[donabrh]

Hello

May the New Year bring everyone happiness, success, love, and blessings!

End of 2022, we did a road trip from Cochin to Dhanushkodi. En route visited Rameshwaram, Madurai and Kodaikanal. We had loads of fun, pleasant weather (Kodai was cold but fun and I guess we used the heater in the car for the first time), sea, beaches, sunshine, unique places offering excellent food, wonderful road infrastructure and the last week of December being a holiday for kids, crowds everywhere ensured the on-vacation feeling. Highlight was the traffic jam at Lands End Arichamunai, Dhanushkodi.

While we were deciding the itinerary for the trip as always we searched Team BHP for input about road conditions, route, places to stay, weather and feedback in general. Got lot of input. This post is about giving back to the community and sharing the latest information about places we have visited which could be useful for anyone planning visits in the future.

Arichalmunai, Dhanushkodi

Roughly 25 kms across this sea is Sri Lanka.


Wonderful road infrastructure at Arichalmunai.


Arichalmunai, as we see today, good roads, traffic, vehicles, buzz is a symbol of good times, a peaceful time that we all are lucky to live in and should be grateful about. Around four decades back, during the Sri Lankan civil war, this same place was desolate and an unhappy scene with refugee boats landing full of starving desolate men, women and children. It is a reminder of the fact that war time, tough times can come knocking at our doors at anytime.

Gratitude and respect to our parents and the generation before us who worked hard to build the infrastructure and framework we are living now.



The straight line distance from Arichal Munai, India to Ist Island, Sri Lanka is roughly less than 25 kms. When the sea is calm, any good swimmer could swim from one shoal to another and reach 1st island in some hours.



Kutraleeswaran Ramesh, at the age of 12 in 1994 swam across the Palk Strait. He is a winner of the prestigious Arjuna award for sports-persons, a Guinness Book of World record holder and founder of Nanban Sports Foundation.

Read ahead about our journey.

1. Road infrastructure:

Both KL and TN side roads were in good condition on highways, in towns and cities.

Somewhere between Madurai and Rameshwaram


Rameshwaram was the only exception where the roads were in an utter state of disrepair, leading to traffic snarls. Being an important city of pilgrimage and considering the number of visitors, the infrastructure could be better.

Roads leading up to Dhanushkodi and Arichamunai are in good condition, but the holiday crowd resulted in a traffic pile up at lands-end. I believe if the traffic is managed and if instructions are put up to park vehicles at a walk-able distance to the end point and people give it a thought and leave their vehicles a little before the end point and walk up to the end point, traffic snarls at lands-end could be better managed.

2. Holiday Crowd impact on places of tourist interest:

Barring the weak of Dec 26 - Jan 1, the crowd should ease. However specific to each place, it could still be crowded:

Idukki Dam and Kalveri Mount Viewpoint, as we had started early and had a long way to cover till Rameshwaram, we were one of the first ones to reach this place. Clouds ensured pleasant weather and perfect light for photographs. As the day progresses, the place gets crowded and warm.




Dhanushkodi, try reaching early before the crowd starts piling up or visit in the second half. Early morning will ensure the magnificent sunrise. Do note it becomes hot during the day.

Rameshwaram and Madurai, pilgrimage crowd may continue. Women visitors do remember to wear dresses covering their shoulders and arms. Also, I believe no jeans are allowed. Shawls can be bought from around the temple.

Mobile phones, cameras and electronic items have to be deposited before entering the premises. This would ensure we relive experiences from the pre-mobile phone era of visiting tourist places and consuming visuals with our natural eyes.

A new addition and attraction to the Madurai skyline is the Super Saravana Store, a multi-floor shopping mall with a huge footfall. Be aware, during the day and peak office hours, the Melur Main road on which the mall is situated will have slow moving traffic.


Kodaikanal, post the holiday season crowd should ease off. The crowd and traffic happens in the first half of the day. That’s when everyone who reached the previous evening is touring the tourist spots like the Solar Observatory, Pine Forest, Guna Caves and the route. To avoid the traffic, try the second half, when the congestion has moved on.

The Solar Observatory is interesting and the informed faculty at the Institute are interesting to listen to. Better to reach in the second half with less crowd. See the Sun and Sun spots through the telescope the faculty aligns for the visitors and also, the guided tour is interesting. If anyone is interested, they will share contact details of a faculty member who has to be reached at around 6 p.m. to know if night viewing of planets and the sky is open which depends on clear sky situation each night. Interesting stuff for anyone interested in astrophotography.

3. Local modes of transport:

Tip: Search OLA for information about distance, price and availability before using local transport.

Madurai: If one does not prefer driving to the temple, navigating traffic, finding a place to park. Then leave the vehicle at the hotel and take an OLA cab / auto. Normal auto would quote the moon, so check OLA price for the route and that’s what is payable. For 8 Kms, OLA Auto was quoting INR 150. The normal auto started with INR 350, then INR 250, agreed on INR 150. All that in a time span of 5 seconds of old school bargaining. Local auto Surge Pricing in play.

Rameshwaram, Dhanushkodi, Kodaikanal: Own transport would reach everywhere, unless one wants to do a horseback ride or boat ride at Kodaikanal.

4. Holiday Crowd impact on places to stay:

Rameshwaram: During the weak of Dec 26 - Jan 1 all places were sold out and that pushed us to look for places before Rameshwaram. The place we got to stay was a welcome surprise. It gave us the opportunity to enjoy a beautiful morning on an equally beautiful beach. Which would not have been possible if we had stayed in any hotel at Rameshwaram.

The beach where we found a place to stay is in the inner part of the stretch of land which narrows down to Pamban Bridge. The sea at that location is calm, less choppy and less crowded as the majority of people put up at Rameshwaram.


Madurai: Even though it was the holiday season, a lot of options were available.

Kodaikanal: The place is so commercialised, there are a lot of options to stay available even during the peak season. For reference, it is like Shimla, Mahabaleshwar or any quick escape hill station. As far as one can see, every slope of the hill station has hotels after hotels. Kills the beauty of the place. I believe Matheran (private vehicles are not allowed) and Pachmari are a few of the hill stations were new construction is not allowed and remain pristine.

Enjoy the view as long as it lasts. Possibly the lake would also not be spared.

5. Experience at the hotels we stayed

: None of the below is an endorsement

Tip: Search AIRBNB for places tagged SUPERHOST and GOOGLE reviews and find cool places to stay in cool locations and avoid conventional staying options.

Rameshwaram: Khushi Beach Cottages at Ariyaman Beach, 26 kms before Rameshwaram.
The beach, ‘WOW’ as mentioned earlier, was the main attraction. The cottages were nice and innovative. The complimentary breakfast was nice, even dinner on order was nice. The place has a swimming pool, but would prefer the beach. Has safe parking.


Travelling to Dhanushkodi / Rameshwaram most tourists will invariably end up reaching towards evening and staying at places near and around Rameshwaram which has a lot of options fitting all budgets. However, Rameshwaram while being an important temple city lacks infrastructure. Roads are all broken, traffic congestion, dusty and in an overall state of disrepair. Also post checking into a hotel at Rameshwaram there is not much to do around the city.

For an away from crowd experience, right on the beach with options to swim in the sea, try and look for places before Pamban bridge close to the sea (in a stretch of 30 KM before Rameshwaram). Stay peacefully and also reach Rameshwaram and Dhanushkodi easily.


Highlights - The beach, cottages, away from the crowd, away from the city.
Contact Arun 9500440059. Check and book in advance, usually 50% has to be paid to block rooms.

The other option we checked which was again away from the city crowd was Bluewaters Paradise, Cottages at Mandapam beach. Beautiful place bang on the beach. We did not stay there as the approach to the place was through an overcrowded locality.

Madurai: Meenakshi Sunshine Hotel, Melur Main road, it is in the Meenakshi Sunshine Hospital compound. 8 kms from the Meenakshi Amman Temple.

Finding the place with Karen Jacobsen guiding and rerouting may be confusing. All one has to do is at the hospital gate on Melur Road, ask the hospital security about the Sunshine Hotel and take the side gate / side road leading to the hotel.

For a budget hotel in the middle of the temple town, it is surprisingly nice, neat and clean, well appointed, wonderful staff, awesome restaurant serving a nice unlimited complimentary breakfast. The À La Carte dinner is great and has plenty to choose from.

Now about the parking, there is ample space to park vehicles. But try not to park under the trees or else the next morning the vehicle will be covered with bird droppings. I could not recognize my car and was laughing at the thought of someone having to wash the mess to uncover their car and then realized it was my car. The hotel has a staff to wash cars. However, the day we were staying, the staff was on leave. Not a problem, I washed it myself. The parking lot has a bucket, container and water outlet. I guess now you would be laughing at my situation.

Highlights - Accessible to the temple, walk-able to the New Saravana Store shopping mall and options to eat out are plenty.
Contact front desk 0452 452 4444. Check and block in advance, did not pay any booking advance.

Kodaikanal: Ramana Holiday Inn, near the Kodai Taxi stand and not far from the lake.

Found it listed on AIRBNB with decent reviews and later realized it was also on OYO. There are a lot of such hotels around Kodaikanal. This one was neat and clean and the staff was helpful. They do provide complimentary breakfast which is bought from outside. We preferred stepping out and having hot food while exploring the place and food options.

Beyond individual rooms, they also have 3 bedroom cottages for larger groups. Parking is not a problem.

Highlights - Centrally located, neat and clean.
Contact Prasad 9442326868. Check and book in advance, usually 50% has to be paid to block rooms.

6. Food experience

: None of the below is an endorsement

Tip: Search SWIGGY, ZOMATO and GOOGLE reviews to find unique places to dine and experience variety.

Food Shack, Ghost Town, Next to the light house at Dhanushkodi

I would have loved to rate the place ALL STARS if Google had review options.


Fish lovers would like this place. We had the best food in our entire vacation here. The food was simple, hot and freshly cooked. Fresh fish caught from the sea around. The transaction is very simple. Walk in and in the front there is a vessel with a variety of fish on display. Choose the fish and tell the quantity. We chose Mackerel a staple. A fridge lying on its back converted into a freezer has more descaled and clean fish. They burn both sides of the fish directly on fire for some time. Apply gravy as per our spice rating and fry. Meanwhile, rice, fish in tangy gravy and a potato dry vegetable dish is served. All piping hot. Servings are unlimited, additional fried fish can be ordered. We wanted to have more but resisted overloading, to avoid drowsiness during the drive ahead .

Reality alert. Please do not expect a fancy ambience, air conditioning, desserts, washroom, valet parking. The roof is thatched, the seats are plastic chairs and the floor is sand on the beach. The place is blistering hot but cooler than everywhere outside the thatched roof.

Work related travel has made me realize tasty, simple and hygienic food is available in small places, on off city routes, I often look out for such places.

Bistro 1427, Madurai

In all searches for restaurants to dine at Madurai, Sree Sabrees popped-up and we headed to the place. Being lunch hour, the place was crowded and there was a queue as long as the one waiting for darshan at Meenakshi Amman Temple. We realized a lot of people who were waiting to dine were tourists.

Seeing the crowd, we thought of skipping lunch and snack on the way to Ramehwaram. But then saw Bistro 1427 right opposite, empty and had lunch there. I would recommend the restaurant, the food was tasty, freshly cooked. The place is above RK Bajaj Motorcycle showroom.

Parking has to be managed on the side of the road. Move ahead and away from the restaurant to find empty space if walking back is not an issue.

Famous Jigarthanda, Madurai. Melur Road

Suggested by a friend. We tried it and liked it. A cold beverage popular in and around Madurai, literally translates to ‘liver (jigar) cold (thanda)’. Prepared with milk, almond gum, sarsaparilla root syrup, sugar and ice cream and served at roadside stalls as a summer refreshment. ‘Famous’ is a chain of outlets. Not sure if the beverage has a role to play in the 2014 Tamil movie Jigarthanda starring Siddharth.


Sree Krishna Sweets, Madurai. Melur Road, next to Famous Jigarthanda.

The place has a variety of tasty sweets. The only issue is that all were milk products and everything we bought for home had to be kept cold to avoid them getting spoilt.

Chicken or Kauwa Crow Biriyani Roadside, Madurai to Kodaikanal

A scene from the movie RUN Tamil and Hindi came to my mind, when we saw the Tata ACE parked on the side somewhere on a village road after TAFE factory. The ACE had a large vessel on the back, plastic chairs around, sales guys on their beat having lunch under a large tamarind tree. We were hungry, it was post lunch time, the chicken did taste like chicken, we have never tasted a crow, we did not caw like a crow after having the biriyani. So all was fine.

Again, if Google gives me an option to rate this place, I will definitely CAW CAW.

Tibetan Kitchen, Kodaikanal. Poet Tyagaraja Rd, opposite Aavin milk junction

Post the roadside biriyani we wanted to amplify the experience for dinner and wanted something piping hot to beat the Kodai cold. Swiggy recommended this place run by a Tibetan. Walked to the place, felt colder on the way, met the Tibetan owner who served us the best piping hot Chicken Thukpa ever. Highly recommended for Tibetan food at Kodaikanal, authentic, tasty food and the menu has an attractive offering of a wide range of choices.

Homemade Ice cream, Kodaikanal. Shop next to Baskin Robbins

On the way back from Tibetan Kitchen, saw this cute little ice cream shop, forgot its name. Have read somewhere that ice cream is the best to beat the cold and had scoops of ice cream. When we stepped out, realized whatever I had read was wrong, but the homemade ice cream was yum.

Darescape, Kodaikanal. Fast food joint

We missed lunch, were hungry, it was 3 in the afternoon and Swiggy recommended this place. It’s a food place run out of a home on the way to the Solar Observatory. The best Chicken Burger, Potato Wedges and Hot Chocolate ever tasted. Highly recommended for the wonderful food and ambience.

Hazarath restaurant, Kodaikanal. Poet Tyagaraja Rd, opposite Aavin milk junction

This place is near to the Tibetan Kitchen. We went for an early breakfast. Possibly this would be one of the few places open in the morning serving hot poori bhaji, dosa, vada, omlette, tea. They do serve lunch and dinner, but we did not try it. Recommended for anyone who wishes to start the day early and wants to grab a quick hot bite.

Coconut water vendors, everywhere

Fresh coconut water, Polachi, Theni, Palakkad variety, green and yellow, with water only or water and cream. INR 50 - INR 70. Stop, Drink, Go, Take a leak, Repeat.

“Four wheels move the body, two wheels move the soul”

As the saying goes. Someday I would love to explore the world on a soul mover.


Hope this post will be of use to many. Have a safe journey.

The video details the route and our travel experience.

https://youtu.be/q8NcHla3G0Y

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[abhi_tjet]

Nice crisp travelogue @donabrh. Thanks for sharing the beautiful pictures.
I visited the exact same places plus Kanniyakumari during November last week/ December 1st week. I too intend to draft a travelogue soon. Your thread has given a much required boost

[fais123]

Me too . Visited these same places in the first week of December. A Calicut - Madurai - Rameswaram - Dhanushkodi - Kanyakumari - Kodaikanal - Calicut trip in my Taigun.

[Stranger2106]

Visited Dhanushkodi on the last week of December.
The route was Trivandrum-Rameswaram-Dhanushkodi-Dindigul-Valparai-Athirapilly-Trivandrum.
Except for the stay at Rameswaram, everything was awesome about the trip.��

[TheSpadgieDrive]

This is a very detailed note. I am planning to drive from Varkala to Dhanushkodi and I am not sure if the month of June- July is a good time for such a drive. Let me know.
Additionally, how is travelling in monsoons in Tamilnadu especially from a road conditions angle??

Looking forward