Vizag and Araku Valley

Trip members: Karthik and Vijay with families
Trip date: 13, 14 and 15 Aug 2016
Trip Plan : Chennai - Vishakapatnam - Araku Valley - Vishakapatnam - Chennai

Day-1

The plan was for 3-days and 2 nights - one night stay in Vizag and 1-night in Araku.

We reached Vizag around 8 AM by Indigo flight and took a cab from Airport to Simhachalam. Vijay and his family joined us at the temple by Tempo traveller. We had breakfast at a local restaurant - top of the hill - Idlis and masala dosas; they were good - typical Andhra spicy food :).

The Simhachalam temple is for Lord Narasimha. There is a belief that the Simhachalam temple was built on the exact spot where Vishnu stood to protect Prahlada from Hiranyakasipu. The temple is quite outside the city - round 17 kms. There are free and paid dharshans. Paid dharshans are for Rs.50 and Rs,100. The free dharshan was quite long and could have taken us couple of hours. We went for Rs.100 queue and did the dharshan in 10 minutes. The temple is quite old and we had a serene feel inside the temple.

Next, we went to Indira Gandhi Zoological Park - Zoo at Vishakapatnam. The zoo is one of the good ones in India hosting - Bengal tiger, White tiger, Lion, Rhinoceros, Girafee and many more, They charge Rs.20 for an adult and Rs.10 for children and Rs.20 for still cameras. Every Monday is a holiday for the zoo. We spent around 2 hours in the zoo on a very sultry day; it was quite harsh to walk all around in sun. However, there were reasonable number of shops inside for water, snacks and soft drinks. There are battery cars at a cheap rate; however they were not available when we entered.

We decided to check-in to the hotel - Hotel Supreme in Vishakapatnam - as we preferred to take some rest on a hot day. We checked-in and had lunch at Supreme. The check-in process was ok and the rooms were quite comfortable and very clean. They offer sea facing rooms at a premium charge and we did not prefer it. There are complementary water bottles and newspaper; kettle with sachets of milk, tea and coffee.

The restaurant was quite good. Though it took time to serve varieties of rice and rotis, they were made fresh and tasty. Across four meals, we found consistency in the quality of food served was very good.

After the break, we visited Kailashgiri - the top place in Vizag y 4 PM. It is around 3-4 kms from the R.K.Beach. The small hill gives a grandeur to Vizag - amazing views of the beach from the top. One side, we can see the beautiful beaches and other side of the hill gives us complete view of the port city. We need to pay per head and for the vehicle as we enter to the hill. There is a point called Titanic point - giving a good view of the sea.

As we go around, there are few small eateries, a toy train, a big Lord Shiva-Parvathy statue and lot of spots to take photographs. A great time killer for evenings and must visit place in Vizag.

We went through the R.K.Beach (Ramakrishna Beach) and reached the second most important place - Submarine Museum - Kursura, a Russian built submarine. The Museum in closed on Monday; entry ticket is Rs.40/- and there is an additional charge for camera and they check for it inside randomly as well. The museum was very good - first time experience in a Submarine. It took less than 20 minutes to see and was a nice experience to see how small is the space to move inside; how submariners lead their life and the torpedoes.

By Sunset, we were in R.K Beach and were enjoying the sea views. The beach is approachable in certain areas and rocky in few places. The whole length of the beach is maintained very clean and excellent. There are statues for prominent national and historical people; small parks and road side eateries. There was sweet shop on the opposite side and we tasted some snacks, sweets and cakes.

We had dinner at Hotel Supreme itself and went to bed by 9 PM. The plan was to start to Araku next morning by 8 AM post breakfast - buffet; complimentary in room rent.

Day-2

Post good breakfast, we started to Borra caves and Araku valley by 8 AM. The driver said he will drive us through the fishing harbour of Vizag for a different experience. He said that this is one of the largest fishing harbours in India and yes, it was. He also took us on a detour through HPCL, Government container service, port and many more.

We reached Borra caves around 11:30. There was a long queue for getting the tickets - being a long weekend, it was too crowded. It tool almost 20-25 minutes to get tickets. The entrance tickets are Rs.60 per adult, Rs.45 per child, Rs.100 for camera. The caves are massive and anyone who sees, will definitely have an exclamation mark to begin with. One needs to get down few stairs - may be around 70-80 to see the caves. To traverse all over the caves, there are steel ladder like structures put up and we need to climb up or climb down all along to see the massive structures.

The calcite formations are of different forms and they are nice to go around and see. If the crowd is less, it could have been more interesting and relaxing. It takes around 90-120 minutes to see the whole place. Taking lot of water is important in calcite caves and ensure you carry enough water with you. There are restrooms near the entrance and it is for free. There are small eateries nearby and looks like chicken roasted in bamboo is a special there.

Being vegetarian, we went to a small restaurant - Hotel Nagalaxmi for meals. The typical local Andhra meals in a local food joint - the pappu, fries, curd and vegetables in the hunger was just more than exuberant!

We then drove to Araku - it is around 30 kms from Borra caves. The ghat section is around 51 kms in total stretch and Borra caves is located in 24th km of the ghat section. There is Katiki waterfalls near Borra and one needs to take 4-wheel drive to reach this falls. We skipped it and we stopped inbetween at Galikonda view point.

Galikonda view point is a nice place - offering very good views of the valley. Cameras can have a good time here. Local vendors sell spices and coffee here. We spent around 20 minutes here.

We reached Araku valley - almost a plain at the top. It was very pleasant to see the place - as very unexpectedly, the whole valley was so flat that agriculture of paddy was so prominent in the valley. We had booked Haritha valley resort in advance and checked-in. Though the check-in was amazingly slow, the rooms were good. There is a swimming pool too and it was almost full.

We took rest for few minutes and then went to Tribal museum. Tribal museum has a small pond inside for boating and lot of shops on local makes - souvenirs. There are no eateries inside and is a good place for a causal evening. The museum displays all tribal used items - used in kitchen, trade, agriculture, weaving, and many more. It is maintained very well and quite clean too. We spent around an hour there and returned to APTDC Haritha for overnight.

The dinner was open by 8 PM and ordered rotis and phulkas. It took almost 45 minutes for the food to get served. Few customers were irritated for the long waiting time. However, I see this to be a pattern across all APTDC resorts to get food served with long waiting time. This definitely has to be addressed.

Day-3

The plan was to start around 7:30 AM and goto Vizag - to visit Yarada Beach. The breakfast was not ready in APTDC and the driver suggested to have food in a roadside shop near Borra. We took the risk and the risk turned out to be a feast of excellent idlies, pooris and dosas. We went almost overboard and cherished the roadside food near Borra and continued towards Vizag.

The route in the plains were very crowded and it takes lot of time to navigate outskirts of Vizag. The city has got good broad roads and movement is quite comfortable.

We reached Yarada Beach around 12:30. The beach is approachable through hills on the southern side of Vizag. It takes almost 45 minutes to reach the beach from the city. The last few kms are very exciting as we get to see beautiful beach lines from the hills. It was drizzling when we reached. There is an entrance ticket for adults - Rs.30 to access Yarada beach.

The Yarada beach is naturally abundant in beauty - green small hill on one side and the whole stretch of sandy beach bordered by trees on other. A perfect time killer to just sit and watch the sea and the beauty around. We spent around 1 hour in the beach and slowly the rain started to pour. Many people play in the waters and there are restrooms to wash and change near the beach. Quite scenic place ! A must visit in Vizag.

There is a small canteen at the beach and they have limited options. We saw the canteen and were not convinced on the options and quality of the place. We requested the driver to take us to some good Andhra lunch - Hotel Sri Sairam was the answer. We reached the place around 14:15 and had to wait for 45 minutes to get a table. The meals costed Rs.100 for adult and Rs.55 for kids. They serve hot rice with pappu, dhall powder, ghee, gongura chutney, fries along with regular items in the meals. They keep refilling as it gets emptied. We ate steadily and ended our lunch almost at 4 PM.

We then went to Matsyadharshni - Aquarium at the Ramakrishna Beach. The aquarium is know to host few rare species. We saw Piranha. Tiger sharks, Red Squirrel fishes, Gourami and few more.

At this moment, we got to know our flight back to Chennai is delayed by more than 2 hours -- Oh Yes .. Spice JET !! OMG ... again ... I recollect, that almost all my Spice Jet flights that I had used in  the past 18 months had never been on time ! We joined our friends in their rooms in Hotel Supreme, had dinner and started to airport in Ola later in the evening!

A very satisfied, most needed break and pleasant memories !