About the destination
Kollihills - Kollimalai is a very scenic and not-so-often visited hill-station in Tamilnadu. Kollimalai, 55 km from Namakkal, is fertile and serene hills and homes several spices, exotic tropical fruits, and medicinal vegetation. A weekend trip is idle to be planned for this destination.
Trip Route
Trip Route : Chennai - Ulundurpet - Attur - Mettala - Namagiripettai - Karavalli - Kollimalai (70 Hairpin bends) - Chennai
Kolli Hills is a part of Eastern ghats and well known for a road trip for the 70 hairpin bends it hosts!
The 2 important temples to visit in Kolli are Etukkai Amman temple and Arapaleeshwar Temple.
Etukkai Amman temple
Once we reached Solakkadu, there are 2 routes - one on the right towards Semmedu and the other towards the Etukkai Amman temple. We took the left and go to Etukkai Amman temple.
Etukkai Amman temple is a 300 m walk from the parking area. Etukkai Amman is a local tribal God and popular in the locality. The locals have a tradition of writing the wish in a paper and tying the same to the temple pillar. We spent around 10 minutes around and tasted the local soup (Mudavattukal kilangu) and kuzhi paniyaram on the walk back.
We next planned to visit Arapaleeshwar Temple. The temple is 17 km from the Solakkadu junction. This main deity of the temple is Lord Shiva. The temple is quite old with some history attached to it. The temple is said to be built by King Valvil Ori. The temple timings are 7 AM to 1 PM and 2:30 PM to 7 PM. There are a lot of eateries around the premises of the temple and all are pure vegetarian. Vegetarians, please ensure you have some food here, without which there are no pure veg restaurants anywhere in Kollimalai. The place has a lot of parking around the temple and shops to buy forest agro products like honey, pepper, and lots of condiments.
Agaya Gangai Waterfalls is 1 km walk down from the sides of the temple. The main attraction of Kolli Hills. One has to climb down (and back) 1302 steps to reach the falls. Definitely, a great place!
Arapaleeshwar Temple
We next planned to visit Arapaleeshwar Temple. The temple is 17 km from the Solakkadu junction. This main deity of the temple is Lord Shiva. The temple is quite old with some history attached to it. The temple is said to be built by King Valvil Ori. The temple timings are 7 AM to 1 PM and 2:30 PM to 7 PM. There are a lot of eateries around the premises of the temple and all are pure vegetarian. Vegetarians, please ensure you have some food here, without which there are no pure veg restaurants anywhere in Kollimalai. The place has a lot of parking around the temple and shops to buy forest agro products like honey, pepper, and lots of condiments.
Agaya Gangai Waterfalls is 1 km walk down from the sides of the temple. The main attraction of Kolli Hills. One has to climb down (and back) 1302 steps to reach the falls. Definitely, a great place!
