A trek to Nandi Hills with overnight stay

Trek through the mist filled Hill covered in envelop of dense forest

Stay in the woods in a mysterious cottage all by ourselves, cooking our own simple meals!

Doesn’t it sound like a dream come true for the traveler, explorer and adventure lover in each one of us? Well, this dream got true for us with our weekend getaway in the foothills of Nandi Hills last weekend, a mere 65km drive from our home in Bangalore!! Read on to know all the details.

Nandi Hills is the favourite of everyone in Bangalore. Particularly youth who arrive in this city, Also, it is often their first weekend getaway. I have myself drove twice to Nandi Hills during my stay in Bangalore. Once with my colleagues, wherein we drove as early as 4:00am in the morning. The goal of early morning drive to Nandi Hills is to catch beautiful sunrise from there. However, I equally loved the mist and clouds that seem to hug this hill all through the year. (Well, if you know me and if you have read my previous blog posts you will understand why! I love being surrounded by clouds. And that is the reason I have visited Ooty in the monsoons, Kodaikanal in June and Meghalaya in May!). Anyways, coming back to the topic, the second time I visited Nandi Hills with family. And this one was an evening drive to Nandi Hills, with mesmerising views of the sunset.

So, this time around, as we materialised our plan to visit Nandi Hills once again, I wondered what would be the experience to trek to Nandi Hills with an overnight stay. It definitely seemed exciting. After months of lockdown at home. And a few road trips around Bangalore including the visit to Muminagara Dam, Mariapura Lake, Chhota Ladakh & Vatadahosahalli Lake and Gudibande Fort. As we crossed Nandi Hills on our way to the later, I couldn’t help but notice the clouds and mist hanging from the hills. And I guess that’s when the itch to once again go to Nandi Hills started.

Overnight stay option near Nandi Hills

Given that a trek was going to be both time consuming and tiring, we really wanted to stay near Nandi Hills. Rather than drive all the way to the hills and then return back the same day. And anyways, we have been craving for a weekend break with an overnight stay. So, I looked for a property to stay near Nandi Hills. The requirement was that it should be a self-catering property. So that we don’t have to interact with others much, and we can cook our own food. To my delight I found that there’s several gated communities in the foothills of Nandi Hills. And many of them have villas, flats and cottages where you can stay!! I booked one in Magnolia Layout. And planned to reach there on Saturday by 2:00pm (which was the checkin time). Just relax for the day. And the next day morning, trek to Nandi Hills early in the morning. The layout was situated just 1.7km from the trek starting point of Nandi Hills. So, we could walk all the way without any thoughts.

 

Preparation for the weekend getaway to Nandi Hills

After finalising the accommodation, we started our preparation for the overnight stay. Since we were going to stay somewhere else after almost eleven months. And we are a little paranoid about the pandemic. So, to ensure full safety for our family, we packed our own sanitizer sprays in order to sanitize the space – all touch points, fabrics, linen etc. And we also packed our own bedding – bedsheets and duvets because we didn’t want to use the one provided at the accommodation. Some of you might find it unnecessary. But, it is upto everyone’s individual risk appetite and mental satisfaction, isn’t it ? 🙂 This way, I had a peaceful sleep at night knowing that the elderly and the kids were safely sleeping in home linen!!

We also packed our own food. We prepared for lunch and dinner. And packed bread, butter, upma premix and some fruits and curd for breakfast the next day. This ensured that we didn’t need to step out for food. (The nearest restaurants were 4-5 km away). And packing our own food also ensured hygiene and safety. In fact, we also carried our own plates and cutlery. The only utensil we ended up using at the cottage was one frying pan in which we heated our food and toasted some bread!!

After packing all of the above, and our general list of items to pack for the trip, we eagerly awaited for the drive.

Drive to Nandi Hills foothill

On Saturday, we started from home around 12:00pm. And took the route via Kadugodi -> Budigere ->  Devnahalli -> Nandi Hills. But we found that there is construction work going on the road for a very long stretch. Basically, this whole road is being widened. Once the widening work will be over, this will be definitely one of the best routes to drive to Nandi Hills (maybe in 6 months from now). But for now, if you are planning to drive to Nandi Hills or trek to Nandi Hills, better take the route via Hebbal. We reached the property by 2:00pm.

Relaxed evening before trek to Nandi Hills

The cottage where we stayed has a self check-in system. We checked in. And went to the first floor. While the kids and parents waited in the garden. We sanitized the space, spread our own linen on the beds. And then took everyone and our luggage in. After that we just relaxed in the balcony of the cottage. The layout is very beautiful. It’s a gated community inside which there are several plots of land. But only a few villas are constructed as of now. The plot is surrounded by hills on almost all 4 sides. The main Nandi Hills was just in front of the balcony. So, we all spent our major amount of time here. Chatting, eating, enjoying the evening and the views. Thereafter, we went for a walk inside the campus towards the evening. And finally had dinner and slept off.

Trek to Nandi Hills early morning

The next morning, we woke up around 6:00am. The younger one was still deep asleep. So, we decided to leave her at the cottage with our parents. And started for the trek to Nandi Hills with Aashi. We walked almost 1.7km to reach the point from where the trek starts.

We didn’t know that there was space to park vehicle here. In fact, several vehicles were parked here already. If we knew, we could have saved the walking effort ;). Anyways, we started the climb up the stairs. There are pretty much stairs till the top. But initially they have very mild accent. But as you advance towards the top in your trek to Nandi Hills, the stairs become more steep. The trick to reach till the top without over exhausting yourself will be to keep taking breaks in between. There are shades formed out of ancient ruins at every few steps. So, you can conveniently wait for few mins there before trekking further up.

Do carry a stick with you. Because in the morning hours the dogs and monkeys around are likely to disturb you. So, scare them off with the sticks if that happens. We covered more than half the trek in just 30 minutes. There after we stopped mid way to soak into the surroundings. We were already above the mist which was hanging from the trees below us. And through the mist, we could see beautiful views of the valley.

After resting here, we proceeded further. But, the steps were getting steeper. And it would have become difficult for Aashi. So, myself and Aashi decided to return from there to the resting point. And wait there while Abhishek went further up to explore the top. He snapped pictures for us. Which were just so beautiful!!

A brief introduction to Nandi Hills

Nandi Hills is a cluster of hills located almost 50km from the main city of Bangalore. Although these hills are not very wide periphery wise, but it will surprise you that the main hill here is higher than most of the other famous hill stations in Karnataka including Horsley Hills, Coorg and Chikmagalur!! There is a fortress, a Shiva temple, a Nandi temple and several other structures built along the trekking path as well as on top of the Nandi Hills. These were mostly built by the Ganga Dynasty as well as Tipu Sultan. While some say that the name “Nandi Hills” is given to these hills pertaining to their shape, which resembles a sleeping Nandi. Others believe that the origin of the name is because of the Nandi Temple situated on the top of these Hills. Nevertheless, Nandi Hills is a name that everyone in Bangalore knows. The hills are a famous destination for watching sunrise and sunsets.

Most of the days round the year, if you reach here early in the morning, you will be greeted with thick clouds and mist. There are a few snack and chai (tea) shops on the top of Nandi Hills, but nothing more. People generally drive to the top, spend a few hours and then return back. And mostly people tend to do day trips or even half a day trip to Nandi Hills. However, there is a very nice trekking path as well (which we took on our current trip), through which, a beginner level trekker can trek all the way to the top of Nandi Hills in around an hour and half. Apart from this one, there are other unconventional trekking paths as well that lead to the top of the hill.

Back to the cottage & Breakfast in the garden

We reached back our cottage by around 9:30am. After returning back from the trek to Nandi Hills, we were feeling super hungry. We came back and toasted bread. Also, I added hot water to my homemade upma premix. And breakfast was ready in a jiffy. Aashi was super excited to have breakfast in the open garden in the backyard. So we carried the food and water to the garden (Oh we did carry our own water bottles also, and never used the glasses provided at the cottage!!). We sat on the cemented bench there and had our breakfast. While little Ishi roamed around, exploring the flora. And doing some mischiefs to attract our attention.

After finishing breakfast, we came back to the cottage and started winding up. By 11:00 am we were ready to checkout. After checkout we took the BIAL -> Hebbal -> K R Puram -> Whitefield route this time. The NH7 highway is in excellent conditions. And we reached home in just 1.5 hrs!! Although we spent even less than 24 hours during this weekend getaway, yet it felt so much refreshing. If you are yearning for such a break, definitely go for it. Before the summer season starts, and the monsoons drench the steps, making the trek to Nandi Hills difficult.

Tips on doing the trek to Nandi Hills

• Wear comfortable hiking shoes.
• Carry water bottle and some minimal snack with you. Keep sipping water little by little to keep yourself hydrated.
• Take breaks between the trek at numerous points to keep your energy level up.
• You can drive all the way to the trek starting point. There is provision to safely park cars there by the side of the road.
• October – February will be the best time to trek to Nandi Hills. During the monsoons the steps will become slippery. And in summer, well, it will be hot and hence uncomfortable.
• You can drive down to Nandi Hills early in the morning, park your car, and then do the trek. Return back and the drive back home, making it a one day trip.
• If you want to make it more relaxing, then stay overnight in one of the accommodations near the foothills like we did.
• Carry your own food up the hill if you intend to have a major meal there. Otherwise, on the foothills, there are restaurants at 4-5 km distance from the foothill. And there is a whole big village.
• If you are paranoid like us, do carry your mask, sanitiser sprays, linen, food, disposable utensils etc. so that you have minimal dependency on the common things and touch points inside the accommodation in case you are staying there. I will write an article on how we are preparing before every travel to minimise our family’s risk.
• If you have time, you can club your visit to Nandi Hills with the Lepakshi Temple visit or Devanahalli Fort Visit.

 

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