[RR96]

I along with my mom and sister visited the Athirappally Waterfalls on 10th September in our Wagon R. This is my first attempt to write a travelogue and through this I am sharing my experience of our trip to Athirappally from Karunagappally.

I would call myself a confident and enthusiastic driver but am not that experienced and would have less than 10K kms of driving experience under my belt. And hence this trip was little risky considering the facts that I was the only one who drives and the weather wasn't pleasant. Even though I was familiar with route up to Angamaly, it was the first time I was driving through this route.

My sister had been home for a week for her Onam holidays and she had been complaining that we don't take her for tours and she was adamant that we would go for a trip at least for a day to somewhere nearby. I also happened to see an announcement recently in the newspaper about single day trips organized by KSRTC to tourist destinations like Athirapally-Malakkappara, Vagamon-Munnar etc. from most KSRTC stands on weekends and holidays which just costs around Rs 1000 per person which includes charges for food and entry fees to spots. I discussed this with Mom and she was against the idea of travelling in a KSRTC bus the whole day and would neither allow me and my sister to go without her.

On the day after Thiruvonam, we woke up at seven and after a sudden plan to go on a trip, we decided to leave for Ernakulam. We left home by 8:30 am. After an hour's drive, we neared Alappuzha. We were hungry (yesterday's heavy Onam sadya would have got fully digested) and started looking for hotels along the route. Spotted Avees Puttu House by the roadside just before Alappuzha bypass, we happily alighted there and had tasty Paalappam, hot Kerala Porotta and Kadala (Black Chana) curry for breakfast.

A huge Puttu Kutti(Utensil used to prepare Puttu):


Paalappam and Kadala Curry:


Kerala Porotta:

By 10:30 am we started our drive again towards Ernakulam. Crossed the newly built Alappuzha bypass for the first time and felt that it was one of the most beautiful highways through which I have driven. It was raining and the drive through the elevated highway with the Alappuzha beach visible on the westside was a beautiful experience.

Alappuzha Bypass aerial view(Pic source- Wikipedia):

Reached Aluva by 1:30 pm and I decided to meet my dear friend and my roommate at college. He lives in Perumbavoor and we visited him and had Biriyani from his place. We had a good chat for an hour at his home during which we remembered the lively time we had together with our hostel-mates at college. By the time we left his house it was already 3 pm and we decided not visit Athirappally that day as it would be dark by the time we would be returning.

I then decided that we would go to Edappally and spend sometime in Lulu Mall and go for a ride on the Kochi Metro. We reached Lulu Mall by 4 pm and as it was a holiday, the mall was full and we had to park our car on the topmost floor(5th) of the parking building of the Mall. We then took the walkway on the second floor of the mall to the Metro and took tickets to Petta from Edappally and return. We had travelled from Aluva to Edappally by road and hence I decided to take them on the other direction by Metro. For a person who travels by metro for the first time it would be a trip worth spending time. Reached Lulu back by 5 pm and spent time in the mall and bought dinner from the hypermarket food stall. We stayed at our relative's house at Thrippunithura for the night.

[RR96]

Next day, on 10th morning I woke up early and quickly visited Poornathrayeesa temple and after having breakfast we left for Athirappally by 10 am. We initially were sceptical about proceeding to Athirappally as the weather was cloudy but then decided to take the plunge.

We took the route shown by google maps:

But the road after the deviation from NH544 as shown in the map has many broken paths, even though this route shorter I think its better to take the other route i.e. take the deviation from Chalakkudy. By 11:30 am we entered the Sholayar Reserve forest area, the drive through the forest area with oil palm trees and water bodies on its sides is beautiful.

We stopped at Ezhattumugham Prakriti gramam which is on the way to Athirappally. This is a tourist spot with a hanging bridge above Chalakudy river. You can enjoy the scenes above the bridge and take social media worthy photographs. This place has an entry fee of Rs.20 per adult and Rs.30 for car parking. The hanging bridge is quite long and connects Ezhattumugham village in Ernakulam and Thumboormuzhi in Thrissur.

A video tour of Ezhattumugham Prakriti gramam:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZydoUCSZ5Y

Hanging Bridge above Chalakkudy river:

[RR96]

We reached Athirappally by 1:30 pm. Paid the entry fee of Rs.50 per person for Athirapally and Vazhchal falls and Rs.30 for parking. The spot was filled with tourists as it was a holiday and the roadsides were full with cars parked at every gaps. We managed to park our car near the entrance to the waterfalls.

It was the first time I was visiting it and seeing this massive waterfall almost flowing at a high rate was mind-blowing. Some pictures which I clicked:









Have uploaded the videos taken from top of the waterfalls to Youtube. Sharing its links:

https://youtu.be/iv_q0JdjDyg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDysdoP7l8U

A good vlog on Athirappally falls in Malayalam with English subtitles:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAmMX3YB2cI

We spent an hour and more at the falls and decided to leave for home since we wanted to reach home early and have a good sleep. On the way back we had meals and Biriyani from a restaurant nearby. After spending more than half an hour at the traffic jams both at Angamaly and Aluva and we reached Edappally at 6:30pm and took a short break. On the way back home we had tasty Masala Dosas from Hotel Aryaas near Alappuzha. We finally reached home by 10:30pm.

Our trip was planned suddenly and hence we couldn't cover many other spots nearby. If one leaves Ernakulam early morning, one would be able to cover our whole trip along with Sholayar Dam, Malakkappara, Valparrai etc. Anyhow we enjoyed our trip and were happy that the weather wasn't too harsh and we reached back home safely.

The drive, sights seen and time spent with people we love are the most precious experiences we get from these trips and I hope I would be lucky enough to do more of these in future.

Signing off photo- Our Reliable Wagon R in front of Vettilappara Bridge :

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[haisaikat]

Wonderful creation of nature. Ever since I saw the Athirappally waterfall in Bahubali, I have desire to visit it at least once. I know there was some CGI at play in creating w dream sequence but whatever they showed made a lasting impression on me. Now I crave to visit it at least once. Thank you for bringing it to us, keep travelling.

[chaitanyakrish]

Excellent Pics

Have to plan Athirapally and Thrissur soon.

[RR96]

Originally Posted by haisaikat

Wonderful creation of nature. Ever since I saw the Athirappally waterfall in Bahubali, I have desire to visit it at least once. I know there was some CGI at play in creating w dream sequence but whatever they showed made a lasting impression on me. Now I crave to visit it at least once. Thank you for bringing it to us, keep travelling.

Originally Posted by chaitanyakrish

Excellent Pics

Have to plan Athirapally and Thrissur soon.

Happy that my post has created an interest in you to visit such spots. Do plan well and try at least to spend three to four days in Kerala and travel to the places of your interest.

[rt363]

As beautiful the view is from the top, you should plan another trip just to see the falls from the bottom.

It is a magnificent sight to watch!
Although I have been to athirapally a dozen times, it was in my last trip that I actually went down to watch from bottom.

[RR96]

Originally Posted by rt363

As beautiful the view is from the top, you should plan another trip just to see the falls from the bottom.

It is a magnificent sight to watch!
Although I have been to athirapally a dozen times, it was in my last trip that I actually went down to watch from bottom.

You are right, this was the first thing that my friends mentioned when they found out that I didn't go to the bottom of the falls.

As I was a first-time visitor, I wasn't aware of it. On the positive side this provides a reason to plan well and go back again and cover other nearby locations too.

Sharing a photo sent by my dear friend and BHPian Drouni of the falls from the bottom, this was taken six years back:

Another thing is that if I had gone to the bottom on the that day I visited, I would have got completely drenched as the falls was in its full capacity. In such a situation its better one takes another pair of clothes or even a raincoat to the bottom.