Ever Land Fantasy Park

This is the largest fantasy park in Asia. It is maintained by Samsung, so to avail discount try contacting someone who holds Samsung Credit cards. You get about 50% off, other wise it cost 35,000 KRW. There is a bus from Suwon station to this fantasy park, but better way to go there is to get in to a taxi if you have 4 or more people. It costs about 25,000 won to reach there in taxi. The route is awesome, and you will enjoy the drive if you happen to go in winter or early summer.

It was drizzling when I went there, so there wasn’t much crowd, and that was good, otherwise you may have to wait at least half an hour for each ride. One you have taken the ticket you don’t need to pay for each ride, you can go on taking the rides.

I enjoyed the 4D movie, where in you actually feel that you are in the place where the movie is going on, and you feel everything from breezing air to splashing water from the falls. It is an awesome experience. Other things you can enjoy are the rotating haunted house, roller coaster ride, the water ride over falls. The clock ride, where they take you to a great height on a rotating wheel and you can have a nice view of the fantasy park. There are many funny rides where you really go crazy, you must be very daring to take all. Some rides are only worth for kids, and we even gone in some of those to recall those childhood days.

There is a water ride on an artificial river, like river rafting. It is one of the enjoyable rides. We took this twice and it was raining so heavily that time, we all got drenched but the enjoyment it brought is not comparable. The drive through the wild life in a bus, so called Safari is also good. But animals looked to be very much trained and you don’t feel that wildness in them, they will mostly be lying on the sides of the road under some shelter or upon rocks. On the way back we took bus as we could not find any Taxies, it took about an hour and a half, so tiring it was to come back in bus. But at the end we enjoyed a lot, and that’s all it matters. This is a must go place in Korea, and I heard Lotte World is also same as this but it’s smaller and easily reachable in Train.

Suwon Fort and Namun Market

If you happen to have enough time before you return back to India, just give a visit to this Suwon fort, Its not all that great, but you can click some pictures on top of it, a nice view of Suwon city from there, when I went there I forgot to take my camera along as it was a visit in hurry to get some traditional Korean items from the Namun Market, a small market place near the fort, where you get lot of traditional Korean Items for sale.

The fort is not very big, you need to climb lot of stairs before reaching the top, and on Top you won’t find anything that makes you feel worth that effort. A long wall built few centuries ago, and a wishing tree, it’s believed that whatever you wish will come true.

There is a museum also, which showcase the dresses and the weapons used by Koreans in war and by ancestors, but I could not visit that as it was already late. Getting there is very easy, take a taxi from Suwon and ask him to take to Namun Market. May be you better write it down on a paper in Korean and show him as most of them don’t understand English.

Yangson Electronics Market

This is one of the best place to buy any electronics items from Korea, place is very easily reachable from Suwon station, take the train to Seoul and get down in Yangson station, from the station just take the escalator up to get inside this big electronic mart.

There is wide variety of electronic items available here, I have not seen some of them before in my life, and they have electronic gadgets for every aspect of daily life. Most important thing is the price and the quality, you need to very careful about this here, Price is not fixed, it will go on reducing depending on the your skill of bargaining. Check in at least 4-5 shops before buying any items, otherwise at the end you may find that you have paid more than the price of the Gadget.

As I heard from someone in Korea, they believe that the electronic items, especially serviceable items produced for Korean domestic market are of cheaper quality than the International ones as service industry one of the biggest in Korea. So better not buy laptops and all in Korea. They sell products made in Japan, Korea and China and the quality is in the same order, so be careful while choosing any product, see where it is manufactured.

Coex Aquarium, Samseong

This place is amazing if you like watching fishes, and nothing great about this place, but will make a nice weekend plan, just take a train and get down in Samseong station and when you exiting the station just follow the signboard to reach this Mall. There is lot of things to shop in the mall other than this aquarium. But aquarium is the main attraction. You can see a wide variety of fishes, from small tiny fishes to big sharks all under one roof. The aquariums are room sized and you will enjoy the fishy world, and sometimes I wishes if they could give a fry of them!! But one thing I did not appreciate was the price you pay for. It seemed a little high compared to all the other attractions in Korea.

Han River Cruise and 63 Building

Everyone who visits Korea must go for the Han River cruise, it’s such a wonderful experience, and you will never forget in your life. You need to plan it properly and be there near the river side by 5.30 to 6.00 or so, so that you can get tickets for the 7.00 PM cruise, and I am telling you must get into this 7.00 PM one, as it would be just the right time to enjoy the cruise on the river, while the sun is setting in the east and the cold breeze makes your body chill, and you can chill out.

May be after taking the ticket you can just go to building 63 and go to the top of it, It’s called sky deck, there the view of Seoul City and the Han river is amazing, In the night the bridges across the city and the city looks awesome. There is a place called Sky thriller, where the floor is made of glass and it feels like you are standing on the transparent glass above 63 floors, you must have that daring to look down through that floor to see the ground. It’s a wonderful experience.

Here is a blog page of my friend had written on how we enjoyed that evening on the banks of han river, if you find sometime just go through it, may be that makes you feel not to miss cruise in Korea.

Seoul Grand Park, Dolphin show

This isn’t that great place to enjoy, especially if you happen to go in summer you will get tired walking. Best thing about this place is the Dolphin show, and I think better thing to do is go in the afternoon and get the tickets for this Dolphins show and sleep under any tree, you will get a sound sleep under the tree in the soothing wind. Get up before 4.00 PM and go to the Dolphin show and enjoy the show, and once you are back it will be evening and then you can walk around in the shades and enjoy seeing all animals. Rides are not that great, Cable car is moderate, may be you will enjoy. Tramp is one thing better not get into, they will just take you one round around the grand park. May be you can use this as a way of transportation to get in to the other side of the park.

It’s one of the biggest parks in Korea; don’t forget to see different animals. To go here you need to take train from Suwon and get down in Seoul Grand Park station. It’s pretty easy.

For more information check this link.

New Seoul Tower

A place for a weekend time pass, a nice view from the top of the tower is the amazing thing about this tower. It seems it was opened first in 1980 and then it was renewed with better facilities in 2005 and hence the name New Seoul Tower.

You can easily reach this place, take train from Suwon, line 4, and get down in Chungmuro station, and go out of Exit 2 to the right of Daehan Multiplex entrance. You will reach a bus stop; get into the yellow bus, which takes you to the tower.

The things you must see and enjoy are, The view of Seoul city from the top of the tower, the locks put in the grills as a symbol of love, the sky rest room, the revolving restaurant (you need to book in advance, else you may have to come back like without entering the hotel like us) and the light garden. There is a laser show after 7 in the evening, where they illuminate the tower with different colors and it looks amazing at that time, and even a show is setup in front of the tower with nice music. You will enjoy this part. You must enjoy the green tea sherbet and other sherbet flavors you get in the tower, I am sure you will like it. Don’t forget to take a picture at the New Delhi point, and view of 63 building from here; it looks like a small match stick!!

More info can be found here

Namdaemun Market, Seoul

A crowded market place, with lots of retail shops where you can find almost everything you need from fancy items for your girlfriend to clothes. There are few Malls too, but you will enjoy more on the market side. You get yummy sea food too. It’s really a worth visit to this place, especially at the end of trip when you want to get some things for your near and dear ones, there is lot of choice here.

This place is called as Bombay of Korea, as some shopkeeper told me. You find clothes at very cheap price here; quality is not that great, but pretty good. Girls will definitely enjoy shopping here, for guys it’s not disappointing although. You get nice jackets for 5000 Wons! You can get here by train, either by getting down in Seoul station and walk a little distance, a 5 minutes walk, or get down in Hoehyeon station, whose exit enters market directly. There you start shopping. It takes about an hour from Suwon station to here.

More info can be found here
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KREC beach, Surathkal

This is a very nice place to spend your evening. There is a Shiva temple too near the beach and a light house. You can take Darshan at the temple and then go to the top of the light house and have an aerial look around the place, which covers KREC campus and temple and surrounding places. You have to pay a little entry fee for this tower and they will allow you only before 5.00 PM, not sure if they have changed the timing these days.

The beach is very beautiful, but very risky one as it gets deeper soon and there is no much flat land where you can get into water and enjoy, so better not go much into water, rather just wet your legs and enjoy outside water. This is not much developed commercially as compared to Malpe, as you don’t find any wave runner or parasailing. This beach is actually the property of KREC and a kind of un-touched beach, where one can enjoy the natural beauty of the sea. Crowd is not that heavy.

There is a Ghost road, which was so scary in our college days, this road starts adjacent to the KREC STEP, and joins you to the beach, but now they have cut all the trees on the side of that road, and it no more scary, I have put a picture of the same for your reference here.

To reach here, you need to get down right in front of KREC, engineering college and walk some distance towards Mangalore until you find the fifth hostel block gate of KREC, and right in front of that is the road which leads to the Shiva temple and right beside the temple is the road leads to the light house and the beach. It won’t be that difficult to find the way, you can ask anyone there, people are so kind by heart and anybody would help you.

Irpu Falls and Nagarahole

Tumbling through the hills, The Lakshamanatirtha River thunders 51.8m into the valley. Flowing northwards from here to join another rivulet, the Ramatirtha, it changes course northeastward to join the Cauvery in Mysore district.

This is a wonderful place for a weekend trip. This one is little far from Madikeri if you happen to come via Madikeri, about 80+ kms, you need to go via Virajpet, Gonikoppa. If you start by afternoon from Madikeri you can reach by 3.30 PM or so, takes about 2+ hours to reach there.

You can spend the evening there and then if you are coming back to Bangalore come via Nagarahole reserve forest, where it’s really soothing to your mind, you need to drive slowly and watch the animals in the Natural Habitat. Depending on your luck you can see many different animals, mostly you will see deers, and if lucky you can also see elephants, Wild buffaloes.

This is also known as "Rajiv Gandhi National Park" extend to 647 Sq. Kilometres. An excellent opportunity to witness wild animals of different kinds, from the majestic elephant to the Deer, Tiger, Cheetha, jackal etc. The forest comprises of valuable wealth like the teak, rosewood, sandal wood trees etc. Though plying of private vehicles is not allowed inside, the departmental vehicle takes the tourists.

Talakaveri and Bagamandala

Talakaveri is the birth place of river Cauvery, its said that Cauvery was wife is Agatsya, when Agatsya did not allow Cauvery to become river for the betterment of people, she jumped out of the Kamandala in which he had imprisoned her, from the top of Brahmagiri(A peak in Talakaveri) and transformed herself to river and flowed out. For some distance she flows as “Guptagamini” (hidden river) and then she meets her friends in Triveni Sangama and speeds up to reach Bay of Bangal.

This place is a sacred place, and its said that if you take bath in the sacred water of the pond all that sin made from all last life will go. Lots of people from all over Karnataka come here, and even from Tamilnadu too. As a place also it’s a very nice place to visit, either in the early morning, or in the evening. Brahmagiri is a nice peak to climb and have a nice view. You can feel the clouds passing through you at that height.

Bagamandala is place where Cauvery meets two more rivers, one of them is very difficult to imagine as a river, it’s a small steam coming out near the Banyan tree, it’s said because of the curse she become like that. People take bath in the Sangama where river meets. There is Bagandeshwara temple, which is said to have Kerala architecture, you get lot of Ayurvedic medicinal plants and herbs in the near by shops. The books describing the story of Cauvery can be obtained from the this temple. There are many temples inside the “Pauli”. This is a peaceful place to spend some time after giving the Pooja. You can see the attacks by Mughals ruining the temple, which you can see in the statues made of stones.

Bagamandala is about 40 Kms from Madikeri, you need to take the road to M’lore and on the way you find a board showing the way to Bagamandala. From Bagamandala you need to climb up the hill for about 8kms to reach Talakaveri. On the way there are many view points where you can stop for a while and enjoy.

Kaveri Nisargadhama

A beautiful ecological park, where Cauvery Rivers splits forming a island and bamboo forest. A hanging bridge, boating, elephant ride, tree top shelter, deer park etc. are worth to enjoy with dwelling cottages named, Brahmagiri, Lopamudre, Kannike etc. Travel of 30 kms from Madikeri. Reservation to be done for cottages at Forest department, Madikeri

Frankly speaking this place is a kind a just visit and come out if it’s on the way, and a one time visit place, and not worth going all the way. This can be covered on the way back from Golden temple or Harangi Dam back to Madikeri, which seems to be best option for me.

There are some animals inside, deers, monkeys, and rabbits and don’t expect more than them, if you see all of them that means its time to return from there.

Golden Temple, Tibetian Colony

A recently built "Namdrolling Monastery" a world famous Tibetan Golden temple a toast to the eyes is in Bylakoppa, also the second largest Tibetans settlement in India, just 6 kms away from Kushalnagar. Three majestic Gold coated 40 feet hight idols of Buddha & Padmasambhava, Amitayush Statue inside the temple

This place was handed over by the Karnataka Govt to house the Tibetan refugees when they fled the Chinese invasion of their country. They were housed in some three places all around India. We can see well cultivated fields for miles around. A number of their beautiful temples dot the landscape. It looks as if all the males become monks, since everywhere we see males in the robes of Tibetan monks

Dubare Forest, Elephant Safari

Dubare is a natural island with cool and pleasant view. Boating and fishing makes a wonderful experience. There are 12 tamed elephants which are maintained by the forest department. Tourists interested to know details about these mammals can be obtained here. This is ideal place for nature lovers for spending a few hours with the nature, elephants, and the cool Cauvery River. Weather and best season to visit: Monsoons are fairly heavy but one can be assured of a unique interesting experience during the rains (July to mid-September) in Dubare. The post-monsoon months (mid- Sept to beginning March) are the best time to visit as the entire district would be enveloped by a cloud of green and the climate would be very pleasant.

The route from Bangalore is via Mysore, Kushalnagar, Gudde Hosur (4km from Kushalnagar on Madikeri Road), then a left turn towards Siddapura. About the 15 kilometer on the Siddapur Main Road visitors would find a JLR Dubare Camp board. A left turn at the board and about kilometer drive would take you to dubare.

Harangi Dam, Coorg

Fact: A dam built across the tributary of Cauvery with a length of 2775 ft. and 174 ft height. If you happen to visit during rainy season this makes an awesome place, at that time they open the dam doors giving a mind blowing view of water flowing out. It flows at such a high power that you will be thrilled to see it. The back water creates an impression of ocean; it is spread across acres of land.

The place can be reached easily, if you are coming from b’lore to Madikeri via Kushalnagar, you can find a Y junction, where one leads to Kushalnagar and then Madikeri and the other to the Harangi Dam. From Madikeri you need to travel in the direction of Kushalnagar to reach here. It’s about 8 kms from Kushalnagar

Iggutappa temple, Kakabbe

Iggutappa is another name lord shiva, Igguthappa temple, one of most important temple of Kodavs the tribal inhabitants in Kakkabe, is dedicated to Iguthappa another name for Lord Subramanya. The devotees believe in the miracles by Iguthappa, where any one can ask for anything from this super power God. Farmers in and around this area usually offer prayers and offerings for rains during the famous Annual festival in the temple conducted during the month of March. Tulabhara, weighing oneself against fruits, sugar, coconuts, rice etc, is an important offering here. This temple governs significant role in the cultural and traditional life of the place.

This place is quite deep inside Coorg, the way to this place is very scenic, and you will enjoy the drive. This place is about 45Kms from Madikeri. There are bus services to kakabbe. Best way is to drive.

Abbey falls, Madikeri

This is a beautiful falls close to Madikeri, about 7-8kms from the city. Many boards are there inside city which point you to the falls, you won’t find it difficult to get there. There are enough parking spaces, after you park your vehicle you have to walk about 100 meters so reach the falls.

The madikeri stream, also called Muttaramuttu, falls 21.3m between huge boulders to a deep rocky vally to form this picturesque waterfall called Abbi falls(abbi means waterfall in Kodavatak). The British called it the Jessey Water falls in memory of Jessey, the daughter of Madikeri's first chaplain. Every year a few unwary people meet an unfortunate end over the slippery rocks here.

Abundant in this region, Madduthoppu (Justicia wayanadensis) is attributted medicinal value believed to peak on 18th of Kakkada(July-August), when it is used as an ingredient in various delicacies.

There is misconception that this is of Cauvery River, but its not. But it’s a falls made by group of small streams called Madikeri streams. The falls is quite simple yet so beautiful, when there is enough water, i.e. between June to September it’s amazing, you can feel the cold breeze on the hanging bridge made by the forest department. The water is not deep under the falls you can get close to falls and even climb the falls with little risk. I had been on the rocks many times when I visited before 2006, now police will always be around and they won’t allow you to get into the water. But you can always enjoy the beauty from the hanging bridge.

Madikeri, Coorg District

Coorg is a wonderful place to spend your holidays and I have been there a many time, in fact at least once in a year or more than that whenever I get time. Madikeri is the capital; it is a hill station with beautiful climate like Ooty. Coorg is called as Kashmir of Karnataka. It’s such a wonderful place with forests, coffee estates, hill stations, falls, temples, and trekking places.

Madikeri is around 250 odd Kms from Mandya you can reach there by taking mysore road from Bangalore and take deviation on mysore road to Hunsoor, then next town you will see is Kushalnagar, and then Madikeri. It takes about 5 odd hours in car to reach madikeri from Bangalore. If you are starting from Mangalore then take the route of Puttur, Sulli. Madikeri is just 50 kms from Sullia. The things to enjoy in madikeri are the stay round the year, during rainy season you can enjoy the heavy rains, and winter will be too cold, and summer will be pleasant. If you plan your stay at madikeri then you can see almost all the tourist places in coorg.

The things to see in Madikeri are Rajaseat, a view point where you can see landscape up to miles, with mist in background. This place was used by Kings in ancient time, and thus the name. There is fort where you can see the ruined fort, now it is converted to govt offices. There is a museum which is not worth visit.

There is pretty old temple in the city Omkareshwara temple, which is a worth visit. This was built in 1820 by Lingarajendra the then ruling King to ward off the evil caused by "Brahma Rakshasas". The Shiva Linga is said to be brought from the holy place "Kaashi". This temple has an unusual architectural combination of 'Indo-Sarsenic' Style. Nearby is the holy tank. Regular poojas are performed in the temple for the different deities like Lord Subrahmanya and Ganesha.

The other place to see in Madikeri is Gadduge or three tombs with their Islamic style building domes and minarets with gold coating built in Indo Sarsenic style, The entrance to each tomb has Carvings of Hindu Deities. The Central largest tomb more ornate than the other two, contains the graves of Virarajenda and his wife Mahadevi Amma. The medium sized tomb is of Lingarajendra and the simplest tomb contains the grave of Rudrappa Virarajendra's Guru. A bird's eye view of Madikeri can be had from here.

You will find lot of home stays in Madikeri which is the best way to enjoy the beauty of the hill station, even resorts are available where in you get an estate for yourself to enjoy for a day, but it’s not a budget plan.

Agumbe Sunset point

This is an ideal place to enjoy your evening, but mostly crowded in the evening time, as everyone comes here especially during weekends. There is a view point from where you can see the sunset, this is considered to be the one of the most beautiful sunset in Karnataka. This place is also famous for the heavy rains, it’s called as the Cheerapunji of Karnataka. The one show in the above pic is a view from another view point a few meters above the normal view point where most of the crowds will be and many may be not aware of this view point. There is a staircase to climb up to this place. View from here is amazing.

I have visited agumbe many times mostly on the way back to my native from Bangalore. Mostly I visit here during day time in the morning, still the view is amazing. Once I had been here during college days in the evening after the Onake Abbe falls trekking which is few Kms from here, i.e Trekking starts from a place called Someshwara which is a small town you reach just after getting down from Agumbe Ghats.

Maravante, Kundapura

This is a beautiful beach to enjoy your evening with, it’s few Kms after Kundapur towards Kollur. You can reach this place may be after visiting the Kollur temple on the way back to Kundapur, so that an evening can be spent here. This place is special because of its geographical location where the national highway separates the river and the Arabian Sea. Amazing view, and a must visit place.

Arasina Gundi Falls, Kodachadri

This falls resides deep inside the forests close to Kodachadri hills, so needs to be covered whenever you visit Kodachadri. When I visited we went through one route which is in the opposite side of the Kollur route, where in you reach to the bottom of the Kodachadri hills, you find a empty play ground type of vacant area, where there is small hotel and some small temples around. You see some local kids playing in that area.

If you are have reached this place then you can ask anyone there where to go to Arasinagundi falls, they will guide you to the falls, the route runs inside the forest sometimes its highly possible that you may get lost. We were running in the forst in groups to reach the falls early as possible, some places were so dense that we use get scared if we encounter any wild animals. There is another way which is more safer and you have a guiding route when you come from Kollur-Nagara road.

This is one wonderful falls and a must visit place, untouched by humans, and possibly when you go there you will not find anyone else. You can enjoy the whole falls to you self. It’s believed that the under the water fall its very deep and high risk to swim and try to reach there. I strongly recommend not swimming in that area shown in picture, but to take bath in the small streams further downstream, and enjoy the beauty of the falls from there.

Kodachadri Hills

This is in the boarder of South Canara and Shimoga district. At the peak it is believed that 'Shankaracharya' did meditation. And to substantiate the same you will find a 'Sarvajna Peetha' at the top. En route to the peak you will also find a moderate sized water fall deep inside the evergreen forest of Kodachadri, which is called 'Agastya Teertha'. The peak presents a not to be missed life-time opportunity in the evening as the sun sets in the west. You can also have a golden glimpse of the Arabian Sea for a moment.

To get there first you need to reach Kollur, famous for its Mookambika temple in south canara. From Kollur catch a bus which goes towards Nagara (Shimoga Dist.), and get down at a place [a 45 minute journey].To your right you'll find a mud road where you can find a sign indicating the way towards kodachaadri. On the way you will find a small tea shop (kaka angadi) after one hour walk. There you will also find a small stream nearby for the early morning business. From here it is roughly 5 hours of trek to the peak. Just half-an-hour before the peak you will find a temple, which is an ideal place for camping.(for budget conscious trekkers like us). There is also a traveller’s bungalow nearby.

Seeta Falls, Hebri

This is another nice waterfall which is also located deep inside the forest, but not as far as the Onake Abbe falls, you need to trek about 2 kilometres in forest. There is a road till some point and later you need to walk inside forest. The route is quite visible and no guide is needed. This fall is not that deep and you can walk to the point where water drops and take bath there. Water will strike your head like nails with such a force, so be careful when you put your head under a thick water stream.

As applies with the above falls here too you don’t get anything to eat, as it’s inside the forest so better get something to eat. Best time to visit this is around August to December. There is a road leading to this place from Hebri, you can ask someone in hebri to get the route.

Onake Abbe Falls, Someshwara

This falls is deep inside the forest and you need to do some real trekking to reach here. If you start from Udupi you need to go via hebri and reach Someshwara, a small town on the foot of Agumbe ghat, if you are coming via Agumbe then once you get down from Agumbe Ghat is this small town Someshwara where you need to start trekking, ask anyone around they will be knowing from where to start the trekking. This is a place to enjoy on a weekend, go here with all the energy and take some food along as you won’t get anything inside forest.

I am not sure how deep it is in the centre but you can swim and reach to the place where you can take bath under the falls, you have enough space there to sit and relax on the rocks. I suggest you to take extra caution in reaching this point. You can get some guide in Hebri to take you to this falls. Sometimes it’s difficult to find the way inside the forest.

Saint Mary’s Island, Malpe

This is one of the wonderful places to see in Mangalore, a Natural Island, said to be visited by Vasko-di-gama when he visited India for the first time. There is plenty of sand covered area where you can enjoy your visit, they normally do not allow you to get into water, but then you can always get into water for some time when they are not around. But the place is not safe to go far in water. So be careful and stay close by.

There is a boat facility which takes you to this Island from Malpe beach, you may have to pay some 70/- for the same. You may not enjoy the travel as they play some crap music aloud, but when you land in the Island it’s worth tolerating that music for that while.

You get nice sea food cooked in front of you, when you visit never forget to taste few fishes, to have a feel of Mangalore. If you wish to have some more Mangalorean fishes don’t forget to visit a Restaurant “Fish Land” in Manipal, a city 3Kms from Udupi famous for its medical institute and hospital, the Restaurant is just on right side when you are about enter the city from karkala side. On the other way when you are about to leave the city to Karkala.

Malpe Beach, Udupi

A place very close to my house around 20-30 minutes drive from my home, a 10 minutes drive from Udupi, nearby city and district capital. On NH-17 near Karavali by-pass is the road which leads to this wonderful beach, which these days have been developed to attract tourists provide a class resort facility, wave runner, parasailing, beach side huts and restaurants. Evening time is the best time to visit this place, there will be moderate crowd on weekends. There is paid parking space near the beach.

Saint Mary’s Island can be reached from here, they have a boat facility, was costing some 70/- at the time I visited.