One of our friend was getting married in Madurai and we were invited.
Though we didn’t had plans to attend the same for various reasons but then the fact that Kanyakumari is just 245 kms from Madurai made us all excited.
We absolutely love road trips they simply are the best. No second thoughts about how we would travel so that was sorted.
Stay in Madurai was also done by our friend so we just had to plan an itinerary and make the bookings accordingly.
We quickly did our packing and off we started a 5 day trip which happened to be a wonderful experience! So here we go…
Day#1 Off to the temple town Madurai
We left home at around 8:30 in the morning and via Hosur joined the NH44, the highway is good and we could spot occasional rocky hills around.
At 11AM we touched Dharmapuri where we stopped at the DNV Indian Oil Petrol Pump since we had home made food with us.
The petrol pump had a Arun Ice Cream corner, Drinking water is available and the toilets are also clean and well maintained.We had our ice creams and moved forward.
The highway has good number of restaurants to stop by and refresh yourself.
At around 60Kms to Salem our speed was hit by another toll which followed the ghat road(Thoppur mountain ) where we had to drive within speed limits for the safety of the wildlife.
Yercaud, a small beautiful hill station in TN is nearby and one can include in their plans 2 more tolls lead us out from Salem which is one of the major cities in TN
At around 2PM we took a tea break, it was a small ghumti couldn’t get its name because it was written in Tamil but it is near Aachi's village restaurant. The tea was much needed and gave us a refreshing break.
Then a toll break about 90kms to Madurai.
At around 60kms to Madurai you can see the beautiful mountains hinting us that we were near Kodaikanal – another breathtaking beautiful hill station where you can take a detour.
Adiyanuthu hill station is on the way and we could see the shevaroy hills on both sides of the highway.
I couldn’t stop taking pictures but then I didn’t knew how many to take!!
I fell in love with mountains during my road trips in South India,there is something really amazing about them especially the tall mountains touching the clouds , the highway is as beautiful as travelling to any hill station.
Tough I know it was the AC in the car which let me have that feeling of being in a cool place but whatever be it the experience was beautiful.
I tough I was already in between so much beauty of nature feeling blessed already,but Nature never fails to surprise what followed was more such mighty hills along side. They were the Dundigul Sirumalai hills , also note Dundigul itself is a hill station. One has so many options!
I Could make out rainfall over one of the hills..the view was awesome!
Suddenly there were strong winds and heavy rain, we couldn't even see a thing..had to stop the car and wait for the rain to stop.
The pleasurable break was short and then in some kms of drive Madurai welcomed us with a pleasant weather...there was this nice breeze, it wasn’t hot and humid which was unexpected.
It was such a relief for us!
The only concern for me was the empty Vaigai river, had it been flowing it would have been a perfect view and experience!
At 4 PM we reached our destination - Hotel Vijay (Pre-booked for us by our friend) which was near the railway station and the famous Meenakshi Temple was approximately 1km away by walk.
We checked in and quickly changed to visit the temple.
I would suggest not to carry any belongings to avoid any Queues, however there are really good facilities at the premises – there is a clock room for your luggage, you have to submit your mobile phones and your footwear as well.
There are quite some stalls to have refreshments if you wish to have any.
Soon we were in our respective queues to enter the Magnificent temple, which was already giving me the old world vibe!
Though on a normal day also you will find long queues for darshan, but you can opt for special darshan by buying tickets worth Rs.100 per person which would give you a quicker access however you will still find quite a long queue.
The arrangement for drinking water is aptly done and you can drink in while in the queue. They also provide free cow milk for kids which is really nice.
The ticket management as well as the overall arrangements are worth applause. Indeed Meenakshi temple has been awarded the cleanest shire and one can easily make it.
The Garbhgrah is beautifully decorated by lighted diyas, the Meenashi devi idol who is considered to be avatar of devi parvati is present along with multiple other idols, major being the Nandi and shiva idols.
There are multiple stalls where you can buy and eat prasad and other snacks, also you can purchase some memorable if you wish to!
The temple is magnificent- it a very big and very beautiful…trust me it is one of its kind experience!
It too us around 1.5hrs to come out…and guess what it was raining!! We had our dinner in a nearby restaurant and waked towards our hotel.
We were already tired so we just dozed off!
Day # 2 The Tamil wedding
We always wanted to attend one Tamil wedding and finally we were at one!
We reached the venue at 9AM and had our authentic South Indian breakfast which itself seems to me the best part of the wedding.
The amazing thing about south Indian weddings, having attended a mallu wedding too, is that they are really quick without much hustle. They are simple and seriously very awesome.
No shor sharaba,not much dikhawa…how I wish I too had one like this!
After greeting the bride and the groom, we went back to the hotel, quickly changed and checked out at around 11:30AM to leave for our next planned destination – Kovalam Beach!
Madurai to Kovalam
Crossing around 3 tolls, quite many windmills,scattered hills, coconut and dates tress on a nice empty road listening to some evergreen Bollywood retro hits at around 1:30 PM around 80Kms to Kanyakumari my eyes were stuck on one of the most beautiful highways I have ever been through!
We could easily make out the enchanting mountains of the western ghats which end at Kanyakumari…somethings can't be captured...only your eyes can see and your mind captures them and make u feel the beauty of nature! I was having an experience of a lifetime! After a toll stop we saw the INS Kattabomman station, anything related to our defence forces catches my eyes and always makes me feel proud.
Banana farms along side led us near to another beautiful hill station - Mallancode Nagaramman and a around 35km to Kanyakumari we encountered 100s of windmills only adding to the flavor of beauty we were already into.
I have seen windmills before but this location was something else. We knew we were at the right place for our vacation!
Though Kovalam beach was just 65kms the GPS showed 2hrs to reach our next destination! We thought we would be crossing any hill but No! It was a city names Nagercoil which lies in TN but will give you major Kerela feeling coz the city is on the highway and you have to put those breaks throughout!
We were on NH66 and after crossing the city we again had our encounter with mountains on our right , patches of small lakes on the left and many coconut trees and banana farms stretching for long!
Nature never misses to surprise you!
Out of instinct we took a slightly longer route only to help our eyes absorb more of nature, the route took us back to our memories of Goa..narrow roads and greenery all around.
A around 4PM we were on the Poovar island road running along the coastline however to our disappointment it wasn’t visible.
Poovar Island too is an amazing destination if you are looking for clean beaches to slay. Instead of Kovalam you can also plan your holiday here or even both of them!
We reached out resort shortly, since Country spa resort was near the beach we booked it.
The resort itself was self sufficiently beautiful, what added to our convenience was a back door exit route to the rocky beach of Kovalam.
I love rocky beaches,may be because I am not interested in swimming in the sea.
My perfect holiday is sitting on a rock watching the sea while sunrise as well as sunsets!
Day #3 From morning at the beach to the tip of the mainland
Early morning we headed towards the beach!
It was a perfect morning, we watched large scale fishing for the first time in life! And had the pleasure of having early morning tea by the beach! Awesome it was!
If you have a full day you should definitely visit the Padmanabhaswamy Temple is located in the Thiruvananthapuram city, it the richest temple in the world!
We checked out at 9 AM and planned to visit the Hawaiian/light house beach and the weather being kind to us, it started drizzling enhancing the beauty of the already beautiful God’s own country!
We found People Happy to help! The lighthouse entry starts at 10AM and we reached early!
So we planned to go to the sea rock beach which was near by! The beach road ends at the sea!
We clicked some pictures and enjoyed all what the place had to offer to us!
The road to our next destination was full of trees, one could easily spot Palm, Jackfruits, Dates, Banana and Coconut trees.
All of this had soothing calming effect on us..there was cool breeze, no sun and drizzle!! We couldn’t ask for anything better!
At the TN state border there was a policeman checking license and insurance, he was really well behaved, we wanted to mention this since he was doing his duty sincerely. We missed to note his name. It is good to know people who are dedicated to their work.
In the way we found Manakudi backwaters and and patches of ocean was visible!
We missed going to the Chittral Jain temple,which is quite ancient and very beautiful because we were unaware that it is around 47kms from the main kannyakumari town. If we had checked it earlier we would have definitely planned for it! I wish sometime I might get a chance to visit it someday...
We checked into Sparsa Resort at around 12 PM and it was one of the most beautiful resorts I have even been to.
Ours was the sea view room and the view was awesome..I could easily make out 3 colours of water in the sea since in Kannyakumari 3 seas meet (Trisea Sangam)- The Arabian Sea,Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean!
I just didn't wanted to get of the room.
The resort used minimum plastic and their service was as good as it one can expect including the food.
We planned to take rest and enjoy our stay at the beautiful resort we were in,we just decided to stroll by and enjoy the sea view available.
To visit he important tourist locations we decided to stay for another day, so we booked a hotel for next day and planned to visit the Vivekananda memorial situated at a small island accessible by boats whose tickets are available at affordable rates.
Since in kannyakumari you can enjoy both the sunset and the sunrise we didn't miss the opportunity!
Day 4 # Our dream destination - Kannyakumari darshan!
We checked into Sun Rock Hotel which is located in the town (Entry in the town 25 Rs), we knew we had a packed day and we needed the hotel room for a good night sleep only so we opted for a decent hotel and saved some bucks!
We quickly went to buy tickets for the ride to the memorial but like us many others planned the same.the queue for long but all of it was worth once we reached the place we always viewed in pictures!
Next in our list was the Mayapuri Wax Museum, trust me it is worth a visit especially if you have a kid along with you. The ticket to museum alone is 100 bucks,for VR and 9D Cinema they charge another 150 bucks.
We clicked a lot of pictures there,there are 3D paintings and wax figures all of which are life like! we personally loved it our visit to the place, it is near to the railway station and one must definitely visit it!
We took our lunch and had some rest post which we headed to the sunset point and enjoyed the beautiful ocean view on sunset! (Entry to sunset point : 30 Rs)
We then headed towards the watch tower and spent rest of the evening there!
The place is very well maintained,with all the facilities like parking,food stalls,benches etc..
We knew hat our trip has been ended and we would have to leave the place which was so amazing! It was a weird feeling because we love the sea and simply sitting by it doing nothing also gives you such immense pleasure!
With a heavy heart we went back to our hotel room,had our dinner and went to sleep.
Day 5 # Back to our Home
Though we didn't feel like we had to return! What was good was the fact that the highways we had to take was more than beautiful!
What made our trip perfect was there was sun,breeze and the drizzle which resulted in a breathtakingly mesmerising rainbow in the clear blue sky!
Ahhh! I cant describe what I saw, it was the biggest,clearest and the most beautiful rainbow I had even seen..and the most closest view of it too!
God was really really kind to us that day! I couldn't ask for more. The clouded mountain tops,various shaded of blue in the sky..we were at the right place at the right time...all of it was heavenly!!
Tough the view was out of the world,the highway only had a few scattered restaurants and fuel pumps to stop by.
At around 79kms to Madurai we took our 1st break at Arya Nivas and fuelled our self with some heavy breakfast.
We knew we had to cover approx 600kms, a 12 hour road journey so we on and off enjoyed some breaks!
I would want to mention a small cafe we stopped by named Maxm Cafe on the highway post the salem toll both which had the yummiest coffee we have ever had,special mention to the passion and dedication of the owner at the cafe with which he prepared it and served to us.
Meeting some amazing people,having the most wonderful experiences of our lifetime,some breathtaking beautiful views,reconnecting with ourselves we were back to our little world, to the best-est place in the world i.e. our home sweet home!
To travel is to learn,to grow,to inspire,for reconnect and above all to live!
It is food to your soul...Keep travelling,keep living!
-Learning Sutras
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