WEEKEND DESTINATIONS

In this page, we guide you to the beautiful Destinations

where you can relax with your family after a week's tiresome job

KALATHIL LAKE RESORT

Located in Chemmanakari, in Kottayam District, Kalathil Resorts, an innovative project of Dr. Bahuleyan, the founder of Indo American Hospital which is well known for treatments post stroke, this resort provides a perfect place to relax from morning to evening, or even stay for a day or two. The food provided by this resort isvery tasty and hygenic. Apart from an in house Gymnasium and a well maintained swimming pool, there are facilities for cycling, small kitty parties and get togethers in this resort. the rooms are very special, with each room having a balcony facing the waterbody which runs throughout the resort. Roos are exceptionally neat and tidy with a good room service provided by the management. Kalathil Resort is about 40 Kms distant from Ernakulam off the road to Vaikom. Contact : www.kalathillakeresort.com

Athirappally, Vaazhachaal, Thumboormuzhi - Eazhaattumukham

Athirappally

The nearest scenic and breathtaking weekend destination nearest to Kochi City is Athirappally Waterfalls. Situated in near Chalakudy in Thrissur district in Kerala, is the largest waterfall in Kerala and is nicknamed "The Niagara of India". Water falls from a height of 25 meters (82 feet) along a width of 100 meters (330 feet).

This picnic spot has been location for many movies in malayalam as well as other languages :

The K. Balachander Tamil movie " Punnagai Mannan " was the first movie in Tamil shot here with this waterfall playing a major role in the story of the film. This movie made the falls so popular in Tamil Nadu that it got the nickname "Punnagai Mannan Falls".

The Maniratnam movie " Dilse", 2007 Bollywood movie " Guru ", the Tamil film "Iruvar", the Hindi film "Raavan" which was also dubbed into Tamil, the karthi starred movie " Paiyaa", "Kannathil Muthamittal", "Mudhalvan", Pukar (2000 hindi film), "Kuch Naa Kaho", "Sirf Tum", the latest released epic movie "Bahubali", the 2015 Vijay movie "Puli" and the Kamal Hasan movie "Marudhanayagam" saw their good shots with Athirappally as location.

Nearest Airport is Nedumbassery International Airport (55 Kilometers away) and nearest railway station is Chalakkudy Railway Station. Athirappally can be accessed by road by diverting from NH-47 and going further about 35 kilometers.

There are many private resorts near Athirappally that provide good food and accommodation to tourists. The "Rainforest Resort" gives a good view of the waterfalls from the resort itself. Hence this resort is the most preferred resort by the star couple celebreties, Abhishek bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Mind it, this Resorts charge is premium and please carry a heavy purse with you to stay there.

Contact : Rainforest, Chalakudy; tel: 095390 58888; www.rainforest.in

But there are cheaper accommodations available in many other resorts. Chedi Spring Valley Resort ( www.chedispringvalley.com ), The Bethania Resorts (www.bethaniaresorts.com), Riverok Villas ( www.riverokvillas. com) are some of the budget resorts recommended by many tourists.

The State Government owned Motel Araam, Athirapally owned and run by KTDC provide accommodation with Double occupancy: Rs.1400/- Single occupancy: Rs.1250/-. But the neatness of the rooms and taste of food provided has made this hotel, the last preference of tourists. Contact : Tel: +91 480 2769338 Mob: +91 9400008705.

For a comparison of the accommodation available in different private resorts near Athirappally, please visit :

http://www.tripadvisor.in/Hotels-g2289004-Athirapally_Kerala-Hotels.html

About 7 million tourists visit the falls and vazahal picnic spot every year, still the place is well maintained, greenery restored and cleanliness has been taken care of.

Vazhachal

You can reach Vaazhachaal waterfalls if you travel about 5 Kilometers further from the entrance of Athirappally Waterfalls.

When the water falls from a steep height of about 25 meters in Athirappally, the waterfall in Vazhachal is not steep, but at the same time danger hides at every point in this place. Many lives have been lost in the Vazhachal waterfalls and many are could not be still recovered.

The danger about Athirappally and Vazhachal is that the water level rises quite unexpectedly within a couple of seconds, which make any chance of escaping from the centre of the river in such situations very feable.

Beyond the Vazhachal waterfalls area, the road passes through reserve forest and hence travelling further to Valpara from Vazhachal after 4 pm is prohibited by the forest department.

Kolukkumalai

Kolukkumalai is famous for being the highest Organic Tea estate, which is at a height of more than 8000 Feet above sea level. Kolukkumalai, which is in Tamilnadu is about 22 Kms away from Munnar, which is in Kerala. The nearest mini town is Chinnakkanal and the nearest village is Suryanelli. We have to pass through the tea estate owned by Harrisons Malayalam Limited to reach the Kolukkumalai Tea estate. Passing through the Kolukkumalai tea estate after a drive of 8 Kms, which is covered in a time of one and a half hours, we reach a point of diversion - one path leads us to the view point top station and the diviation towards right takes us to the Kolukkumalai Tea Factory. Kolukkumalai Tea Factory which is private owned still uses the original english and german machinery for making tea fannings under BOP process. The speciality of this process is the traditional process, where, all the seven stages of the process are being done at different locations inside the factory. even packing of tea is manually done here. You must not miss to have a tea sample from the tea factory.

Chanrges for Kolukkumalai Jeep Safari ranges from Rs. 1200/- to Rs. 1500/- ( as in June 2016). They take 6 passengers per jeep for the safari. Other than Jeep Charges, you will have to spend Rs.100 /- as entry fee for one jeep and Rs. 100/- per head as entry fee to visit Kolukkumalai Tea factory. Guide assistance is available inside the factory to explain each and every process of tea dust production. I would rather recommend one Jeep driver named Kannan,Ullaasa Paravai Jeep Safari, since he carefully drives through the rough and tough estate road, so that we will never feel the journey tiresome. His phone number is 93880 91782.

I tried my stay in Silver Clouds Holiday inn Home stay. This resort has ample facilities including hot water. When I went there, the cook there, named Radhakrishnan ( he was from Kumarakom) was a fantastic cook. His speciality dishes are in Non-Vegetarian. Still he manages to provide indegenous homely style Vegetarian food also, which also I felt to be tasty.