Hotel Jai

Re: Kodaikanal trip in March - Is this a good time?

by Miharika9

The first week of March is probably the best time to visit Kodai as the vacations havent started yet so the place will be free of touristy hordes, secondly it will not be as cold as it can be in Jan and Feb, although expect night temps to be around 7C. Spring will be setting in so quite a few wild flowers will come into bloom now, as well as good sightings of the pretty Palani hills birds - look carefully in all the hedgerows, they are not particularly shy ! Hotels: Expect and demand off season discounts. Hotel Tamil Nadu run by TTDC is not fancy but excellent VFM tamilnadutourism.org; but it is not the best located - overlooks a valley - litter strewn. Check kodaikanal.org for full hotel listings and other useful info. I personally recommend a lake side hotel, if you can get a booking at the Kodaikanal Club [through a member] nothing like it, otherwise try some of the other lakeside hotels - Carlton [5 star], Sterling, JB and some others. Since you are with your family - maybe small kids? - you may want to hire a car for the day, lots of pvt cabs hang around the lake and market area, negotiate hard - budget INR 800 to 1000 per day. You can also rent bicycles, and horses for outings. Personally I found walking was the most enjoyable as you do not feel tired in the cool, fresh weather. Apart from the usual Lake, Coakers Walk, Suicide Pt, Guna Caves, Pillars Rock circuit try and visit the Dolphins Nose, preferably walking, and look out for the friendly bison who inhabits the Pambar shola en route. The shola is fenced in so its quite safe to take close ups of Mr Bison through the mesh. Tip: At S. Pt, G. Caves and P. Rocks, walk ahead on the road 50m, cut through the forest and enjoy the same views without any other tourists. Berijam Lake is nowadays out of bounds but you can visit the Gundar reservoir near the observatory. Kodai cheese and home made peanut butter and jams are excellent. Also good buys are spices, aromatic oils, home made chocolates. Enjoy your trip and do post when you come back.