Chikmagalur

Two of my college friends visited India after 3 years and it definitely called for a trip. We had been to Goa 3 years ago (when they visited) and it was amazing. Turns out this was one trip I didnot write about. I guess I had such a great time in Goa that I did not have words to describe them 😜

18 of us - 9 adults and 9 kids decided to go to Chickmangaluru and we were lucky to get the whole homestay to ourselves for 3 days. 

We left Bangalore early on a Monday morning in 3 cars. 

The first stop was at Swathi hotel to eat breakfast. Yummy masala dosas, idlis, vadas, pooris and coffee filled our stomachs and we hit the road again. It was a fun journey. We stopped at Belur for a quick tour of the Channakeshwara temple. 

From Belur we headed towards Chickmangaluru. The roads were scenic and with great company of friends, it was a lovely drive.

We reached "Neeladri Homestay" just in time for lunch. The weather was hot and sunny and the lemon juice at the entrance refreshed us. 

After a yummy heavy lunch each one of us settled down and relaxed for sometime before exploring the place for a bit. Few of us played a great match of cricket while few of us went for a walk around the 7 acre coffee plantation. 

Big spider

Hammock time :)

Sun set

Soon it was time for masala tea and bajjis. The weather slowly started to change and became chilly. 

The homestay people setup a nice campfire and we cozied up around the fire. It was a fun and memorable night for kids and adults as we danced and chatted!

Got up early the next morning and had fresh Chickmangaluru coffee. After a sumptous breakfast we headed out to Mulayanagiri hills to do a short trek. 

Though we could not go to the top of the peak, we had a great time trekking one of the hill ranges in between. 

Parked our cars here and started trekking

We had planned to go to a falls after Mulayanagiri trek, but it was very crowded and so we decided to skip the falls visit. All of us were hungry and we drove back to the homestay where we had a late lunch. After relaxing for a while all of us were ready for a game of lagori and few other games. 

We had tea before it got dark and later settled down around the camp fire. 

Masala tea

Dinner was followed by dancing, chatting and playing near the camp fire before calling it a night.

Next morning was the third day, and we all woke up to fresh coffee and I managed to go for a walk with kids in the coffee plantation.

Morning coffee

We got ready, had breakfast and packed to check out of the place around 11. We had planned to visit Yagachi water sport place on the backwaters of Bhadra river. We went on speed boat rides, bumper rides and kayaks. We all had so much FUN here. It was time and money well spent!

We were hungry and headed to Hassan for lunch. After lunch we visited one of our friend's parents house where we had a lovely time chatting and having tea/snacks. 

We came back to Bangalore late in the night after a quick stop at Polar Bear and Swathi hotel for ice cream and dinner.

An AMAZING FUN PERFECT trip! Below picture sums it up :)

Thanks RPSSNDVV and all the kids, you guys are awesome!