Chikmagalur - Part 1 - Unwind in the coffee land of Mavinaguni

Mavinaguni is a small Village/hamlet in Chikmagalur Taluk in Chikmagalur District of Karnataka State, India. Chikmagalur is a calm place to unwind from the hustle bustle of city life. We had planned for a stay of 2 days and made the bookings accordingly.

Driving time from Bangalore to Mavinaguni is 4.5 hours. We started from Bangalore at around 1:30 PM and we reached Mavinaguni at around 6:30 PM post taking just one pit stop for lunch on Hassan-Kunigal highway.

We had booked Lemon Homestay to spend quality family time in this serene coffee land. From the SH (State Highway), all the homestays in Chikmagalur are located deep inside the villages with poor roads and no lights. So ensure that you plan to reach your destination before dark. Looks like it had rained previous day or in the morning, so the road conditions were worse. After a good roller coaster ride on this road for half-an hour we reached our destination.

Best part about Lemon Homestay is they give only for one family to stay in the homestay. So its just you and complete privacy in nature’s abode along with lip smacking authentic Malnad food. Homestay owner and his family stays next door in the same homestay to serve you with their overwhelming hospitality.

Since it was dark, we freshened up and relaxed a bit. We were served hot coffee along with pakoras. Good welcome drink and snack which was rejuvenating. Post that we took a stroll around the property, played some indoor games, and explored the homestay. We requested for early dinner since we were tired. Meanwhile we inquired with the homestay owner about the nature trails around the property and hit the bed early.

We woke up next day to a bright sunny morning. Now we could actually see where we are put up - in nature's abode with mountains covering us and lush greenery around. Until breakfast was getting ready, I clicked pictures of the property we were staying. 

We were served yummy Malabar Spinach curry which is grown here. 

Mint Leaves

Here they split the coffee beans with the shell in this machine and then they sell the seeds to Coffee makers in the city

Our Buddy #1 - This one had lost his one leg but used to run and be around us all the time. 

Our Buddy #2 -This one was super active and used to wag its tail whenever we were around :-)

We were served sumptuous breakfast and post hogging out to our heart’s content we started our first hike of the day. Apologies for not posting pictures of food. Food was so relishing that we focused on hogging rather than clicking pictures of the same😋

Once you are outside the homestay, you will find two trails. One which takes to the view point and other one to the hill-top temple. We decided to hike to the view point first. 

Walk along this trail was very rejuvenating since it was not that sunny and the lush greenery around was a treat to watch.

Spotted this green colored snake while walking. 

Finally, we reached the top point and view from this point was enthralling. We could see our homestay and other properties around from here.

We picked up a good spot and sat there for a while absorbing the serenity of the place.

Since it was lunch time now, we headed back to our homestay.

Wide varieties of Flora collected during our hike

Post lunch we relaxed a bit and then around 4 PM we started our hike on the other trail from our homestay towards a hill-top temple. This trail is also very good with wide varieties of flora and coffee plantations enroute. 

Unknown stone inscription. We could see two gods praying to Shiv Linga here and many more which we didn't understand 

Finally, we made it to the temple after asking the locals we met during our hike.

There are around 10-15 steps up to the temple which you need to take. But it was closed when we reached there. It was very peaceful though.

We prayed to the deity from outside, took a parikrama of the temple and relaxed for some time there in the temple premises.

 It started getting dark. So, we started our descend back to homestay.

We reached homestay and we were served hot coffee and mirchi (Chilli) pakoras which was refreshing. By now it started raining heavily. So, we stayed indoors and played some games. You won’t get mobile network here. Hence it was a much-needed digital detox for all of us.  

Next day morning we woke up, freshened up, had breakfast and bid adieu to homestay people who serve us past 2 days by making us feel like home away from home. 

We had planned 2 things to visit today in Chikmagalur before heading back to Bangalore – Baba Budangiri and Mullayanagiri Peaks. I will be sharing my experiences of our hike along these 2 peaks in my upcoming blogs.

So, signing off now with a refreshing and detoxifying experience from the coffee land of Mavinaguni.

Chikmagalur - Part 2 - Baba Budangiri : Second highest peak of Karnataka

Chikmagalur - Part 3 - Mullayanagiri: Highest peak of Karnataka