Trivandrum to Coutrallam via Thenmala

- June 26, 2017

Living in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) is always a plus point where many places in and around are easily accessible.

Few places to name though

Kanyakumari (90 KM)
Nagercoil (65 KM)
Alappuzha (150 KM)
Ponmudi (60 KM)
Kovalam (15 KM)
Thenmala (70 KM)
Coutrallam (110 KM)
Varkala (45 KM)

Apart from the above listed one, there are many more places as well and this time I have decided to visit Coutrallam which is called as the SPA of South India. I have been to coutrallam a couple of times before but not via bike. I haven't made my decision for the trip until unless i saw those beautiful weather condition in the morning. I don't want to travel to this place during a dry weather where I might end up in visiting empty rocks without water.

But in the morning I just loved the way it was drizzling and I have no hesitation to start my journey with my wife by 7 AM . On the way it was started to rain heavily and I was very happy that i might not end up in watching an empty rock. We just took a towel and a bottle of water with us.

I reached Nedumanagad via Vembayam where the route was really nice and we stopped there for a tea break. It was raining heavily and the hot cup of tea by that time was really good.

The route was very scenic as it was covered with greenery every where and there are multiple places on our way to visit but we didn't stop in any of those places as my target is to visit coutralam falls and to return home before night.

Places we can visit on the way are

Arippa Eco Tourism
Thenmala Eco Tourism
Sanjeevini Vanam
Kulathupuzha Sastha Temple
Palaruvi Waterfalls
Aryankavu Ayyappa Temple

We visited Kulathupuzha Sastha Temple though. It was located on the banks of kulathupuzha river and 11 kms before thenmala Dam.

Entrance to the temple

Myself and my wife felt really blessed after visiting this temple and we offered "Meenoottu vazhipadu" (Offering of feeding food to fish) as well. After visiting this temple we head towards coutrallam.

Boating place for Thenmala Eco Tourism

Thenmala

After Thenmala, you will come across a bridge which holds one of the India's oldest mountains rails en roots to Thenmala - Aryankavu. The Bridge was built on 13 arches. This is an iconic bridge and it is newly constructed. But what I felt was that the old bridge seems to be more beautiful than the new one I am not lucky enough to witness the old bridge. There will be stairs available where you can get to the top of the bridge for some really nice views.

Palaruvi Waterfalls is located just 10 kms from this bridge and it seems to be crowded as it was raining throughout the day so that people can enjoy the waterfalls.

Once you cross the Kerala Border there is view point from which you can see the Sengottai - Tenkasi Road and its a good to have a break there.

Finally we reached Kutralam falls after 3 hours of drive and the breeze we felt was simply awesome. As it was raining for the past two days , there was abundance of water in the falls and no surprise it was crowded like anything.

Felt refreshed after the bath and had some hot snacks.

And now we were heading towards a shop for our luch. Thats the shop I was always wanted to go as I heard that the Parotta and thier pepper chicken will be amazing and guess what, thats true. We ordered Chicken biriyani, Parotta, Pepper chicken out of which my favorite was their parotta. You have to wait if you come late. We were lucky enough to find seats as we were there before 1 PM.