Valparai

A tea-garden town in the Anamalai Hills, reached by 40 hairpin bends above Aliyar Reservoir, where lion-tailed macaques and wild elephants are common.

Valparai lies in the south of Coimbatore district in Tamil Nadu, India, on a plateau about 1,100 m up in the Anamalai Hills of the Western Ghats. It is a tea town carved out in the British colonial era, surrounded by dozens of tea and coffee estates interspersed with rainforest fragments, with the Anamalai Tiger Reserve to the east and Kerala to the west. The state highway up from Aliyar Reservoir climbs 40 numbered hairpin bends, one of India's most famous mountain roads; along the way are Loam's View Point and Monkey Falls, and endangered lion-tailed macaques and Nilgiri tahr are often seen. In town the main pleasures are walks through the tea gardens, wildlife watching and viewpoints: Nallamudi View Point to the south looks over a sea of clouds, while Sholayar Dam and Malakkappara to the southwest connect to the rainforest road to Athirappilly Falls in Kerala (the falls themselves belong to a Kochi itinerary). The climate is cool, and September–May is the best time; the June–August southwest monsoon brings heavy rain and beautiful misty tea gardens, but also landslides on the ghat road and plenty of leeches. Getting there: the nearest town is Pollachi (about 65 km) and Coimbatore airport is about 105 km away; both have buses up the hill, or it's a 2–3 hour drive. Forest roads have night-time restrictions, and wild elephants often cross roads and tea gardens at dusk — heed the warnings and never get out of the car to approach them. Accommodation is mostly tea-estate homestays. Allow 2–3 days, plus an extra day for Topslip or the Parambikulam Tiger Reserve.

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