Villa Retreat and Kodaikanal

Now that I have become active on tripadvisor, I find little need to write too much about my travels on my personal blogs.

However, here is a review of The Villa Retreat, near Coaker's walk, that I wrote on tripadvisor.

Villa Retreat review

In short, the place is nice, and cosy, however, rooms are small (too small for what they charge, infact). And, what could be called a garden view room could end up being the "edge of the garden" view. Room service guys could annoy you by knocking too many times by shouting "saaaar.... saaaaar.." ..

All said and done, Kodai is a beautiful place, though! (But, if you have a choice b/w Munnar and Kodai, please choose Munnar. It's simply woow!).

We went to the Mannavannur lake near Kodai, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's around 30 kms from Kodai, the drive is scenic, and you get to see small villages with terraced slopes where the farmers engage in farming. The lake reminded me of a pic of Swiss that my friend had sent!

The Kodai lake is a good place to take a walk around. We really enjoyed the small hikes around the Pine forest too!

Manchanabele Reservoir - A weekend getaway

Visited: Beginning of 2012 (Yes, I am a lazy bum when it comes to publishing my trip journals)

A couple relative was visiting us from Chennai, and we wanted to go to places that were neither too far, nor too close to Bangalore. We drilled down to Manchanabele - It's a small reservoir near Bangalore, quite scenic, and a nice ride (Of course, once you cross the metro constructions!). And, there ain't many people who come there, so you definitely do not have to face the crowd.

The Big Banyan tree is on the way, and it's a good place to stop around for some time to relax. Here's an aerial view you see before reaching the reservoir: