Going to Athirapally via Palghat and returning via Valparai in Tamil Nadu side will be a good idea as the route from Athirapally to Valparai is simply an outstanding one. For nearly 60 km, you drive through thick forests and the greatest artist of all times, Nature.
Going to Kerala in rainy season has its own advantages, everything seems fresh and green, especially the forests look beautiful in rains.
Athirapally consists of 3 falls - Athirapally, Charpa, and Vazhachal. Each one is around 2 km from each other.
As with all trips, some interesting things happened in this trip too. The first one, we were looking out for a place to stay in Athirapally and what all resorts and names we could see. They had names like Oakvalley, Riverview, Hillview, Greenvalley, Lakeview, etc. And captions too like "You stay with us once, we stay with you always." I was seriously doubting whether they give complimentary HIV which stays with us always. We were terrified on seeing those as we were doubtful of the rates, but it turned out only the names were hi-fi, most of the resorts turned out to be shabby ones. In fact, one resort was behind a grocery store and one was a single room in a house, which they call a resort. And none of those places had power. Finally we ended up staying in Hotel Araam, which is run by KTDC, which turned out to be good with excellent food.
Statutory warning to drinkers: You won't get any liquuor in Athirapally - you have to drive back 30 km to Chalakudy or drink country arrack or stay sober. I decided on the third option even though the hotel guy told the arrack is good.
My camera suddenly started behaving funnily, that is, it stopped working and I missed out capturing the beauty of the forest from Athirapally to Valparai (Oh God!, how beautiful it is). And the most interesting part was there was a shooting going on in Charpa falls and my heartthrob of 2002, Sherin, was acting in it. No need to say that it was for a song sequence in the waterfalls. Abdul and I literally had to drag ourselves out of the place.
Except the road from Athirapally to Sholayar, all the roads are good, but beware of the mist in Valparai. Visibility is hardly 5 feet.
Route (400 km approx): Coimbatore = Palghat = Chalakudy = Athirapally = Sholayar = Valparai = Pollachi = Coimbatore.
Expenses = Rs.500 per person including food, staying, and petrol for 2 days.
Abdul on the road to Thrissur
Thinking of Whom?
Me in my natural setting
Athirapally in her Full Glory
The beautiful road from Athirapally to Vazhachal
Chalakudy River
Athirapally Falls
Chalakudy Road
Athirapally Falls
