Wayanad Travelogue: Introduction to Wayanad II

To most people Kerala would be synonymous with tall coconut grooves and sun burnt beaches, but I think the real beauty of Kerala lies in its hills. And amongst all hill stations of Kerala Wayanad would rank top in my list. There are many reasons for this but the foremost reason being that this was the first place me and my wife (Then girlfriend) visited when we were dating. But this is not the only reason, Wayanad is not congested unlike other mainstream hill stations like Munnar, the climate is really good (especially at lakkidi) and it has some of the best waterfalls in the world.

I first visited Wayanad in Jan 2009 on a short trip. I was working in Cannanore, a small coastal town in North Kerala and me and my wife just wanted to get away for the weekend. So we choose Wayanad, since it was very close to Cannanore. So we packed our bags and hit the road on our Swift. Wayanad is very well connected by road and it is around 170 Km from Cannanore. However if you are flying into Kerala then it is best to fly into Calicut as Wayanad is just 68 km from Calicut on the Calicut Mysore road.

So we took the NH 17 to reach Calicut and at Calicut we took the Bypass to enter the Calicut Mysore road. I should warn you that the traffic is quite bad inside Calicut city and it is best not to enter Calicut city at least during the day time. If you are traveling from Cannanore there is a short cut to Wayanad which will cut short the distance by nearly 25 km and also bypass Calicut all together. Once you cross Quilandy (about 70kms from Cannanore) there is a road on the left which will take you right to the foot hills of Wayanad. If you are not sure which road this is just ask anybody there and people will be able to tell you the road to Wayanad. However once you hit the Mysore road, traffic thins and you can have a real good drive. The roads in Kerala are very curvaceous and some of the curves can test the skills of even a Formula One driver. If you loved this short article and you wish to receive more information with regards to homestay wayanad generously visit our site. Therefore I would advise you to get an experienced driver to accompany you if you are not confidant about driving in the hills.

After driving on the Mysore road for about 20 Km you reach the foot hills of Wayanad. From here the Wayanad ghat road begins. From the bottom to the top of the hill there are a total of nine hairpin bends and it requires a lot of skill to negotiate these bends. The climb is steep and most of the times I was driving on the 1st or 2nd gear only. All along the way (Especially near the bends you will find many shops selling eatables, and as you near the summit the view is particularly breathtaking. Especially in the evenings just before the sun has set the entire valley below is bathed in this golden sunlight which looks stunning. Sometimes you will see the entire valley cloaked in thick fog, an ethereal experience.

At the top of the summit is a huge arc with two elephants engraved on them and once you cross this arc you are officially into Wayanad.

The first stop in Wayanad is a place called Lakkidi.