Top choice in Kodaikanal (Kodai)
The cream of Kodai’s hotels is a magnificent five-star colonial-era mansion overlooking the lake. Rooms are spacious with extra-comfy beds and, for some, huge private balconies. The grounds and common areas get the old hill-station ambience spot on: open-stone walls, billiards, evening bingo, fireplaces, a hot tub and a bar that immediately makes you want to demand a Scotch.
The good, buffet-focused restaurant is Kodai's classiest.
20.46 MILES
This 90-sq-km sanctuary, 50km northeast of Munnar, protects deer, leopards, elephants, gaur, langurs and endangered, Nilgiri tahr and grizzled giant…
28.64 MILES
One of several working local tea factories open to the public, Lockhart dates from 1879 and sits 10km southeast of Munnar. Guided factory tours explain…
7.51 MILES
Visiting forest-fringed Berijam Lake, 21km southwest of Kodaikanal, requires a Forest Department permit (₹250). Taxi drivers will organise this, if asked…
0.37 MILES
Assuming it isn't cloaked in opaque mist, the views from paved Coaker’s Walk are beautiful, all the way down to the plains 2000m below. The stroll takes…
2.3 MILES
About 7km west of town, these towering boulders have jaw-dropping views to the Tamil Nadu plains below.
Sacred Heart Natural Science Museum
0.85 MILES
In the grounds of a former Jesuit seminary 4km downhill east of town, this museum has a ghoulishly intriguing miscellany of flora and fauna put together…
1.78 MILES
A narrow rock lookout overhanging a precipitous drop, with views of the valley below. Follow the trail to it for 15 minutes from Vattakanal, or walk all…
0.35 MILES
Landscaped and stocked by the British officer after whom it’s named, pretty Bryant Park is usually full of tourists and canoodling couples.
1. Kodaikanal International School
0.13 MILES
Set up in 1901, the renowned Kodaikanal International School lends Kodai a bit of a cosmopolitan air, with students from around the globe.
0.35 MILES
Landscaped and stocked by the British officer after whom it’s named, pretty Bryant Park is usually full of tourists and canoodling couples.
0.37 MILES
Assuming it isn't cloaked in opaque mist, the views from paved Coaker’s Walk are beautiful, all the way down to the plains 2000m below. The stroll takes…
4. Sacred Heart Natural Science Museum
0.85 MILES
In the grounds of a former Jesuit seminary 4km downhill east of town, this museum has a ghoulishly intriguing miscellany of flora and fauna put together…
0.96 MILES
Compact Bear Shola Falls are in a pocket of forest on the northwest edge of town.
1.78 MILES
A narrow rock lookout overhanging a precipitous drop, with views of the valley below. Follow the trail to it for 15 minutes from Vattakanal, or walk all…
1.87 MILES
Green Valley View, 6km southwest of Kodai centre, has spectacular views to the plains far below.
1.89 MILES
Dedicated to Murugan, this nondescript temple 3km northeast of town affords beautiful panoramas of the surrounding hills and the plains miles below.