For The Love Of Quiet And Coffee

If you are looking for a slow-paced holiday with splendid single-origin coffee, long walks, and delicious local food, look no further than Coorg in Karnataka.

- Kalyani Prasher

Evolve Back Chikkana Halli Estate with a cup of coffee and views of the lush surrounds. FOR AS LONG AS I CAN RECALL, Coorg has been on the top of my wishlist. Any photograph that you see of the place is beautiful—with immense greenery that only the Western Ghats can afford, misty hills, and gushing waterfalls, and of course, picturesque coffee plantations. What’s not to love? But visiting Coorg requires a certain mindset. If you are the kind who needs to do five things before lunchtime, then this is not the place for you. The Coorg way of life is meant to slow you down: take relaxing walks, watch birds, eat local food, and sit back and soak in the beautiful vistas. That’s just my cup of, shall we say, coffee.

For a first-time visitor, especially from the North, the destination can be quite confusing. There is no actual city called Coorg. It is, in fact, the name of the district with three main towns—Virajpet, Somwarpet, and the most popular one, Madikeri. Having heard of Madikeri quite a lot, I was a little disappointed by the district headquarters. I had imagined a hill station surrounded by mountains, but you can barely see any hills from the main town. Apart from a couple of quite ordinary tourist spots, there is nothing to do in Madikeri, which looks like any other small town in India. To explore the beauty of Coorg, you need to travel away from the towns and into a plantation estate. Unless you have a friend who owns one, the best bet is to pick a good plantation property.