Wayanad – A bit of everything, minus the hustle. Review on Wayanad

Wayanad is a quaint little place that has something of interest for everybody. It is ideal for an extended weekend trip from Bangalore, Mysore, Cochin, or Chennai. We started from Bangalore in our own car early Saturday morning. We were two couples and a two-year old baby. The road is perfect all the way, except for a few patches here and there – but the lush-green forests help you take your mind off them. We took almost six hours to cover 270 Km, with ample stops. We had already booked Hotel Green Gates and so we checked in as soon as we arrived. The deluxe rooms were normal, and the hotel is definitely not in the three star category – as they have highlighted on their website – more about the hotel as I proceed.

Wayanad is a small town and offers great highlights of South India. You can please your eyes with relaxing greenery and mist, get a Kerela Ayurveda massage, or put on your boots for some good nature walking. After reaching Wayanad, we had lunch at the hotel and went to Soochipara waterfalls. A warning for those with babies – be ready to walk downhill for about a kilometer and a half while worrying about how you will climb up the same distance up-hill. There are uneven steps and slopes that become slippery during the rain – so you have to be ultra-careful. But once you reach at the base of the waterfall, all your tiredness goes away. You can dip your feet in the cold water, or if you are more adventurous you can strip-down and dive-in. Remember – there are no life-guards, so in an event of a mishap, you are on your own. Reaching down and enjoying in the water is easy – climbing back up is the tough part. The waterfall is great, but make sure you have ample time in your hand, so that you can actually enjoy it.

Next day, our hotel’s travel desk arranged a half-day sightseeing tour for us in a Jeep. We enjoyed the fast Jeep ride a lot. First, we went to the Wayanad lake – it’s beautiful and serene – lined with huge trees. We took a four-person pedal-boat and went in for about 20 minutes. Total cost: Rs.40 for entrance + Rs.10 for camera + Rs.100 for the boat. One funny thing is that they charge Rs.10 for normal or digital camera and Rs.100 for video camera! I hope they know that all digi-cams have video capability. They also provide storage services for your bags while you are on the boat. We had some veg-cutlets and tea at the nearby stall. After the lake, we went to the highest viewpoint in Wayanad, but could not see anything, thanks to all the fog. Visibility was very low there and we could not see vehicles or trees even as close as 10 meters. So, we enjoyed being in the middle of the cloud and had ice creams. Next stop was the chain tree – a totally over-hyped place. You can easily give it a miss even though it’s on the way – the story is as lame as the tree itself. We dropped Rs.2 in the donation box and went on to reach our hotel.

After resting for a while, we went out for a walk. We ordered snacks and tandoori chicken through room service in the evening and had it with beer and breezers – remember to carry your own. Then we went to the hotel’s recreation room on the top floor – it has a rickety pool table, a slippery carom board, and a table tennis table without the balls! We gave up trying playing pool once we realized that the balls had a mind of their own owing to the uneven leveling. The only good thing about this room was the toys for the kids – tri-cycle, a small car, see-saw, etc. There were more swings and slides for kids in the garden. The hotel also has a decent Ayurveda massage center – but make sure that you book in advance as they call masseurs from some other institution. The buffet dinner was good; in fact, our entire experience with the food was awesome except for some coconut-oil based dishes, which we are not used to eating. The hotel has a pool too.

We wanted to visit a few more places, but held back because of heavy rain. It’s a good idea to carry umbrellas – one person each. You can also visit Wayanad wildlife sanctuary to see some usual deers, monkeys, and elephants. There are some caves also, but that requires a good deal of trekking, so we passed them too.

We went back on Monday; stopped at Ginger hotel Mysore for food; and reached Bangalore at night with lots of happy memories. Good things about Wayanad: Clean and quiet place with lots of greenery; tea gardens; cool weather; friendly people – overall a great place to unwind.Not-so-good things about Wayanad: Nothing for shopping; coconut-oil based food; night starts at 5:30 pm – but I guess that’s usual.

Hotel: Rs.2, 500 per room, per night; slow room-service; clean but damp room; yummy chicken.

Total expense of the trip for four people: Approx. Rs.15, 000/-