The Malnad long weekend
3 days· easy·Chikkamagaluru
This is the trip to take if you have a Friday off and have never been to Chikkamagaluru before. Everything is within an hour of town, none of it needs a permit, and the driving is on tarmac the whole way. Two early starts are unavoidable: the ridge clouds over by nine, and the falls fill with day-trippers by eleven.
Day 1 of 3
- Afternoon
Arrive and settle in
Most homestays are 20–40 minutes out of town on estate roads. Arrive in daylight — the last stretch is rarely lit and the turnings are unmarked.
- Late afternoon
Hirekolale Lake
Fifteen minutes from town, and the easiest introduction to the landscape you are about to spend three days in. Go an hour before sunset.
Day 2 of 3
- Before dawn
Sunrise on Mullayanagiri
Leave your stay by 5:00 AM. The road goes almost to the top; the last stretch is a stepped climb of about ten minutes. Take a windproof layer — it is genuinely cold up there before the sun.
- Mid-morning
Baba Budangiri and Manikyadhara
Twenty minutes on from Mullayanagiri along the ridge. The falls are a short walk from the road and are more of a heavy spray than a drop — pleasant on a warm morning, thin in the dry months.
- Afternoon
Back down for a long lunch
Estate kitchens do this better than restaurants do. If your stay offers lunch, take it — this is the meal people remember.
Day 3 of 3
- Morning
Walk the coffee before you leave
Ask your host for an hour in the blocks. Arabica under silver oak, pepper vines up the trunks, and the drying yard if you are here in December. It costs nothing and explains the whole district.