It had been a while since my husband and I had travelled to anywhere and it was eating on us. Both of us become very irritable with the daily routine after a point and NEED to travel to someplace new and sort of get back that zest to live life. Yes, unfortunately – it’s not very good for your pocket, but the experience of it is quite rewarding and well, definitely worth it.
A long weekend was approaching, so we decided to visit Kotagiri – a hill station, about 2.5 hours from Coimbatore. I’ve visited plenty of hill stations, but ain’t nothing like this one. Surrounded by well maintained, awe-inspiring tea estates on all sides, a 360° green view is guaranteed. It is known for its trekking trails, rumbling rivers and meadows and lush green surroundings. And unlike many other hill stations, this one still remains pure, untouched and non-commercialised. So after a good amount of research we booked our stay at the Green Nest Resort in Kotagiri.
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We boarded the train to Coimbatore from Chennai a night before and reached pretty early the next morning. After that what followed was a fuck up from Zoomcar side which cost us an hour of our precious time trying to reach their call center. We arrived at the car pick up point and there was no car and hence we again had to make our way to another pick up point that was 8kms far. As annoying as it was, and as inhuman as Zoomcar people could get, we couldn’t afford to sit in our misery so we made our way to the pick up point. After what seemed like forever with car self-checkin, we unlocked the car. We now had a Celerio with us for the next couple of days. That was the first jump in joy moment of the day! Wohooo!! Off we went!
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We first stopped for breakfast and then made our way to Adiyogi Shiva Statue and following which explored the Isha Yoga center. It is easily one of those places we went to without reading much about yet were totally flabbergasted by the experience. I would definitely recommend visiting this gem of a place once in your lifetime. (Adiyogi experience blog here -> A Visit to the Inspirational Adiyogi Shiva Statue in the Foothills of Velliangiri Mountains!)
Post our Adiyogi experience, time was about 12:30pm as we made our way to our resort in Kotagiri. Green Nest Resort was about 2.5 hours from Coimbatore. After a morning well-spent in the scorching Coimbatore sun, the AC working in the car seemed like a gift from Maha Adiyogi shiva himself. We called up our resort and placed the lunch order in case we got late.
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The first 1.5 hours ride was just manoeuvring through the narrow roads, driving in and out of slums and traffic in most areas. The ride after we took the right from Metupalayam to Kotagiri was just insanely beautiful.
Driving through roads surrounded by tea estates and cherry blossoms views at regular intervals was in literal sense nain-sukh-prapti.
Time was 2:45pm and we were inching closer to our resort. We were just 3 mins away according to google maps. The excitement of it was palpable. But as we approached the left that google maps instructed us to take, we immediately held our head in our hands. What lay ahead was a left cut through rubble at an elevation that just seemed implausible to fathom, let alone driving through it. Learning from our past mistakes, of impulsive decisions going terribly wrong, it didn’t seem like a good idea at all to drive the rented vehicle through that rubble. So we decided to call the resort and get help. To our hard luck, the resort vehicle was out for some work.
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My husband being his confident self attempted to drive through that rubble. The wheel made that loud whirring sound, tires were squealing, smell of heated rubber was in the air and I was shitting my pants. It was scary as shit. I got out from the car, not wanting to be a party to this decision. After many unsuccessful attempts, my smart husband crossed this heck of a Ram Setu as my heart ran its own marathon. I then walked up through that elevated path which in my best memory was not more than 200 meters, but I was panting at the end of it. You can judge my stamina or alternatively trust me with my horrific description of elevation of that road. After this near death mini-heart-attack incident, I just just hoped the resort was worth our while!
We checked into our room and all the fatigue and all the heart aches vanished. The room was pretty big, and we had an amazing view of the tea estates. All the effort to get to the resort felt was well worth it! The weather was slightly chill and gave all the right hill station vibes.
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We called up the restaurant and requested them to bring us our lunch as we were famished. We enjoyed a scrumptious North Indian meal to our stomaches full and just lay in the bed discussing the amazing Adiyogi experience from morning and how the property faired against our expectations of it. Soon the rain gods decided to surprise us with a downpour. Water pouring through the green tea estates was a marvellous sight to watch.
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We ordered in some Masala tea and savoured it while enjoying some majestic green views from our room.
Both my husband and I, with the advent of streaming platforms had totally stopped watching TV at home. But that evening, I switched on the TV and surprisingly I went on a binge watch for the rest of the evening. I watched cookery shows alternating between the channels Zee Zest and NDTV good times. My love for good food is no longer a secret. Even Insta and Facebook algorithm now know and that’s all that you will find on my feed. FOOD VIDEOS! From Afghani Sheer Pira to Kerala’s Puttu Kadala, recipes followed one after the other and my mouth was watering.
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In between I watched an episode of Band Baja Bride and Highway on my Plate. Dayum, it took me wayyy back in time to my college days when I was obsessed with these two shows. I went on a rant explaining about the shows to my husband who had not seen them and he had a grin all through my explanation. I was indeed very happy to have watched it after so many years. Anything that takes us back to a time which was carefree and genuine does make us happy? Doesn’t it?
Soon enough, a guy from the reception called to inform that bonfire was set and we could walk in anytime. After the downpour, it had gotten very cold and we could really use some warmth. So we head out to the bonfire area, placed our dinner order, and took a walk around the property while the food was getting ready.
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The property offered some fun activities. There was a trekking trail through tea estates, a selfie point, some indoor games, a badminton area, two lovely swings and a play area for kids. It was fairly clear now how we would spend the next day. We got back to the dinner place, savoured our American Chop Suey with Crispy chilly baby corn and returned to our room. The rest of the night, we spent in the balcony listening to crickets chirping and chit chatting and a few hours later, hit the bed!
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The next morning we woke up just in time for breakfast. There was a wholesome South Indian Menu with cut fruits that we relished. Oh! relish would be an understatement. We OVERATE. So we head out for a walk with our hands on our stomaches and whining about eating way too much. My husband suggested we go out for lunch. I found no joy in driving through that rubble in the name of road again; in that rented car knowing if something went wrong with the car, we would need to sell our kidneys. Thankfully he agreed and we put that matter to rest.
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The moment we walked out of the property, we were enveloped by tea estates on all sides.
It was unbelievably breathtakingly beautiful. We sat across facing a voluminous breadth of tea estates that seemed to spread out to mars. We took into its green beauty, clicked a lot of pictures and made some fun reels.
The rest of the morning we spent just exploring the property and lazing in our comfy bed.
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We ordered in Lunch. As evening approached, there were again light rain showers after which the tea estates were a visual delight. I made a fun reel on a trendy song and it was a lot of fun!
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When the rain stopped, we went for a walk. Plenty of locals crossed our paths, who we discovered lived uphill and were returning from their day’s work. Which meant they were doing a trek up and down daily for work, but only if they knew their walk would actually categorise for a trek, and not just work commute. Well, such is life!
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Weather was pleasant and we were in some fun crazy mood. We loitered around for a bit, however had to soon rush back as it again started to drizzle. Some drama from that fun mood can be seen below 😀
We spent the rest of the evening at leisure and packed our bags for a quick check out the following morning.
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Our trip to Kotagiri was a much needed break for the both of us after a rough couple of days dealing with uncertainty and stress and in all honestly, the trip couldn’t have gotten any better.
Looking for hill station options other than Ooty and Kodaikanal? Kotagiri is your go to place. Take my advice, visit it before it gets all commercialised, and you can thank me later! 🙂
Let me know if you enjoyed reading this blog in comments. Would love to hear your feedback 🙂
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