Madikeri

The hill-station capital of Coorg, draped over a series of ridges.

Madikeri is the administrative heart of Coorg, a small, walkable hill town built across a tangle of ridges at 1,170 metres. The streets twist sharply up and down; most travellers use Madikeri less as a destination in itself than as a base for the estates and waterfalls in the surrounding hills.

The old fort, the Omkareshwara Temple, and Raja's Seat — a clifftop garden with a view across the valley to the western horizon — are the main sights. Stay one night, walk the bazaar in the cool evening air, eat a Kodava meal of pandi curry and akki roti, and head out into the hills in the morning.

things to do sight
A story
The Madikeri Fort was originally built of mud by the Haleri Raja in the 17th century and rebuilt in stone by Tipu Sultan, who briefly took control of the region in 1781. The British in turn captured it in 1834, ending Kodava self-rule.