This blog is about a two day short trip taken to Wayanad and Kozhikode Beach.
ITINEARY SUMMARY
- Trip Starting Point- Bangalore
- Mode of Travel- Car (XUV 500 W9 Model)
- Total Distance (Round Trip)- 860 Km
- Trip Duration-2 Days
- Total Places Visited – 7
We were seven adults – all Male group decided to go on a short two days trip to Wayanad, a small hill station in Gods own Country- Kerala on 25th and 26th Jan 2020.
We decided to take XUV 500 W9 vehicle for the trip. The total trip distance from Bangalore to Wayanad and return was approx. 800 Km as per our calculations. Route taken was Bangalore- Mysore- Gundlupet- Bandipur National Park- Muttil- Kalpetta (Wayanad district HQ).
 |
| At Mysore |
We started our journey from Bangalore -Yeswanthpur at approx. 1.00 AM on 25th Jan and proceeded towards Mysore road. As Bangalore- Mysore highway is under expansion and the road having lots of humps, we reached Mysore at approx. 4.00 AM and took a long break to freshen up our senses and also Bandipur National Park entry gates open at 6.00 AM. We reached Bandipur National Park Gate towards Wayanad at approx. 5.45 AM and at 6.00 AM we were zipping through the jungles amidst fresh air. We were able to witness some deers on the way. After a drive of around 2 hrs at approx. 8.00 AM, we reached Muttil- Our first destination. We had booked a budget hotel courtesy OYO- Oyo Rasha Residency, a very basic hotel with bare minimum facilities as we knew that we only need beds to sleep at night.
 |
| At Oyo- Rasha Residency |
Full day itinerary was to explore Wayanad. After freshening up, we started exploring Wayanad at 9.30 AM. We had our breakfast at Udupi Hotel in Kalpetta and then proceeded for Banasura Sagar Dam.
Banasura Sagar Dam is the largest earth dam in India and worth visiting. Banasura Sagar Dam across the River Karamanathodu, a tributary of River Kabini, is placed in the foot hills of Banasura Hills, which got its name from Banasura, the son of King Mahabali, famous ruler of Kerala.Facilities available at the Dam are Bus facility to the DAM (Rs 10.00 one way), zipline adventure and many other adventure-oriented facilities. There are boating facilities available in the Dam area but the tickets were closed for reasons best known to the authorities at Banesura Dam
 |
| At Banasura Sagar Dam, Wayanad |
From Dam, we proceeded towards Pookode Lake (the best one in Wayanad) which is approx. 20 Km from the Banasura Dam. The lake stands between Hills and has a great ambience. This fascinating natural fresh water lake is surrounded with evergreen forests and rolling hills. The lake has the shape of India’s Map and spread in 13 Acres. There is a path around the lake for leisurely stroll or cycling (available on rent).
 |
| At Pookede Lake- Boatin |
We took the boat ride at Pookede lake (costed Rs 500.00 for 7 people). Our Boat Guide Mr Sarfaraz was a nice person and explained all the history about the lake. There are several other boating options at Pookode lake.
They also had fish spa where Small Doctor Fish are kept in captivity. Any interested person has to first clean their legs and put into water having doctor fish. They eat all the dead skin and we all felt stress free after Fish Spa (costed Rs 50.00 per Head).
 |
| Chain tree |
After Pookode Lake, we proceeded to see Chain Tree Temple. It is a large ficus tree bounded by a chain. Local people say that a tribal youth Karinthandan who showed this place to Britisher engineer was killed by Britisher and after his spirit started troubling people, some priest chained the spirit to the Tree.
 |
| At Lakkidi View Point |
After that we proceeded to Lakkidi View Point, located at the crest of the serpentine Thamaraseery Ghat Pass and undoubtably one of the nicest view point I have seen in recent past. We were able to see Wayanad Churam from that location which is one of the nine hairpin crosses if you travel from Wayanad (Kalpetta) to Kozhikode on Mysore- Kozhikode Highway.
We were not able to visit Chembra Lake (heart Shaped lake), soochipara water falls and kuruva islands as these places have been closed due to landslides last year and court order as well. Also due to time constrains we were not able to visit Edkal Caves- one of the must visit in Wayanad.
After finishing these all places, we proceeded back to our Hotel at around 6.00 PM. Before Kalpetta, we stopped at Udupi Agrahara to have our snacks and had our dinner also packed.
After reaching Hotel, all decided to proceed to Kozhikode next day early morning as nothing much was left in Wayanad. Original plan was to explore Wayanad for two days but now we were proceeding to enjoy Kozhikode Beach.
We started on 26th Jan 2020 towards Kozhikode Beach at around 5.00 AM.
The road to Kozhikode via Mysore- Kozhikode Highway is a beauty. It goes through the serpentine Thamaraseery Ghat Pass and features nine-hairpin bends starting from Lakkidi view point till Adivaram downhill which I enjoyed much that too driving XUV500 gem of a car for these types of roads be it power or stability. The hill descend and hill ascend feature helped me a lot in these hill rides. The 12 Km Ghat Road is truly breathtaking and enchanting be it the lush green hills, gorges or streams on both sides of the Ghat road.
We reached Kozhikode Beach at around 9.30 AM after having numerous breaks to enjoy the views of surroundings full of nature. All immediately plunged into the Sea to enjoy. The beach is just like other western side Arabian sea beaches. I decided to take a walk around Kozhikode. As being Sunday that too 26th Jan, most of the shops were closed. I visited a Gandhi Peace Center near to Beach and attended their function for 15 mins. It was nice and had a peaceful ambience. I felt Kozhikode to be a very sleepy town with no unnecessary traffic (as We came from Bangalore). I also visited a spice shop near to Beach and enquired about rates of spices available. I got cloves (Rs 700.00/Kg), Black Pepper (Rs 400.00/Kg), Dry Coconut (Rs 100/Kg). Also, you can have cardamom and many other local spices available at competitive rates. Prices vary as per quality is what I understood there.
After all others were saturated with sea and got cleaned up, we started our journey from Kozhikode towards Bangalore but with a stoppage at Thusaragiri Water Falls which is just in between the 9 Hairpin Bends travelling towards Kalpetta.
It was truly beautiful and had four waterfalls in it but as we were getting late, we visited the first one where one could also take bath under the waterfall. After thoroughly enjoying the waterfall, we started our ride towards Bangalore. Infact in Bandipur National Park, we encountered Elephants, a lot of deers also.
We reached back in Bangalore at approx. 1.00 Am in night. All felt happy but felt two days is too little to explore places like Wayanad or Kozhikode.
Trip Nicely narated and useful for many. Really enjoyed beautiful places as part of team.Thanks
Well narrated trip memoir…
Short and crisp …nice narration..well enjoyed the trip