Nandi hills , a hill station , & perfect place for weekend outing, was on our plan from many days since we relocated to B'lore.. so we decided to head to it on this Xmas.
We had planned to stay overnight at the top in KSTDC hotel , as we wanted to enjoy famous sunrise view from nandi hills. So we started from B'lore around 9AM . From B'lore (Hebbal flyover) its about 52 km. You need to follow NH-7 road , & take left diversion after Devanhaalli town. After diversion, simply follow the road till the T-section (comes after about ~20 kms from Devanhalli diversion.) & again take left diversion , which will lead you to Nanhi hills road. After driving for another few Kms , you can easily spot a Chowk , from where the Ghat Section for Nandi Hills starts.
For me it was 1st time to drive car in Ghat section so I was quite cautious & at the same super excited to experience the cool breeze of hilly region. The curves in this road are all numbered. You can see the numbers on each curve/turn. You can manage easily , till turn no. 29. But from 30 it gets really steep & And there are around 9/10 steep turns like this. Do not forget to honk at every turn & make sure headlights are on , as visibility is low due to fog .
Once you cross the hurdle of steep turns , you are there at Entrance of Nandi hillls , which is a big Arch like structure. Here you can purchase the entrance tickets & park your vehicle. Entrance ticket fee is nominal For those , who come by CAR, have option of driving 1km further uphill & park at topmost point of Nandi Hills. (For bikers, you have to walk from here as bikes are not permitted after this point )
As we had reserved KSTDC Hotel for staying overnight , we chose 1st option & drove till hotel at top. By the time we settled in hotel it was around 12 noon. This KSTDC run Hotel named as "Hotel Mayura Pine Top" is situated right next to the place , from where people enjoy sunrise. So you get beautiful view from Hotel. Overall hotel rooms are ok, considering the moderate tariff. You can book the hotel online from
karnatakaholidays There is another option of staying in "Nehru House" , which is situated exactly at centre of Nandi hills ."Nehru House" is run by Horticulture Department of Karnataka Government. & to book rooms , you need to personally visit
Horticulture Department office , which situated at Lalbagh, Bangalore-560004
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| "Hotel Mayura Pine Top" |
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| The KSTDC Hotel also has this small beautiful private Garden ,where only occupants of Hotel have access to go. |
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| Nehru House |
The only place to get food on Nandi hills , is the canteen of this KSTDC hotel. After having lunch here , we started to explore the places. There is nice Temple , just besides hotel , which has small pond inside. It's nice to spend few minutes , sitting on stairs in front of the pond. We further went downwards towards the main entry of Nandi hills , & enroute we spotted the source of Arkavati river. Rivers Pennar, Palar and Arkavati originate from these hills. But most of the sources are dried up.
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| Pennar River Origin |
There is big beautiful lake "Amruth Sarovar" , very near to main entry. This lake brims with lucid water all the year round.
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| Amruth Sarovar |
By now it was evening & we headed to Tipu's drop to enjoy sunset. Tipu's drop , which is just besides KSTDC hotel , is one of the man attraction on Nandi hills. During Tippus reign, criminals were pushed down from this point to their death as punishment. It is extremely steep fall. There is large patch of rocks , at this place. So we sat their , enjoyed one of the most beautiful sunset. Overall climate was fantastic , with chill wind of winter season , making the experience more memorable...
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| Rocky patch near Tipu's drop |
After sunset it was total dark , & except people who are staying overnight at hotlel , all people were heading to leave Nandi hill. As it is not allowed to roam around on Nandi Hills after Sunset. There are security guards & police who patrol the area. Also people staying in Hotel are also not supposed to ,come out & roam , as there are possibilities encountering of wild animal. In KSTDC hotel , you need to order for dinner before 6pm. But we had missed that , as we did not know about it. But they were kind enough to entertain our request for dinner , after 7pm.
The cool breeze ,shimmering sound of leaves of frees in surounding forest , the darkness , all this was thrilling & worth experiencing by staying overnight
Next day we got up early , to catch the sight of Sunrise ..its the famous one ..Bangloreans start as early as 3AM , to reach Nandy hills & enjoy sunrise... For us, it was royal treatment , thanks to strategic location of KSTDC Hotel , we can see the sunrise, literally from your bed in your room. There was already crowd gathered to witness the event ..
After getting fresh , we decided to detour the nandi hills , by walking on the outermost mud path of hill. This is proper walking path , though it is narrow. For this we again went down towards main entry gate & saw Tipu's summer Palace. Its not in that much good condition , but its good to see.
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| Tipu's summer Palace |
Beyound this Tipu's Palace , if you go still down , you can spot Gavi Veerabhadra Swamy Temple which formed due to natural formation of huge boulders. The trekking route of Nandi hills, which starts from nearby "Sultanpet" village , ends near this temple.
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| Gavi Veerabhadra Swamy Temple |
From Tipu's Palace , we started walking on the narrow path on outermost edge of hill . It was nice experience in misty morning of winter ,as you can see all the surrounding of Hill , as you walk & also you can visit other tourist spots .
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The Ghat section Road looks beautiful from top
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We could see source "Pennar" river , but it was dry too. After that there is place called "Brahmashrama" - A serene place for the spiritual minded, & is built by huge natural boulders. It is said that Sage Ramakrishna meditated here. It was chilling cold inside this Brahmashrama.
Just next to Brahmashrama , there is temple of "Nellikayi Basavanna" . There is enormous statue of Nandi in fron of gooseberry tree ( Nellikai is the Kannada word for gooseberry fruit and owing to the gooseberry tree in front of the Basavanna (Nandi) its called the Nellikai Basavanna. This idol of Basava is 1300 ys old. The Nellikai Basavanna idol measures around 10 feet long and 6 feet height.)
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| Nellikayi Basavanna temple |
As the detour of nandi hills came to end , we found ourelf at the back side of our KSTDC hotel.. By now it was 9AM , so we had breakfast in hotel. As we had still time to check-out the rooms, we roamed in children area which is close to Hotel .The Horticulture department maintains a this lovely garden for children to play games like the slides, merry-go-round, swings etc.
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| Adults too enjoying in children play area |
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| Hut like structures in children play area |
We checked out at 12 noon & started our return journey. Overall it was relaxing weekend .. with serenity & beauty of nature around..
Thanks for Reading...
P.S.
Enjoy my travel reports on below links ...
Trek to Kumara Parvata
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3 comments:
Nice blog... very informative ....
Nice blog.. Next time I should also plan for an overnight stay and the treks.
Thanks Girish :)
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