Beautiful Coorg

Like most middle class Indians who have graduated from near penury to some degree of affluence, my stance towards consuming products and services has changed from “Value for Money” to ‘Money for Value”. Which basically means that I will put my money (even if it is really expensive) where I see value as opposed to buying products and services that are inexpensive and of low value.

Over the last 5-6 years of travelling (more on business and a bit for pleasure) I have had the opportunity to stay in many country resorts & holiday resorts. Considering that most of my business travels in India and abroad makes me stay in 5 Star type hotels, I have become a bit difficult to please. Since most of these properties charge the bomb, my expectations of value delivery are normally very high. Sadly, I have very rarely been fully satisfied.

Club Mahindra recently invited me to their Kodagu Valley resort in Coorg along with a group of fellow bloggers. Since, I did not have to pay for my stay, you can argue that it is impossible to evaluate objectively. But, I will try nevertheless. The rest of this post is meant to be a part travelogue and part assessment of the resort.

We drove from Bangalore in a fairly uncomfortable bus. It was proudly called Ganesh and was as uncomfortable as it would be riding on Ganesh’s transport – the mooshik. The first stop was “Kamath’s” at the outskirts of Bangalore on the Mysore highway for lunch. The restaurant has a traditional Karnataka setting and the food is fabulous. You can choose either the North Karnataka (Served with Javar Rotti) or the South Karnataka (Poori) styles – both are great.

(Check out the leg room)

The new road from Bangalore to Mysore is good and we did good time. From Mysore to Kodagu (Coorg) was another story altogether. Ganesh with his laughable shock absorbers was pure hell. There are parts of my body that are still protesting from the combined torture that the terrible road and Ganesh collaborated to inflict. After 8 long hours and just as nightfall was approaching, we reached the Club Mahindra Kodagu Valley Resort, which is located about 5 Kms from Madikeri town center.

As soon as we entered the resort, the pains of travel shifted to the back of the subconscious mind. The first sight was of a stunningly beautiful Coorgi girl welcoming us, and the touch of the cool sandal paste that she applied on the forehead was like balm for the mind.

The serene mood setting is what you notice as soon as you enter the resort. It is made well with a good artistic sensibility. The usage of wood is brilliant and is very similar to the architecture that we saw the next day in the temple at Baghamandala (about 30 Kms from Madikeri). Resorts can some times stick out like "sore concrete thumbs" amidst natural beauty, but this particular resort has blended in well with the local setting and culture.

The Picture on the left is of the temple and the ones on the right are of the lobby at the resort. Look for the similarity in the shape of the vertical beams and the sloping design of the roof. Brilliant stuff.



The rooms were nice – like in any resort that charges as much. However, what was different about the place was the attention to detail. From flower decorations all around to a welcome leaf placed on the bed to the heart shape on the steaming coffee. God lies in the details and the Mahindra guys seem to realise that. Impressed!

Picture of Coffee Mug by Mridula



The resort has all the usual suspects like a swimming pool (which could do with some heating though), various activities for kids and families and adventure games for the strong hearted. What I liked the most is the plantations inside the resort spread across 25 odd acres with cash crops like Coffee, Cardamom etc from the local area. The staff is highly motivated and very well informed and gave us a very good brief on the coffee plantation, and different types of crops. They could also answer most questions - and bloggers ask a lot of questions! There were also facilities for a great camp fire and they even arranged for a guitar. Campfire, guitar, alcohol, singing, cold weather and company of like minded people - Whoa - it made for a very memorable night ! One that I will remember for some time to come.

Over the next two days we made trips to the Tala Cauvery (The birth place of Cauvery) , the Dubari elephant camp, where you reach after crossing to the other side of the Cauvery by motor boats, Abbey Falls and the Tibetian monastery at Kushalnagar. I missed the monastry as I had to get back to Delhi earlier than the rest of the group.

Above pictures by Mridula

After having travelled a bit in the Himalayan region, I was unsure whether I would find Coorg up to the mark. But after this trip, I can safely say that Coorg is beautiful.

Picture of the Kodagu Valley by Apurv

I Look forward to going again and recommend highly, especially if you are in the North and want to head down south for a "different" experience. There is a lot to do and I guess 4-5 days is required to do justice. Distances are not very large and most of places to explore are within 50 Kms of Madikeri.