Why we call it niagara of india
Although i have spent around 7 years in kerala and that too very precious years of my adulthood, and it added most important spices in my adventurous voyage, Athirappilly turned to be one of the best experience I had through these years. When it comes to Kerala each and every place is tourist place be it Kochi, Alleppey, Kolam, Wayanad or Kuttanad. So I have visited Athirappilly in non-monsoon period and it was quite dry and calm but yet same charm and crowd, will write in details below before that let’s speak about the place, culture and people.
Athirappilly Falls, is situated in Athirappilly Panchayat in Chalakudy Taluk of Thrissur District in Kerala, India on the Chalakudy River, which originates from the upper reaches of the Western Ghats at the entrance to the Sholayar ranges. It is the largest waterfall in Kerala, which stands tall at 80 feet. Just a short drive from Athirappilly to the Vazhachal falls, which is close to dense green forests that are home to many endangered and endemic species of flora and fauna.
There is another waterfall on the way from Athirappilly to Vazhachal Falls, in close proximity to the road, which is locally called "Charpa Falls". Athirappilly Falls is the largest waterfall in Kerala and is nicknamed "The Niagara of India"
Best time to visit
Best time to see the falls is in monsoon when it brings penalty of water and you really imagine how a lot of Malayalam films capitalized it’s beauty and made a scenic masterpiece including Tamil BlockBuster Bahubali. Although I visited there in May or June few years ago but I can still visualise the fun I had there along with my friends. That means you can have fun visiting Athirappilly any time but special privilege to see it’s mighty image only in monsoon that is mid July to mid October. Rainy season adds extra layer of greenery to the roadside river banks while travelling from kochi to Athirapally.
Climate(12 months)
Athirappilly weather on weather.com
How to reach( by air, bus , train and car)
Nearest airport is Kochi international airport, Since Athirappilly is not a more than one day to stay place, all you have to do is stay in Kochi the nearest airport from here, and explore it’s near by place one at a time and come back here to spend your night near fort Kochi beach side budget hotels. Fort Kochi is a good place to hide your head and at the same time you can chill on the beaches in your spare time here. As i have rented a flat here in Kochi near LULU mall i became almost local here so i can brief more about Kochi in my next blog. Apart from that you Kochi is the commercial capital of Kerala and it connects with almost all parts of India by train and air so you can book your train tickets from any part of the country and also buses running on a daily basis from Bangalore. In Fact you can enjoy a drive from Bangalore to Kochi and in between you can enjoy the ride through beautiful jungle of Wayanad it will be another chapter which i will write in my next blogs.
Staying and food
If it comes to food we all know Kerala produces variety of spice and tea, we will get good taste especially non-vegetarian food in Kochi. I would suggest have food from tatkaada(street side vendors). Naadan chicken(desi chicken) is awesome which you will get from any tatakaada is a must try. Chilly bhaji, kappa, Kerala protha, egg curry, beef fry and local thali is one of its kinds. Apart from that there is so much to give a try if it comes to food since I am a vegetarian still i find Kerala veg-Thali especially sathya thali which is famous in ONAM awesome.
Couple friendly
I can see these people don’t care if you are not from Kerala. But yes! These guys believe in tradition and culture so they won’t find it easy if you are making a scene in front of public. One thing I have noticed is some people are really crazy when they see north indians girls and they do try to make you uncomfortable, My advice is to be decent and don’t get involved too much with strangers, especially urban people, having said that you are not unsafe there but make sure you don’t make them uncomfortable. I have few lifetime friends there and I can say they are the best people I have ever met in my life.
Things to Do
Bike trip from Kochi to Athirapally was one of the best decisions you could ever make because in between you can explore the scenic beauty of the river side never ending road. As you can see in the above picture, I would say I have enjoyed more photographing these river banks than actually going down and watching the mighty falls. How ever you can take bus from kochi to athirapally and try to cross the river bank. We went there and get busted by the guards and I tried hard to pursue him not to make a big scene there. I still remember my friend running away from him like a thief as if he has committed some crime hahaha. But yeah it was a different experience to pursue a corp not to penalty us.(here my Malayalam experience did the trick).
Night life
The only thing you will miss here in Kerala is night life, Although you can find suuta and chai shop open whole night near Ernakulam railway station and high court junction banerji road but if you are expecting club, pub or liquor shop open whole night sorry for that you won’t get it, if you don’t have my contact number 😛 hahaha. So i would say there is no night life if you are a night crawler, be alert !
Things to be taken care of
People here in Kochi are good host but little hypocrite so never hurt their sentiment. They are very much obsessed about their culture and tradition so don’t break the rule. Although some people are very helpful and kind hearted exceptions is everywhere, extremists are always there everywhere.
Author’s experience
I have already told you earlier in this post i have spent an ample amount of time there and i got well dissolved in their day to day life and thinking that i do know how i can enjoy my time there and how to get rid of hard times and difficulties. In Fact I started living there like i belong to this land and I own this place(That's another quality of mine :D). By the way i will write a seperate blog about my journey there in Kochi, It’s a long and interesting story of my life (Of course that includes making friends and being attracted towards a local girl). How ever i got a lifetime friend and only girl I have ever met whom I thought have the same mindset and tuning that I got, that’s another story, of course! and i don’t want to make a post out of it :P, might be a Film would do the trick. :D, Anyway overall Athirappilly is a must visit if you are in the town and you got one spare day out of your busy schedule here in Kerala.
Vlogs and photos
You can find some pics in the gallery and i will be uploading a video on my you tube channel about this place very soon. will update the link here very soon.
Keep travelling, Keep living