They have a car parking inside gate 2. We had reached by 7:45am when only special darshan are allowed. General darshan are only allowed after 10am. We bought tickets for ₹100 per adult, kept our footwear in the shoe house and proceeded for the queue. The Narayani idol is made of 70kg gold and the ganpati idol with 1700kg silver. This place is also called Sripuram. We had peaceful darshan. It's a huge temple complex with green lish surroundings and loads of boards with quotes written in Hindi, English and Tamil. While we were exiting the campus around 9am, it has already started being crowded.
We started towards Kamakshi temple in Kanchipuram at a distance of 85kms. We reached the temple by 10:45am. We parked our car in the parking, keep our electronics and footwear in the car before getting in the queue. It wasn't too crowded at that time and the temple closes at 12:30pm as per the information available on the internet. However the doors were being kept closed for much longer windows. After waiting patiently but the kids getting impatient, we finally got the darshan around 12 noon. We exited the temple complex and stopped at a coconut vendor to have coconut water. We were directed towards a wholesale shop by the name of Sri Pranav Prakash silks for silk shopping. We bought silk sarees and then went for lunch at Sree Gupta Bhavan.
They served absolutely amazing food items. A separate unique set of incidents took place after this, which have been described in another blog. We also went to another temple (Rajakuberar temple) which wasn't on our itinerary. We had fantastic darshan there.
We then proceeded towards Puducherry and checked in to our booked accommodation by 6:30pm. We freshened up and enquired about a good veg restaurant. The hotel receptionist recommended a place and another guest sitting around confirmed the recommendation. It was around a kilometre but we decided to walk through the narrow lanes. In around 15 mins, we reached Surguru restaurant. They served good food. While walking back, we enjoyed the festive streets selling christmas decoratives giving a very fresh and festive vibe to the region.
Day 5
Being a relaxed day with not much to cover on the agenda and places being close to each other, we slept till a little late. Got ready and left from the hotel at 9am to reach the location for mangrove forest boating.
It was around 10 mins drive. We booked our tickets with one of the boating company. The ride started in 10 minutes time.
They took us through the mangroves and then allowed us sometime at one of the archaeological sites - Arikamedu.
We clicked quite some pictures there then got back to our boat. We enjoyed the beauty of the nature around and the boat ride. The ride was for an hour. From there, we drove towards Manakula Vinayagar temple. It's a beautiful dedicated to lord Ganesha. No long queues, no special tickets, simple serene darshan.
From there we went to Aurobindo Ashram. Footwear were to be removed outside the gate and mobile phones switched off. The place was beautiful and quiet. We sat there for a while for meditation as well.
From there we went strolling around the white town. After having lunch we went back to our accommodation for a nice afternoon nap. In the evening we started again for white town and walked around enjoying the vibrant place.
We also visited the rock beach and the Gandhi statue.
We had dinner at a restaurant named Richy Rich followed by waffles at a waffle shop right besides Richy Rich.
We then walked towards our parking, picked our car and went back to our room.
Day 6
Another relaxed day started with a visit to Eden beach. It is said to be the cleanest beach in Pondicherry. At a distance of around 10kms from our accommodation, it took us half an hour to reach there. We parked our car, changed in the pay use facility and then went to the beach.
The water was indeed clean and the waves quite high. We enjoyed the water and the waves while the kids also made their customary sand castles. We then showered, changed , did some shopping in the nearby shops and then started back towards the hotel.
The luggage was packed. We loaded it into our car and started towards the next accomodation. While booking, owing to some confusion 2 separate bookings were made for Puducherry meaning 2 nights in one accommodation and another night in a different place. So we were basically shifting from one accommodation to another. We checked in at 12:30 pm , settled the luggage in our rooms and then went to wash our car. While getting back(the parking was at a walkable distance and not in the hotel compound), we saw a cafe - "Hot Breads" which looked interesting. We went in to have a view and found it suitable. Went back to our room to shower and get ready.
Then we were on our way to the Hot Breads cafe. The kids were delighted to see the various options. Everyone choose their options, enjoyed a hearty meal followed by some indulgent desserts and then got back to the room.
We freshened up and then started our stroll towards the French war memorial.
This was again right beside the rock beach. Spent some time watching the waves crashing against the rocks at the beach.
My younger one wanted to go to the open gym she explored the previous day. While she went there with her dad , my elder one & I went to take a look at the display at Gandhi shilp bazaar. This is a 10-day fair organized by the government to encourage artisans from across the country. I came across an artisan from Varanasi who was selling silk & cotton sarees and dress material. Post this, took the younger one to a nearby garden where she enjoyed some swings.
On the way back to the hotel, we took a pit stop at A2B for a cup of tea. We then got back to our rooms, packed our luggage, re-fueled the car and loaded the boot before calling it a day.
Day 7
We checked out from Hotel Sun Park in Puducherry at 3:25am towards Rameswaram.
Brihadeeswara temple in Thanjavur - dedicated to lord Shiva was on the way at a distance of 172kms from Puducherry. We reached there by 6:15am , had a wonderful darshan and then proceeded towards Rameswaram at 7:20am.
We took a break at Kovai bakes in karaikudal on the way for some breakfast and tea. Then back on the road driving towards Rameswaram.
We stopped at Pamban bridge for some clicks and then went to Dhanushkodi - the last point of India. The sun was shining bright and strong. We had some coconut water, purchased a few customary things and then reached our booked accommodation at Hotel Fortune to check in.
We checked with a few people for darshan at Rameswaram temple. After listening to all the views, we went ahead to go on our own. We bought special darshan tickets for ₹100 per head at 4:45pm. When we were walking to join the queue, we realised there was no queue at all 🤷. I was astonished when I realised we got the darshan in just 2 minutes time. We went through the temple, took prasad and then started walking towards our accommodation. We clicked some pictures, had coconut water and some chaat before reaching the hotel by 5:35pm.
We rested for a while, prepared for the next day before ending up in the hotel's restaurant for a dinner buffet. We went back to our room, decorated the Christmas tree and then retired in our beds.
Day 8
Today, we are travelling from Rameswaram to Kodaikanal with a halt at Meenakshi temple in Madurai.
We got ready and checked out from Hotel Fortune in Rameswaram at 5:15am with map set to Meenakshi temple in Madurai. We reached the temple's multilevel car parking by 9am, parked our car, removed our footwear and then proceeded towards the east gate of the temple. Meenakshi temple is dedicated to goddess Parvati (Amman) and lord Shiva (Swamy). Special darshan tickets cost ₹50 per head for each of the temples of Amman and Swamy. We purchased the tickets though there didn't seem to be any difference in the general or special darshan queue. We joined the queue for Amman darshan at 9:20am to get the darshan only by 1:05pm. We went on to join the queue for swamy darshan and came out by 1:30pm. The temple was too over crowded. Drinking water was available at short distances for the pilgrims. We had good darshan at both the sanctums despite the overly long wait times. The kids were bored and tired by the end of these 5 hours. We reached the parking and exited the temple premises by 2pm. We had been hungry thus far save some light snacks. We were looking for a restaurant to have lunch. Most places were serving south Indian meals only. We finally found a place - Temple city where we were able to get dal, paneer, chapati and biryani. After having our fill, we further proceeded towards kodaikanal which was another 97kms. It was hilly drive for the last ~50kms.
The view through the drive was amazing with clouds, blue sky, fog, a sun in the sky that was about to set and the cool breeze. Loved every bit of the view. A bit of de-tour, live location and a drive through the secluded hilly roads led to an amazing hotel - Raja Hill Resorts.
We checked in, parked our car and freshened up. We got some snacks, ordered tea & coffee and enjoyed a cosy dinner while discussing the plan for the next morning.
Day 9
After a peaceful sleep, we woke up to a cold morning in kodai. The windows of the room were dewy and looked beautiful. The warm clothes that has been patiently waiting in our bags were finally taken out. We showered and got ready to venture out. The sun was shining bright by then. The plan was already chalked out the previous night. The map was set and we were on track.
The first stop was at Pillar Rocks. 3 rocks standing as pillars and hence the name. The nature views were absolutely stunning with fog all around. The view of the valley and the trees around were amazing. We clicked pictures and also visited the nearby areas for some more pictures. We exited the spot and had breakfast at the nearby stalls.
Next spot was Guna caves. It is also called Devil's kitchen. There was some walking needed. Probably, owing to the long christmas weekend, entire kodai was overly crowded. Guna caves were another view point with scenic beauty and ample options to click pictures.
We then went on to the pine forest. A place laden with thousands of pine trees. We took a stroll through the forest and posed for pictures.
From there we went to Moir point. That's Kodai's wildlife sanctuary that also has jungle safari. The visibility was so low, there was no point of a safari. Views there, followed by an impromptu game by my younger one and we exited by 2pm.
As we still had half a day at our hand, we planned to visit Mannavanur lake. It wasn't on the list and was also in a totally different direction. From Moir point it was around 1 hour drive. Owing to the horrific traffic we encountered on the way, we reached the lake only by 3:50pm. Given, the hilly area and the huge crowd thronging the place, there was no proper provision of parking spaces at tourist spots. People had parked their vehicles on the road side causing traffic chaos. We finally got a spot to park and walked out way to the lake side. They had an entry ticket of ₹30 per adult and ₹20 per kid. This is an eco tourism place. There was a bit of a walk needed to reach the lake. The lake was beautiful. The surrounding view was amazing. There were ample lotus flowers blooming in the lake. There was coracle ride, kayaking and zip line.
Coracle is a small round boat more like a tub or basket that is rowed in water using an oar. We took the coracle ride in the lake which was a first time experience and was fun.
We took some pictures, had some snacks at the snacks counter there and then started our journey back towards our hotel. The rush was enormous, every street was blocked with vehicles. It seems kodai isn't prepared for such crowd. 5kms took over an hour. We also stopped on the way near the upper Lake view at cafe pishon to have dinner and then after a lot of juggle and struggle reached back hotel safe.
Day 10
The second half of the previous day was very heavy on traffic, taking a lot of time to visit even very small distances. Today's strategy was thoughtful taking lessons from yesterday. We left from our hotel around 8:30am and proceeded towards Upper Lake view point.
You get to see a beautiful view of the entire city including the kodai lake. We saw this point the previous night as well with all the lights in action and then today morning again without the lights and I must say both the views are absolutely beautiful. From there we proceeded towards the green valley view point. We parked our car a few hundred metres away to avoid traffic. The walkway had shops of toys, jewellery, bags, magnets, chocolates etc on both sides.
While at the view point, there was no view visible due to the very thick fog, except for the cute little monkeys who were playing around. We tried hot chocolate and hot choco hazelnut. Choco hazelnut was yummier than the normal hot chocolate although it was sweeter too.
From here, we then drove towards La Saleth(Salette) Church. Mass was in progress when we reached there and the church was beautifully decorated for Christmas.
From here, we went to Vattakanal waterfalls also called the liril falls as the liril ad from our childhood was shot there. For the generation, not aware of Liril.... It used to be a bath soap when we were kids. Then we went towards Coaker's walk. We entered from Gate 2 which is near the La Saleth church. They had entry tickets.
This is a walkway with a supposedly beautiful view which of course wasn't visible again owing to the lovely thick fog. We purchased a few things from the shops on the Coaker's walk walkway. We exited from Gate 1 which took us to the entrance of Bryant Park. However, we decided to skip it (being another park) and instead walked towards the Kodai lake.
This is a beautiful star shaped lake. They again have shops all around. Cycles, horse ride and boating (row boats & pedal boats) were available. We purchased tickets for row boat and took a trip of the lake. With the sun shining bright, it was still pretty cool weather. We had ice creams after boating. Having cold ice cream in the cold weather is fun. My kids wanted to enjoy what we used to enjoy as kids in dilli ki sardi!!
Now our car was parked at quite some distance. We went to get the car and then proceeded towards the hotel. On the way, we stopped at A2B to eat. This is a famous chain in southern part of India. The food was delicious, but the service was pathetic. We had our food and then happily reached back to our accommodation.
Day 11
We woke up, got ready and loaded the remaining luggage in the car boot to start by 7:25am for Ooty. It was around 7 hours drive time when we started. The car was dripping with dew as it had been parked in the cold through the night.
On the way, we saw Silver Cascade falls. From Kodai, there's a route that goes towards Palani/Palani Ghats for Ooty. The roads are narrow but the views are breathtaking.
On the way, we stopped at Cochin hotel on the Palani road for breakfast. The food wasn't that great. The chef was making dosa and eggs on the same skillet and same oil 😀
We proceeded ahead , and before the Nilgiris started, we took a halt at McDonald's to eat.
The Nilgiris started soon after crossing the toll. The roads were broader and the ghats felt comfortable after the kodai ones. Owing to the huge traffic the hill station had witnessed over the past few days, some of the streets were turned into one ways. We reached Rose garden.
They have hundreds of species of roses with thousands of flowers blooming across multiple flower beds. It's worth taking a stroll admiring the beauty of the nature. Our hotel was around a kilometre away from there. We checked in at TTDC Hotel TamilNadu. We ordered coffee and relaxed for a while. This blog was being written at that time.
We had dinner after a while, came back to our room, planned for the next day and then went to bed.
Day 12
The day began with stopping the usual weekday alarm and catching up on some more sleep. We got ready and put in the required stuff including winter wear in the car before going to the in-house restaurant for breakfast. The filter coffee was delicious compared to tea.
Ooty had been witnessing maddening crowd for the past few days. We had planned accordingly. We started for Doddabetta peak by 8:30am and reached there by 9am. The actual parking area was already full, so we parked our car in another temporary parking area. We entered the queue at the ticket counter, purchased the tickets and proceeded inside. The views all around were absolutely stunning.
We went up to the view tower, absorbed the beauty of the nature, strolled around and clicked pictures. We went back to the parking around 9:50am , however the parking was jam packed which took us around 30 mins to get it streamlined and then start our journey to the next destination of Tea Park.
We reached the government tea park at 10:25am. The car parking is right inside the park. We had a stroll around the park with the sun shining bright. We also clicked some pictures and tasted their tea which wasn't good.
Anyways, we then started off towards Pykara lake which was around 1.5 hours away. We reached the lake by 1pm.
They have an entry ticket at the Pykara boat house and then the actual boating tix near the lake. We took a motorboat for a 20-min ride.
The lake was beautiful and the boat ride was amazing. We had fun with the boat ride in the clean lake post which we had ice creams and then proceeded towards 9th mile shooting point at 2:35pm.
The place gets its name from the shooting of Raja Hindustani - a Bollywood movie.
This is a vast open area of land giving an excellent view of the nature and the greenery around. After entry ticket, you'll need to walk. Walk as much as you can , click pictures, absorb the beauty of the nature (things that cams can't capture) and then walk back down.
We then started towards our hotel which was another hour's drive from there. We parked our car in the hotel's parking and then went for a walk to the local market. It's good to take a stroll around exploring the market and what they have to offer. We checked out junkies, nilgiri oils, went to the super markets, woollen stores, bakeries and cafes. We came across Mitchi Cafe which is a small but nice cafe. The owner of the place was nice and interactive. We had actually hopped in to have a veg puff then ended up having a korean bun and a cup of strong filter coffee as well as having a bit of a conversation with the owner. From there, we walked towards our hotel. Hotel was a 8-min walk. We reached, freshened up, relaxed for a while before going for dinner.
Day 13
We woke up to a foggy dewy morning. While still getting ready, a yellow sun rose to shine bright. We had our breakfast and started towards Coonoor. This is a city around 20 kms away from Ooty. Ketti valley view point was 5km away.
It is the world's second largest valley offering stunning panoramic views of nature. They charge an entry fee and have a telescope installed. We were able to see St. Michael's Church which is said to be 150 years old, with the help of the telescope. This church was filmed in famous Bollywood movie Saajan. A railway track is also visible from this point where the song "Chhaiyya chhaiya" was shot. The view was breath-taking with greenery and beautiful landscapes all around.
At 9:25am, we started towards Madras Regiment Coonoor(MRC) in Wellington. Tourists are allowed to take a tour inside their campus in our own vehicles. They also have a museum which displays their arms & ammunitions.
As it was Tuesday, the museum was closed. We drove through the entire area looking at the greenery, their homes, the cleanliness of the area before exiting towards Sim's Park. Another beautiful park with flowers and well maintained plants. It also houses .
My elder one wanted to experience pedal boating, we did that here. The negative with pedal boating - in a 4-seater, we were sitting back to back instead of face to face restricting the pedalling experience to only 2 people. We started towards Lamb's rock at 11:10am. On the way, we stopped at a chocolate factory and had a chance to see the process of chocolate making from the source.
When it was just 2 kms we were told nothing is visible owing to the fog. We then moved towards a strawberry farm. It was a small farm, allowed visitors inside but we weren't allowed to pick the strawberries. We got flavoured tea from the farm's shop. We then went on towards Dolphin's nose point. The parking was over crowded. The road being narrow, vehicular movement wasn't smooth. Again, the fog had covered this view point as well. The curves & turns are steep here.
We came across Singara tea estate also known as Mumtaj tea estate. We clicked some pictures there. We then started back to come across Hill View Chocolate factory in Burliar. They also extract oils like Henna oil, eucalyptus oil and Gaultheria oil all extracted from different parts of the same eucalyptus trees. They explained the process of extraction. We saw the boiler and how oil was being extracted. We purchased the required items from there and then proceeded towards our hotel.
While on the way , we passed through the Coonoor railway station. It was 3:10pm.
I took a chance, got down to enquire and got to know the last train to Ooty leaves at 4pm. Tickets were being sold at the ticket counter. The queue was long. I luckily got the last tickets. Husband got the kids to the station.
The toy train arrived on time, we took out seats and settled down. The train started. Everyone was super excited for the toy train trip. There were breath-taking views from the train. As it was evening, the temperature was dropping too. The windows were open giving an awesome feeling. The train crossed through 4 intermittent stations before reaching Ooty station at 5:15pm. We got down at the station and walked towards the hotel. We packed our bags, loaded some of them in the car and then ordered for coffee. We relaxed for a while , then went for dinner.
Day 14
Our next destination was Mysuru. We checked out from our hotel at Ooty at and started our onward journey towards Mysuru.
It was a 3.5 hours drive, but due to a traffic diversion, it got converted to 4.5 hours. We crossed 2 tiger reserves in the way - Mudumalai Tiger reserve (Tamil Nadu) & Bandipur Tiger reserve (Karnataka). As we entered Mudumalai Tiger reserve, a quote read - "Deers aren't crossing the road; the road is crossing the forest." We saw deers, swamp deers, peacocks, elephants, monkeys in both the tiger reserves.
It was an experience to spot some of the wildlife very close to our car.
In around 5.5 hours we were at the Mysore zoo. Also known as Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens. They have a designated parking lot which is around 10-min walk from the zoo entrance. We purchased the entry tickets from the ticket counter. We had been planning to take a tour on the golf cart. On enquiring, we got to know they had 1.5-hour waiting and the golf cart only stops at 3 designated places only. Considering that, we opted to venture out on foot.
The zoo is one of the best with a huge variety of animals and birds including lion , tiger, leopards, snakes, lizards, tortoise, rhino, hippo, zebra, elephant, giraffe, love birds, emu, ostrich, storks, peacocks, langurs, chimpanzee, bear and the list goes on.
Entry to exit was a 3.5 km distance that we covered in around 2.5 hours. The biggest advantage was the weather was pleasant and the sun was not shining directly. We enjoyed the zoo and then had Sukh Sagar Restaurant near the zoo. We then walked towards the parking, took our car and drove towards our Hotel. We checked in to Hotel Paradise, and rested for a while before getting ready for Brindavan Gardens. Brindavan Gardens is another beautiful garden with very well maintained lawns, water fountains and lights.
We took a stroll around the garden before the light & sound show. They have multiple shows of 15-min each starting from 6:30pm until 8pm. After this, we went back to the parking and proceeded towards Infosys Mysore. For context, my husband & I, both started our professional journey from there. We had been trainees at Infosys Mysore and have loads of memories of the campus.
We drove to the campus, though couldn't go inside for obvious security reasons.
I got down to click a few pictures before we proceeded back. On the way, we stopped at a restaurant - The Adithya Grand to have an amazing dinner.
They had delicious food be it north Indian or south indian cuisine. After a heartening dinner, we drove back to our hotel to call it a day.
Day 15
Let's explore Mysore city again after 17 years. The first destination on the list was Chamundeshwari temple located on the Chamundi Hills. Google says darshan opens at 7:30am. When we reached the multi level parking at 7:35am, the parking was full and there were long queues already. We took a special darshan ticket for ₹50 and entered the queue at 8:15am. It took us 3 hours to reach the main sanctum sanctorum. We did have a nice darshan , however the guards there don't allow the devotees to stop there for even a moment. After the darshan, we had sugarcane juice from the stalls outside the temple, put on our shoes and walked back to the parking. We were able to exit the parking by 12 noon.
We then planned to have a tour of the Mysore Palace. We reached the palace's parking and got in the queue to purchase the entry tickets. You will need to remove your footwear before entering the actual palace premises.
The architecture, paintings, idols, furniture etc everything had been maintained and preserved very well and worth a watch. The palace is open to visitors between 10am - 5:30pm. There is a light show and palace illumination that happens between 7pm & 8pm.
Owing to certain restrictions, they had been cancelled for a few days. We then walked up to Guru Sweet Mart on Sayyaji Road. It's around 700m from the palace. This is the oldest sweet shop in the town and the inventors of Mysore Pak. The invention of Mysore Pak is a small interesting story that you can find on Google. Their mysore pak actually melts in the mouth. Next up was the lunch. We had zeroed in on a restaurant, however it wasn't serving south indian food when we reached there. So we decided to go back to Hotel Adithya Grand from the previous day and had another round of delicious food there. All their food preparation is good and service prompt. After a filling meal, we went back to Sayyaji road for some silk shopping. There are quite some shops around to shop for silk there. We hopped around a few of them but liked and bought our Mysore silk from "states silk emporium - Jidda bazaar". They had pretty designs, color combinations and competitive prices. After this trip, we went back to our hotel to relax for a while. We rested for a while and packed some of the stuff as next morning was an early check out. After this was the interesting part. We left from our hotel to go for dinner.
We were going to Gufha restaurant in Hotel Pai Vista. This used to be our favorite during our training days and we would make weekly or fortnightly trips to this restaurant back then. As the name suggests, this is a theme restaurant and has the look and feel of a cave.
We reached there by 8:20pm. There was a 20-mins waiting to get a table. We waited there, and finally a table was allocated to us. The place was still the same and the food amazingly delicious. It has a very different charm and interests people of all ages. It has a rustic feeling and was nostalgic for me to be back there in the same setup after almost 2 decades. The kids as well loved the place and the food. We all had a lovely time there.
The city has changed a lot over these years. Chamundi temple darshan used to be breeze back then which took more than 3 hours now. Cams were not allowed inside the Mysore palace which is now open and has no restrictions. Gufha restaurant always welcomed us with open arms back then, where we had to wait now. Even after all the increased crowd, the city is still nice and serene.
Day 16
The mahalaxmi maa in Kolhapur is the wife of sri Venkateshwara swamy in Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh. It is said, a visit to Venkateswara Swamy is only considered complete when you pay a visit to their wife Mahalaxmi maa in Kolhapur.
We checked out from The Paradise hotel in Mysore at 5:20am and started towards Kolhapur. The intent was to reach out accommodation in Kolhapur and seek blessings at the temple early next day. At 5:20am , Google estimated a travel of 695km to be covered in around 12 hours time. The journey was smooth, with some bumpy rides near kolhapur. We took breaks in between for breakfast, lunch, re-fuelling and finally reached our hotel - GaneshRatna Executive in Kolhapur by 5:30pm. While checking in, we enquired about the rush in the temple and the best time to have a quick darshan. The receptionist recommended going right away to avoid longer queues. We went to our rooms, showered and got ready to leave for the darshan by 6:15pm
The temple was 7kms away in the heart of the city. With all the traffic on the narrow lanes of the main market of Kolhapur, we reached the multi level parking lot by 6:50pm. We parked our car, where the parking attendant informed us to come back by 9pm as the parking would close after 9.
We went to the temple and joined the darshan queue at 7pm. Surprisingly, it was a fast moving queue and we were done with the darshan by 7:40pm. Nice, serene and quick darshan. We went back to the parking, got into the car and drove towards Haldiram's on the highway to have dinner.
Came back after a nice dinner and off to sleep 😴
Day 17
Today is the final day of this road trip. The journey would start from Kolhapur and complete at our home in Pune with a de-tour towards Tapola road as we are already into the strawberry season and kids want to pick strawberries and have the famous strawberry cream.
We had our breakfast at the hotel itself. He served one dish per person. All the dishes were freshly prepared and good in taste. We checked out from GaneshRatna Executive and started towards Tapola road at 8:50am. We had been to Tapola last year and had picked strawberries at various farms. The best one from that trip was the target for today. The map showed 190kms.
We reached Rahul strawberry garden on Tapola road at 1pm.
The same farm from last year. He had sweet charlie as well which was over last year when we visited. That's actually a very sweet and tender species.
We picked the strawberries directly from the farm, had strawberry & mulberry cream, strawberry & mulberry ice creams and purchased mulberry jam before starting our final return journey back home. There was a lot of traffic in Pune which caused a huge delay. We finally reached home at 7pm after an amazing vacation.
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