theladywanderer

Vagamon is a quaint hill station located in Idukki district of God’s own country(Kerala state). It is called Kerala’s best kept secret since it is untouched by modernization. One can get lost in tranquility here since this place has so much to offer from tea plantations, tranquil meadows, waterfalls, enchanting Pine forests and lush greenery all around.   National Geographic Traveler  has listed Vagamon on their directory of the "50 most attractive places to visit in India". In this blog, I will take you along our 2 day’s trip to this amazing destination. We had booked our 2 nights stay at Holiday Vagamon which was supposedly the best property out here with great reviews.   Day 1  - Our Journey to Vagamon from Bangalore The only route to reach Vagamon from Bangalore is via Salem-Theni-Kumily route and the total time was showing up as 11 hours to cover this long distance. So we started off at 5:30 am from Bangalore. We reached Vagamon almost at around 6 PM with 2-3 pi...

It was a casual weekend and I was checking BMC’s( Bangalore Mountaineering Club) website to see if any new treks have opened up and Bingo here it was – Minchikall Betta trek which was scheduled on Independence day 15 th   August. So I signed up for this trek and was super excited for exploring yet another offbeat trek around Bangalore. We were around a bunch of 20 trekking enthusiasts who were picked up from various designated points in Bangalore by BMC early in the morning. After a pit stop for breakfast we then drove towards Bangalore-Tumakuru Highway.   Minchikall Betta is a 3 layered fortified hillock located in Tumakuru district of Karnataka state. Google maps led us to a tiny hamlet called Masanipalya. We were asked to get off from our vehicles here and walk towards the base point of the hill.  Fondly called by locals as Minchukallu Betta but surprisingly no one knows about the history of this massive hillock. The walk through this village till the Minchikall base i...