Sakleshpur – The Malnad region

A close to heart colleague of mine came up with an idea to mark one of the weekends for a holiday getaway. Looking at various options, we finally zeroed upon Sakleshpur, a picturesque town located in the Hassan district of Karnataka.

As he knew the region well and the best homestay options, with no second thoughts, the group went ahead with the bookings and off we set our journey on an early Saturday morning to explore this place.

The homestay is located at a far stretch of around 250 kms from Bangalore. The roads are bliss to drive, no doubt the tolls give that feature to them.

The drive down journey would be : Bangalore – Nelamangala (the Bangalore – Mangalore Road) – Kunigal – Bellur Cross – Channarayapatna – Hassan – Sakleshpur – Hanbal – Donahalli (the homestay). 

The homestay is located overlooking a picturesque setup of mountain & paddy fields. The greenery is certainly a treat to the eyes especially after the rain gods bathe the nature and the best part is one can view this right sitting in the balcony of the homestay sipping the hot Malnad coffee served with pakoras. The place is ideal to unwind, treat your eyes, trek, just eat and relax.

The homestay

The verandah

Paddy fields – view from the verandah

Paddy fields – view from the verandah

The hosts are courteous and take good care of the guests addressing one’s timely needs. The owner is very keen to showcase some of his card tricks that he has skilled enthralling his guests to scratch their heads – ‘how did he do that’. He also ends up sharing stories of the land and how he leads a contented life with nature while his son is busy coding software in the metro.

The rooms are tiny though & are best fit for friends going in a group but may not be ideal for families with kids. Kids need space for their acts and may find the rooms as confinement. The place has ample space to play a shuttle and comes with a good car parking space. The breakfast, lunch and dinner comes with the local flavor of the Malnad belt – unique in itself and is worth to relish. The whole atmosphere is quite refreshing to raise the spirit.

My dusty too seemed to be enjoying the view happily resting its tired legs as it bear the burden of rocky and narrow path to reach the homestay.

We descended down the steps of the homestay for a walk in the paddy fields. Green, green and green everywhere. To add in more colors, we continued our steps further which led us to a place ideal for trekking.

Putting forward further those adventurous steps, put us right in the place of the Magajalli waterfall.

The whole experience with nature was delightful and adding to it the flavor of a good friendship, made the feeling more colorful.

For those whom the above interests, can make the booking of the homestay following the below link

http://makkithitta.com/