Kodaikanal

• Best time to visit is March with exams ensuring little crowd. Coaker's Park is the place around which most of the attractions exist.
• You will need a vehicle to cover the distant points like three pillar rock, silent valley and Guna caves. Lake is in the middle of city and readily available.
• Try hand made chocolates and coffee for which Kodaikanal is famous. Relax. You can go for the Elephant Valley nearby which is famous for a gorgeous ravine view and elephants.

Trip: Kodaikanal > Munnar > Periyar > Alappuzha > Kovalam

Kerala trip was a bit more than what the three of us had expected from it. Manish and Vikash were with me. We started with  Kodaikanal which is in Tamil Nadu by taking Tuticorin Express from Bangalore to  Kodaikanal Road. There we took a bus and in another couple of hours we were inside the hill station. Thanks to online hotel booking on www.cleartrip.com, we quickly settled in our hotel which was just in front of the bus stand.

Coaker's Park, Kodaikanal

The first thing we did was a stroll at Cocker's Park. It is a half a kilometer stretch at the very edge of hill on which Kodaikanal is located. We then booked a cab for a fixed trip of the town for the afternoon. The lake and suicide point were regular features of a hill station. There was a Guna Caves famous for a Rajnikanth movie shoot. 

Silent Valley, Kodaikanal

We were particularly impressed with the Silent Valley where we sat for an hour listening to the rumbling of waterfalls and watching the movement of clouds. A nearby waterfall which was completely isolated was invaded by us for the evening. We spent the twilight paddling a boat in the lake. The view of twilight from the middle of the lake was a wallpaper stuff.

Kodai Lake

The next morning we had a sumptuous breakfast at one of the North Indian restaurants. Another excursion took us to Three Pillar viewpoint which is set of massive cliffs. There was not much for us tourists but  Kodaikanal  is an ideal hill station for people seeking peaceful leisure. We decided to move to Munnar the same day and hence hired a car to cover the 80 miles.