Team-BHP - Kodaikanal or Munnar or Thekkady - Which place is better for 2 days in April?

Quote:

Originally Posted by nandans2005 (Post 1882554)

Niv,

My sincere advise to you would be to avoid visiting Kodaikanal. I just returned from this place. i personally didn't find anything nice in this place. this place is crowded like mad. I found the whole place of kodai is in absolute chaos. Brokers come and stand in front of your car asking for rooms and guides. Strange guys asking if we require for taxis, hotels , eating places. very strange.

Villa retreat is good unless you have not opted for the classic room.

Dont ever book room at Kodai Resort which is adjacent to villa retreat. Its being run by a lousy set of people. horrible bathrooms with broken tiles, stinking to hell, dark corners. Its a nightmare though.

nandans2005,
Freind, kodai being one of the best hill station with cool weather in south india & the other cities / towns expreincing severe / harsh summer heat & holidays for schools & colleges obviously it will be crowded to the brim.
It will be the same in all other Hill stations.
I stayed in classic room of Villaretreat on April 18 & 19th and found excellent (especially the kodai veiw).

Its my personal opinion on Kodaikanal.I felt this place is hyped for no reason. Most of the places in kodai is dirty, filled with waste & throw aways. The amount of plastic, Lays chip covers, snack covers, water bottles are phenomenal. In addition, the local man cooks Omlettes and throw the egg shells and the bread covers just below on the ground. Nobody to say a word. What are the authorities doing?

To my surprise, i also came across human refuse in the place which is hyped for a silly reason that LIRIL soap ad was done here. It was just an ordinary water fall. The silver cascade is barricaded. What does one do near a waterfall when the falls cannot be enjoyed. Just looking at the falls hardly matters to me.

The lake is filled with dirty boats. I wonder when they even thought of cleaning the boats. The peddling boats are filled with dirty water near the peddles. The water in the lake is so dirty, that i didn't feel like even standing by it. But for my friends and kids, i wouldnt have used the lake.

In the name of Horse rides, people were being taken for a RIDE. The guy shows a board painted with the charges for the 1/2 km or 1km. By the way, why are the rides so expensive? i was left wondering, when the horses were so malnourished and keep very very dirty. I found the way the rides are taken were funny. The man rides a cycle himself holding the horse. No safety whatsoever! What if the horse gets cranky?

My unlucky friend had booked in Kodai resort, so i have mentioned his experience since he made me too have a look. I stayed in one of friend's bungalow. I had my own cook and my own sweet views of the kodaikanal.
He had a lousy experience in this place. He was charged Rs.170 for a cup of Chocos, Rs.40 for a cup of milk.He did give his piece of mind to the guys running the show there.

Vendors are trying to loot people by charging more for no reason. Aquafina is charged at Rs.20, for what? Lays are charged Rs.5 extra for what?

Kodai was never like this during my visits when i used to participate in motor rallies. It was much cleaner and sweeter. I visited kodai for the reason that it was a family outing also i never had got a chance to look around, since we used to be deeply involved in the event.

This visit had brought down my personal opinion on kodai. Most of the places, i found were simply hyped up. But yes, couple of places like the pillar rocks, moir's point & pine forest are good.

I found the Kodai's Dolphin nose silly when compared to the Dophin's nose in Ooty.

The weather in Kodai is not much to talk about. It was just cool and little chilled in the night. I dont know about others, but having been to the best of the hill stations in North India & abroad in summer, for me it was a dissapointment.

Just comparing 2 hill stations which are close by, which is Munaar and Kodai, i would opt for Munaar, since this hill station is well kept. I also found Munaar Gorgeous with its tea estates than kodai with its littered waste.

These are my personal opinions though, not to offend anybody who likes kodaikanal.