Visiting Vizag( Vishakhapatnam ), a hidden beauty of South India is a great place as a Holiday destination. Me and my husband were not aware of its beauty unless we decided to visit a new place.
I was a little shaky at the beginning, but decided to collect information of this place called Vizag. So the enthusiasm began while searching for information on Net. The best thing happened to us was 'APTDC' ( Andhra Pradesh tourism Development Centre). We got the info of aptdc in it's Kolkata office. During the same time we learnt about the Tourism Exhibition being held in kolkata. My husband and I visited it and to our surprise, it was full house. We had already collected info. abt vizag and its nearby places from net, So it was easy for us to book hotels. We selected the best of APTDC hotels, Our first destination was RUSHIKONDA BEACH RESORT (Haritha- APTDC), second was ARAKU HILL RESORT (Mayuri- APTDC) and the Final was TYDA - Jungle Bells (APTDC).
Day 1. Our train 'Chennai Mail' departed from Howrah at 11.45 p.m. While boarding the train our tickets were not confirmed but by God's grace it got confirmed and we began our journey to the city of Beaches. On our way we enjoyed the beautiful green paddy fields and amazing Silver 'Kash Phool' which indicated the arrival of Durga Puja. We reached Vishakhapatnam Railway Station by 2.00 p.m the next day . The climate at this time of Oct was not so good though,it was humid. We managed to reach our first destination - RUSHIKONDA by 2.30 p.m. Rushikonda is 7-8 km from Railway Station. One can hire Auto rickhaw for minimum 100 bucks. Once we reached our Resort, the first view was quite pleasant. Rushikonda Beach Resort is situated on a hill with beautiful Beach. As soon as we entered our cottage, we could see the magnificent beach view from our gallery. No words to describe how it felt at that time. We couldnt resist to take some snaps of the beach frm our room. We spent that evening on the beach with some 'bhutta' and 'chai' to relish. In the night we had dinner at 'Offshore' restuarant with the magnificent night view of beach at the backdrop..
Day2 : We got up early to see the sunrise and the morning bliss of beach. Unfortunately we couldnt get the perfect sunrise that morning. After taking some shots we had wonderful South Indian filling breakfast and got ready for the real Beach Bath. It was sunny so we couldnt resist ourselves to plunge into the cool salty water. What fun it was to feel the water waves which sometimes was mild and sometimes wild. In the evening we visited the 'Indira Gandhi Zoological Park' which was quite near to Rushikonda Beach. The zoo is quite large and spacious but to our despair couldnt see wild life except the amazing 'Hippo' swimming happily in the pond which was quite huge and few reptiles very closely in natural env. This was end of day two.
Day3- Today i woke up at 5.45 a.m with the sound of cool waves clashing up and down . I dragged the curtains sideways to see the beautiful and perfect sunrise, this time we were fortunate. We had the morning tea with a company of the beautiful sunrise. It was time for us to leave to 'Araku' , our next destination. We left the place hoping to come back again someday.
Araku Valley is a beautiful valley with amazing coffee plantations and 'Eucalyptus Forests'. This valley is a home for many tribal communities. It is almost 90 km from Vizag. We hired a car to reach araku and visit 'Borra Caves' on the way. On our way we could slowly feel the cool breeze flowing from the valley. We first visited the Coffee Garden which was really beautiful and also sipped the fresh and hot Coffee. On the way one could see the tribal life closely, people working in the fields, men and women walking by the roadside, Some selling their typical types of grains and fruits, vegetables. By 12 we reache borra caves, where we were welcomed by the monkeys with short tails.( amazed to see monkeys with Short Tails) The entry to the caves was chaotic with huge crowd of visitors coming and exiting. The Borra Cave is a Stalactite and Stalagmite formation. It was quite dark inside wit some lights at specific locations. Till now it wa only in Geography that we studied abt stalactite and stalagmites but now we actually could see it. It was worth seeing. The caves is huge and takes lot of time to view the entire area. It also has a temple at the highest point. By 1.30 we managed to exit the caves and after having lunch we set our way to Araku. Araku is 30-40km from Borra Caves. By afternoon 4 we reached our destination ' Mayuri Hill Resort. This resort is wondrfully constructed with beautiful garden all around and a perfect Valley Home. After checking in we planned to visit 'Padmapuram' garden . Padmapuram garden has all kinds of flowers and trees that one could see . After a short trip to this garden we stopped at the 'Araku Tribal Museum' which was quite close to the Mayuri Resort. The museum is well maintained where one can see the glimpse of Tribal Life. The sun was about to set and the view was beautiful with Sun setting behind the Mountains with a little drizzle making the atmosphere quite cool in the valley. The place was amazing and we enjoyed our stay in the valley to the fullest.
Day 4 : In the morning we were to head to 'Tyda jungle Bells' , our next stop. Tyda is a beautiful place amidst the jungle. APTDC has its magnificent Resort named 'Tyda Jungle Bells' with different types of cottages such as Log Hut, Wooden Cottage, Igloo Cottage in its huge vicinity. We reached tyda by 11 a.m and it had started to rain heavily. We were suppose to stay in a Wooden Log Hut so we were excited to see it. As we headed to the log hut we could hear the birds chirping, the leaves rustling due to the rains, the monkeys running here n there. The log hut was situated among the dense trees , it was a beautiful hut which was rested on the huge logs of wood. There was a wooden staircase and the interiors were totally wooden. The room had a huge glass wall which gave a beautiful scenic view from the room itself. In the evening the local tribal women presented the 'Dhimsa Dance' for the visitors around the bonfire. We enjoyed the dance with a dish of Pakodas.
Day5 : The next morning we headed early for a jungle trek and bird watching. The walk was exciting and long enough . On the way , our guide showed us the fresh footmarks of the wild cat which tickled our minds for a second. We could now closely see the tribal life and their farms which covered the ground like a green velvet. We left the jungle bells in the afternoon to reach back to vizag. In the evening , after reaching vizag we went to the Ramkrishna Beach, Submarine , Aquarium and the Kali mandir. The day was hectic.
Day6: This morning it was time to visit 'Kailsagiri' a hill which is beautifully converted to a huge garden with stunning Lord Shiva and Parvati statues in white. Kailasgiri also has a Transparent Toy train which takes you for a ride of the entire kailasgiri. Kailasgiri has food facility too. A nice one day picnic spot for the visitors and the locals. One can reach kailasgiri by a ropeway or by road. One can get an excellent view of the city and its beaches from kailasgiri hill. By evening we spent our time at kailasgiri and then spent the rest of the time at RK beach. At night we headed back to Kolkata leaving behind our footprints in Vizag's beaches and Jungles. And carrying the sweet memories of Vizag for our lifetime.
I was a little shaky at the beginning, but decided to collect information of this place called Vizag. So the enthusiasm began while searching for information on Net. The best thing happened to us was 'APTDC' ( Andhra Pradesh tourism Development Centre). We got the info of aptdc in it's Kolkata office. During the same time we learnt about the Tourism Exhibition being held in kolkata. My husband and I visited it and to our surprise, it was full house. We had already collected info. abt vizag and its nearby places from net, So it was easy for us to book hotels. We selected the best of APTDC hotels, Our first destination was RUSHIKONDA BEACH RESORT (Haritha- APTDC), second was ARAKU HILL RESORT (Mayuri- APTDC) and the Final was TYDA - Jungle Bells (APTDC).
Day 1. Our train 'Chennai Mail' departed from Howrah at 11.45 p.m. While boarding the train our tickets were not confirmed but by God's grace it got confirmed and we began our journey to the city of Beaches. On our way we enjoyed the beautiful green paddy fields and amazing Silver 'Kash Phool' which indicated the arrival of Durga Puja. We reached Vishakhapatnam Railway Station by 2.00 p.m the next day . The climate at this time of Oct was not so good though,it was humid. We managed to reach our first destination - RUSHIKONDA by 2.30 p.m. Rushikonda is 7-8 km from Railway Station. One can hire Auto rickhaw for minimum 100 bucks. Once we reached our Resort, the first view was quite pleasant. Rushikonda Beach Resort is situated on a hill with beautiful Beach. As soon as we entered our cottage, we could see the magnificent beach view from our gallery. No words to describe how it felt at that time. We couldnt resist to take some snaps of the beach frm our room. We spent that evening on the beach with some 'bhutta' and 'chai' to relish. In the night we had dinner at 'Offshore' restuarant with the magnificent night view of beach at the backdrop..
Day2 : We got up early to see the sunrise and the morning bliss of beach. Unfortunately we couldnt get the perfect sunrise that morning. After taking some shots we had wonderful South Indian filling breakfast and got ready for the real Beach Bath. It was sunny so we couldnt resist ourselves to plunge into the cool salty water. What fun it was to feel the water waves which sometimes was mild and sometimes wild. In the evening we visited the 'Indira Gandhi Zoological Park' which was quite near to Rushikonda Beach. The zoo is quite large and spacious but to our despair couldnt see wild life except the amazing 'Hippo' swimming happily in the pond which was quite huge and few reptiles very closely in natural env. This was end of day two.
Day3- Today i woke up at 5.45 a.m with the sound of cool waves clashing up and down . I dragged the curtains sideways to see the beautiful and perfect sunrise, this time we were fortunate. We had the morning tea with a company of the beautiful sunrise. It was time for us to leave to 'Araku' , our next destination. We left the place hoping to come back again someday.
Araku Valley is a beautiful valley with amazing coffee plantations and 'Eucalyptus Forests'. This valley is a home for many tribal communities. It is almost 90 km from Vizag. We hired a car to reach araku and visit 'Borra Caves' on the way. On our way we could slowly feel the cool breeze flowing from the valley. We first visited the Coffee Garden which was really beautiful and also sipped the fresh and hot Coffee. On the way one could see the tribal life closely, people working in the fields, men and women walking by the roadside, Some selling their typical types of grains and fruits, vegetables. By 12 we reache borra caves, where we were welcomed by the monkeys with short tails.( amazed to see monkeys with Short Tails) The entry to the caves was chaotic with huge crowd of visitors coming and exiting. The Borra Cave is a Stalactite and Stalagmite formation. It was quite dark inside wit some lights at specific locations. Till now it wa only in Geography that we studied abt stalactite and stalagmites but now we actually could see it. It was worth seeing. The caves is huge and takes lot of time to view the entire area. It also has a temple at the highest point. By 1.30 we managed to exit the caves and after having lunch we set our way to Araku. Araku is 30-40km from Borra Caves. By afternoon 4 we reached our destination ' Mayuri Hill Resort. This resort is wondrfully constructed with beautiful garden all around and a perfect Valley Home. After checking in we planned to visit 'Padmapuram' garden . Padmapuram garden has all kinds of flowers and trees that one could see . After a short trip to this garden we stopped at the 'Araku Tribal Museum' which was quite close to the Mayuri Resort. The museum is well maintained where one can see the glimpse of Tribal Life. The sun was about to set and the view was beautiful with Sun setting behind the Mountains with a little drizzle making the atmosphere quite cool in the valley. The place was amazing and we enjoyed our stay in the valley to the fullest.
Day 4 : In the morning we were to head to 'Tyda jungle Bells' , our next stop. Tyda is a beautiful place amidst the jungle. APTDC has its magnificent Resort named 'Tyda Jungle Bells' with different types of cottages such as Log Hut, Wooden Cottage, Igloo Cottage in its huge vicinity. We reached tyda by 11 a.m and it had started to rain heavily. We were suppose to stay in a Wooden Log Hut so we were excited to see it. As we headed to the log hut we could hear the birds chirping, the leaves rustling due to the rains, the monkeys running here n there. The log hut was situated among the dense trees , it was a beautiful hut which was rested on the huge logs of wood. There was a wooden staircase and the interiors were totally wooden. The room had a huge glass wall which gave a beautiful scenic view from the room itself. In the evening the local tribal women presented the 'Dhimsa Dance' for the visitors around the bonfire. We enjoyed the dance with a dish of Pakodas.
Day5 : The next morning we headed early for a jungle trek and bird watching. The walk was exciting and long enough . On the way , our guide showed us the fresh footmarks of the wild cat which tickled our minds for a second. We could now closely see the tribal life and their farms which covered the ground like a green velvet. We left the jungle bells in the afternoon to reach back to vizag. In the evening , after reaching vizag we went to the Ramkrishna Beach, Submarine , Aquarium and the Kali mandir. The day was hectic.
Day6: This morning it was time to visit 'Kailsagiri' a hill which is beautifully converted to a huge garden with stunning Lord Shiva and Parvati statues in white. Kailasgiri also has a Transparent Toy train which takes you for a ride of the entire kailasgiri. Kailasgiri has food facility too. A nice one day picnic spot for the visitors and the locals. One can reach kailasgiri by a ropeway or by road. One can get an excellent view of the city and its beaches from kailasgiri hill. By evening we spent our time at kailasgiri and then spent the rest of the time at RK beach. At night we headed back to Kolkata leaving behind our footprints in Vizag's beaches and Jungles. And carrying the sweet memories of Vizag for our lifetime.
