Darjeeling (Darjiling)

Whether you brave the tortuous railway or the quality nerve-wracking road that switchbacks up to Darjiling, you will be rewarded on arrival by the sight of a vast pine-clad valley, with the town tumbling steeply downhill from Chowrasta, the highest point, to the bus stand far below. Colonial bungalows and newer concrete edifices line alleys, steps and the main street ( for pedestrians only from halfway up). Nights can be extremely cold and damp, and you will have to get up early if you want to glimpse Kanchenjunga before clouds descend. The lively Nehru Road offers good retreats for tea, snacks and meals, with abundant handmade craft stories.

This is one of loveliest and cool location in India. We must see once in our life span.
It located 6700 ft approximately from the sea level. We can reach by 88 kms far from Darjeeling Himalayan Railway from New Jalpaiguri.
For more details about Darjeeling tourism, visit

Yercaud Hills - Tamilnadu

Yercaud is one of the hill region of Tamilnadu. And it is also called "Poor Man's Ooty". The meaning of Yercaud in Tamil is "Yeri means Lake and Kaadu mean Forest". The feet of Yercaud is 1500 from the sea level. The Yercaud hill is in Salem District. One of loveliest spot in that hill is Yercaud Lake. The Lake is surrounded by lush green forest and the lake is used for boating by the tourist from all over India. The summer festival is held in this lake every year in the month of May.

Tourist Spot in Yercaud:

Yercaud Lake

Anna Park

Lady's and Gent's Seat

Killiyur Falls

Shervaoyan Temple

Pagoda Point

The Grange

Bear's Cave

Wild life like beer, bison, ant eater, foxes, rabbits, mangoose, squirrels, sparrows, buibuls and snakes are living there.

Jack fruits, Guava, Orange, Tea, black Pepper are the main crops of Yercaud hill.

Yercaud has developed into major trekking destination in this region. A lot of treks are available there.

Its around 350 kms far away from Chennai to reach Yercaud, from Salem its around 33 kms far away. The nearest airport for Yercaud Hills is Trichy airport. The nearest Railways station to the destination is Salem.

For more details about Yercaud and its tourism, visit http://www.yercaud.com/

Kolli Hills (Kolli Malai) - Tamilnadu

Kolli Hills (Kolli Malai) is a small hill region which is located in central part of Tamilnadu. The is around 1000 to 1300 feet high from sea level. Its around 70 hair pin bends to reach the top of the hill. Kolli Hills is a part of Eastern Ghats, and it runs mostly parallel to east coast. These mountain sometime known as Mountains of Death. This hill has very adventurous and shocking history.

Two view points are located in Kolli Hills, one is nearby Seekuparai and another one is in Selur Nadu. These are being developed by Tamilnadu Government to encourage Tourism. This mountain is also a site of pilgrimage, due to Arapaleeswarar Temple which is believed to have a secret path to Shiva Temple which located in Rasipuram. There are three reserved forest which is in control by Tamilnadu Government.

The mountains are covered with evergreen forest, but nowadays it has been cleared for farming. The main cultivation of Kolli hills are Coffee, Tea, Jack Fruit, Pine Apple and Black Pepper.

This hill is also one of the growing tourist spot in Tamilnadu. For this, several lodges and resorts are available there. One of the famous resort is Nallathambi Resort which has been operating for mare than 15 years.

To know more about Kolli Hills details, visit http://www.kollihillresorts.weebly.com/

The Himalayas - India

The Himalayas is the massive mountain system and it separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. In Sanskrit, the word Himalaya stands for Snow Home. Hima means Snow and Alaya means Home. The Himalayas which includes Mount Everest (1st Highest peak in the world) and K2 (2nd Highest Peak in the world). It stretches across six countries and they are India, China, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bhutan. And some of the worlds major rivers, the Ganga, the Brahmaputra, the Yumuna, the Yangtz and the Indus are rises in the Himalayan mountain. The main Himalayan range runs, west to east, from the Indus river valley to the Brahmaputra river valley, forming an arc 2,400 km long and varies in width 400 km in western and 150 km in eastern. It plays major role in Tourism in India.
Apart from natural heritage, the Himalayas is the religious heritage for Hinduism and Buddhism. Amarnath and Badrinath temples are located in the Himalayas. Swami Vivekananda also founded Mayavathi Ashram nearby Almora in the Himalayas.

Some of the temples in Himalayan Range as follows:-

Amarnath - Natural Ice Shiva Linga Temple
Rishikesh - Lakshmana Temple
Badrinath - Vishnu Temple
Kedarnath - Jyotirlingas
Kailash - Lord Shiva Temple
Sri Hemkund Sahib - Sikh Temple

In Amarnath, Shiva Linga forms naturally in ice for few weeks once in a year. So many pilgrimages will visit this Linga at the time.
For More details about Naturals and Pilgrims in the Himalayas, visit http://www.himalayas.dk/

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam - Andhra Pradesh

Tirumala Venkateswara Temple is a famous hindu temple of Lord Venkateswara located in Tirumala in Andhra Pradesh. The temple is build on venkatadri hill, one of the seven hills of tirumala, and hence it is known as "Temple of Seven Hills". The temple is the richest and most visited place of worship in the work. The temple is visited by about 50,000 to 10,000 pilgrims daily. At the time of Bhramotsavam and other special occasions, its about 5,00,000 pilgrims.

History of the Temple:

Thondaiman, a king, is a ruler of Thondaimangalam (South side of Chennai), is believed to have first bulit the temple after visualizing Lord Vishnu in his dream. He bulind the Gopuram and Prakhara, and then he arranged for regular prayers to be conducted in the temple. Later, the Chola dynasty vastly improved the temple and gave rich endowments.

Dharshan:

Tirumala Tirupati devasthanam made queue systems for Dharshan to control crowd. There are some types of queue systems as follows:-
1. Dharma Dharshan - Free of cost (average time takes about 10 hours for Dharshan)
2. Sudharshanam - Rs. 50 per head (average time takes about 3 hours for Dharshan)
3. Nija Pada Dharshanam - Rs. 100 per head (average time takes about 2 hours for Dharshan)
Apart for this, there are separate queue for senior citizens.
And for kalyanam in temple, Rs. 1000

Prasadham:

Tirupati Laddu is the world famous prasadham given by the temple. Recently the trust has taken copy rights Laddu prasadham. Hencu no one can prepare same type. Free meals given by the temple to the pilgrimages.

Travel Routes:

By roads and railways, its around 592 kms far away from hyderabad and from chennai, its around 120 kms. Airlines facilities also available for tirupati in daily basis.

Munnar - Kerala

Here is the another loveliest tourist spot in India, Munnar - kerala. Munnar is a town which is located in Idukki District in Kerala, situated in South Western Ghats of India. It is one of the famous tourist spot of kerala. Munnar is a malayalam words Muna and aaru (three and river). The strategic location at the confluence of Muthirappuzha river, Nallathanni river and Kundaly river is Munnar. The area of Munnar is surrounded by huge forests and the climate of the regions remains wet and cool throughout the year. The region of Munnar height varies from 6562 feet to 8530 feet from the sea level. Main cultivation of Munnar is Tea Plantation. These Tea Plants are exports to foreign countries.

Tourist Spots in Munnar as follows,

The Evarikulam National Park Marayoor Forest Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary Mudapetty Dam

To reach Munnar, its around 198 kms from Alleppey, via Thiruvankulam. We can take a separate cab to reach the destintion. From Coimbatore, its around 250 kms via Alleppey and Thiruvankulam.

For more details about Munnar visit www.munnar.org

Photo galleries of Munnar:
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Valparai - Tamilnadu

Valparai is one of the hill station in Tamilnadu. It is located above 3500 feets from the sea level. The climate of valparai will be very chill. It stands with green spread mountains. The main cultivation of the living people in valparai is Tea and coffee plants. These tea leaves exports to foreign countries also. Topslip forest is one of the highest peak in south india. We can see panther elephants in topslip forest.

Main spots to visit in valparai as follows;-
1. Topslip
2. Aliyar Dam
3. Sholaiyar Dam
4. Nirar Dam
5. Parmbikulam
6. Monkey falls etc.,
If we want to reach valparai, 64 kms drive from pollachi by bus. By train, we can go upto coimbatore. From there roadways is the only possibility to reach valparai.

Ooty - Queen of Hill Stations, Tamilnadu

Ooty is also known as Udagamandalam and it is the queen of hill stations in India. Ooty is located in Nilgiris District in Tamilnadu. It is one of the most popular tourist resort in Tamilnadu. It is situated at an altitude of 2,240 meters above sea level. Main Cultivation of ooty is Tea, coffee and vegetables. And also ooty has an addition attraction for the tourists is train journey from Mettupalayam to Udagamandalam. Ooty train commences from kallar and it en-route many hair raising curves and fearful tunnels. While traveling by hill train, you can see tea and coffee estates around the hills. For accommodations, Stars Hotels and Lodges are available in ooty for tourists.

The loveliest spots of ooty are follows:-

Botanical Garden is one of the best tourist attraction place which attract the tourist from all over the world. This garden is spread over 22 hectares ascending the slopes on the hill.

Ooty Lake is located just behind the Central Bus Stand. This lake looks like irregular "L" shape and its for about 2.75 kms distance.

Rose Garden is situated in the heart of ooty town and its laid on 10 acres of land. All types of rose flowers are planted in this garden.

Doddabetta Peak stands at an altitude of 2,623 meters high from sea level. And its located 10 kms far away from ooty town. It is the highest peak in the district.

Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary is an adventures spot in nilgiris. Its around 32,155 hectares broad in area. Its locates between Kerala and Karnataka State. Within the sanctuary, there is an elephant camp called Theppakkadu.

Pykara Lake is the clean and scenic lake in between the hills. Its an isolated lake free from pollution. Boating facilities are available here.

Apart from these spot, Avalanche, Emerald Lake, Shooting Spot, Glenmorgan, Kalhatty Water Falls, Ketti Valley View, Mukkurthi Peak are also beautiful locations locates in ooty.
There are various routes to travel ooty.

By airways, have to land in Coimbatore airport and then you can take cab to reach the hills.
By Train, We can reach upto Mettupalayam, then we can catch Hill train or cab.

Kodaikanal, Tamilnadu

Kodaikanal is one of the most beautiful hill resort in Tamilnadu. It is located on the southern crest of the upper palani hills in Dindigul District. Its around 500kms far away from Chennai and around 120 kms far away from Madurai. We can see Strobilanthus Kunthanus, a botanical name of kurunji flower in kodaikanal. This flower will blossom once in 12 year. Its was happened in kodaikanal in the year of 2004, again it will blossom only in 2016. Tea and coffee plants are the main cultivation in kodaikanal. Apart from that, they are cultivating fruits and vegetables. Kodaikanal is situated at an altitude of about 2133 metres high from sea level and its covers an area of 21.45 sq.kms. Each and every spot in kodaikanal has rich climate. The following locations are the tourist spots in kodaikanal,

1. Kodaikanal Lake
2. Briyant Park
3. Silver Cascade Falls
4. Kurinji Andavar Temple
5. Upper Lake View
6. Coakers Walk
7. Guna Cave
8. Pine Forest
9. Green Valley View
10.Bear Shola Falls
11.Silent Valley View
12.Pillar Rocks
13.Trekking
14.Flora and Fauna Museum
15.Devil's Kitchen
16.Jewel Box View and
17.Berijam Lake

Berijam Lake is one of the Beautiful location and its 20 kms distance from kodaikanal. This Lake gives water to the surrounding towns and villages and it has natural pure water too.
Kodaikanal can be reach by train upto kodai road from other cities, then we have take cab to go kodaikanal. From kodai road, journey times takes 1 hour approximately. By bus, we can go up to kodaikanal directly from other cities. By airways we have to land in madurai airport and have to take cab or bus to reach the destination. Kodaikanal has many adventures and beautiful locations. So, every human has to see the beauty of kodaikanal once in their life.