Thalli: Experience ‘Little England’

As I mentioned in my last post, in the series of guest posts from some of the incredible bloggers I've following,

Let me introduce you to a fine heritage travel blogger, Arun Bharadwaj who blogs at Payana and is a voracious traveler by himself. The list of places he has seen and covered is worth envying and the amount of information he shares in his post is commendable.

He says "India, as I see it, is a land of surprises. Imagine everything under the sun, we have it- Beaches, Snow, Desert, Hills, Mountains, Rivers, Oceans, Islands, Gulf, Natural Caves, Waterfalls, Places of worship, relics of ancient civilizations... Given an average life of 60 years, I can only wish to cover at least 20% of the exotic country."

He has a liking for archaeological heritage places and visits a lot of 'lost temples', discovering the 'heritage tales and kingdoms' and is an avid traveler too.

His post is about a literally unknown place called 'Thalli', very close to Bengaluru city.
Read on...


Overview:
Visiting Thalli is one of the best ways to beat the weekday stress from work. Being very close to Bangalore, this can be done as a half day trip. I came across this interesting place while going through some website on tourism. And there aren't many blogs on this either.

Away from the prying eyes... Image copyright Payana

So we thought we should make is to Thalli. We left early morning after breakfast towards Hosur Road which was relatively free because of the weekend. We reached Hosur town pretty quickly and had to take a right turn towards Thalli. There are ample boards to guide one to Thalli from Hosur. The weather was cloudy and had cool environs and probably that is the reason that this place is called 'Little England'.

The path into wilderness... Image copyright Payana

We reached Thalli in around 1.5 hrs with breaks and passed through Thalli lake which looked calm and pristine. Thalli is a rustic and laid back town just on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border so people speak both Kannada and Tamil here.

'Rain pond', Image copyright Payana

Though there is nothing much to see in Thalli as such, there is a small hillock called Devarabetta just a few kilometers from Thalli. That hill looks great with a couple of temples at the base. The climb to the top is not very tough and there are well laid steps leading to the summit. At the top of the hill the entire region looks so green and colorful and the surrounding hill ranges can be seen. The farmlands below add to the glory of the place. The cool winds blow pretty strongly at the top which feels soothing. The irregular shapes of rocks are the targets of our photography.

'Balance', Image copyright Payana

To sum it up, the hill is aptly named Devarabetta which translates to 'God's hill' in Kannada. We returned back with loads of memories and pictures. This place is very little known to people so the crowd is very less. An ideal place for a weekend getaway from Bangalore.


How to reach: Head on NH7 towards Hosur. At Hosur, before entering the town, watch out for a board for directions to Thalli. Turn right and drive for around 25 km to Thalli.
Regular buses available from Bangalore to Hosur. From Hosur, private buses are available to reach Thalli.

Food/Accommodation: Not many options available for food. Its better to carry food and water from home.

Map:

View Larger Map