[ankan.m.blr]

Anybody been to Kolli hills recently? Is it a good destination for a night out with family? How is the road condition post Salem?

[ravib]

AFAIK, to my knowledge based on what i have heard its best to do a day trip to Kolli Malai instead of staying there over night, especially with family due to lack of facilities.

Your best bet is to stay in Salem/Namakkal.

-Ravi

[ampere]

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

Anybody been to Kolli hills recently? Is it a good destination for a night out with family? How is the road condition post Salem?

If you are heading from Bangalore, I dont think its that good to stay over night. Plus there are not many places there to stay as well. And on top we are looking ~400km with 60-70 hairpins one way.

As a day trip from Salem, may be it good.

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

Anybody been to Kolli hills recently? Is it a good destination for a night out with family? How is the road condition post Salem?

Yes, not much options there to stay. Even for lunch we struggled to find a good place. Apart from Salem/Namakkal, if you and your family can manage another 27 harpins, then you can consider Yercaud. Overall, its close to 400Kms(Bangalore - Kolli Hills - Yercaud). For this plan you will have to start early from Bangalore.

Originally Posted by ampere

And on top we are looking ~400km with 60-70 hairpins one way.

As a day trip from Salem, may be it good.

From bangalore, its around 280 Kms.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

From bangalore, its around 280 Kms.

Thanks Arun for correcting me. That was a typo. I meant ~300 and not 400.

@Ankan please note the correct distance. But my original assement still holds. If the idea is to chill out, as Arun mentioned, not many hotels to pick from.

[ramanan.skr]

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

Anybody been to Kolli hills recently? Is it a good destination for a night out with family? How is the road condition post Salem?

I happened to be there an year back. Stayed at Nallathambi residency. The place looked good but food is so-so. Climate in Oct will be good there.
However you have only few places to see there like Arapaleeswarar temple, a Waterfall down in the front of the temple, another water fall named Masilla falls where you can spend as much time as you want.

Pros: Not much crowd and place still holds the nativity
Cons: Not much facilities and places to see.

[Vasuki]

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

Anybody been to Kolli hills recently? Is it a good destination for a night out with family? How is the road condition post Salem?

Originally Posted by ampere

If you are heading from Bangalore, I dont think its that good to stay over night. Plus there are not many places there to stay as well. And on top we are looking ~400km with 60-70 hairpins one way.

As a day trip from Salem, may be it good.

On the contrary there is a nice hotel in Kolli Hills. Was there 2 months back. Name is Silverline Retreat Hotel :http://www.slrhotels.com/

[concorde24]

Originally Posted by Vasuki

On the contrary there is a nice hotel in Kolli Hills. Was there 2 months back. Name is Silverline Retreat Hotel :http://www.slrhotels.com/

I have also stayed in Silverline Retreat 2 years back, It was brand new and not all services were available that time. The biggest issue in Kolli hills is food, not many options nearby so it is a hit or miss based on hotel experience only. When we went, it was a long weekend and we had to wait 2 hours after ordering. Hope it is improved now. But the rooms were nice and resort location is also good.

[dre@ms]

Originally Posted by Vasuki

On the contrary there is a nice hotel in Kolli Hills. Was there 2 months back. Name is Silverline Retreat Hotel :http://www.slrhotels.com/

Been there couple of months back and the hotel is vast, pretty neat and affordable. Stayed for a night with family and its location atop an hill is serene. Food was ok, but due to lack of patronage need to wait for the chef to prepare the ordered items.

Not much places to visit except for couple of waterfalls and a temple. 1000+ steep steps to reach the main falls and it is tiresome. Once reached the downhill there is no proper facility to reach the falls except for a rope since there is a 100m drench between.

Even after all the hardship, liked the place since there is still no commercialism yet. Nature at its best. Do not forget to purchase the spices which are available in plenty.

[Cruiser_D]

I am planning to drive to Kolli hills from Chennai this weekend with friends. We booked our stay in RVR rejoice resorts. The hotel guy has asked to take the following route.

Chennai-Ulunderpet-Kallakurichi-Attur-Rasipuram-Belukurichi-Kalapanaickenpatti-Karavalli-Solakkadu-RVR.

Anybody recently traveled on this route? Any other preferred routes from Chennai?

[Landkruzer]

Originally Posted by Cruiser_D

Chennai-Ulunderpet-Kallakurichi-Attur-Rasipuram-Belukurichi-Kalapanaickenpatti-Karavalli-Solakkadu-RVR.

Anybody recently traveled on this route? Any other preferred routes from Chennai?

I took a day trip to kolli hills from rasipuram about 4 weeks back. There are two routes to kolli hills.
1. Karavalli route - This is the default route and has got 70 hairpins bends. !!! Have a look at this video to get a feel of it..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn-HbzKBcrc

The road is in good condition.

2. Mullukurichi route - This route has got less hairpin bends and the road ascends gradually. This route is also in good condition except for about 4 kms. It remains in the same state for more than 4 years. Link to the route.
https://goo.gl/maps/umP6dJvvC5gAJRw9A
Couple of intersections could be confusing, so keep the google maps on. Mobile signal will be limited, so download the offline google maps to get directions.

I took the Mullukurichi route while going up and karavalli route while coming down.

[Cruiser_D]

Originally Posted by Landkruzer

I took the Mullukurichi route while going up and karavalli route while coming down.

Thanks Landkruzer for the inputs. We would take the famous karavalli route for onward journey and decide later for the return leg. So while coming from Chennai, we will come down to Attur and take the deviation towards Rasipuram.

But one thing I would like to clarify, do we really need to come down till Rasipuram as google maps suggest there are options to directly hit Belukurichi (SH 855 deviation from Namagiripettai) and then head to karavalli for the ascent. This would save some time and distance. Just want to know whether you have any idea on the status of this road.

[Landkruzer]

Originally Posted by Cruiser_D

But one thing I would like to clarify, do we really need to come down till Rasipuram as google maps suggest there are options to directly hit Belukurichi (SH 855 deviation from Namagiripettai) and then head to karavalli for the ascent. This would save some time and distance. Just want to know whether you have any idea on the status of this road.

I dont have the recent status, but generally this section of the road is always maintained in good condition. So you can safely take this road.

[Cruiser_D]

Originally Posted by Landkruzer

I dont have the recent status, but generally this section of the road is always maintained in good condition. So you can safely take this road.

We finished a weekend trip last week. Attur-Namagiripetai-Belukurichi-Karavalli-Solakkadu route is in superb condition.

As expected, water bodies were totally dried up. Hence we had not much things to do and spent most of the time in driving around the hills. Mercury was at peak high during day time, but was fine during night (23 deg).

[Tempelhof]

Would be thankful for any update on this route (Salem to Kolli Malai). Will a Civic in excellent condition make it through? What are the good places and which is the best route? Thanks in advance.