Experience the best of Kodaikanal

Kodaikanal sits at about 2,100 metres in the Palani Hills, a spur of the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu, and was founded as a hill retreat by American missionaries in the 1840s. The star-shaped Kodai Lake, made by damming a stream in 1863, is the centre of the town, with a path around its shore and rowing boats on the water. Coaker's Walk, a cliff-edge promenade, looks over the plains, and Pillar Rocks are three granite pillars more than a hundred metres high.

Bryant Park is a botanical garden of flowers and old trees, and forest walks pass pine groves and waterfalls such as Bear Shola. The Kurinji Andavar temple honours the neelakurinji, a shrub that covers the hills with blue-violet flowers once every twelve years. Palani, with its hilltop temple, lies below the range to the north, and the temple city of Madurai is about three hours' drive south-east.

Kodaikanal is known for homemade chocolates, plums, pears and spices sold in the market, and coffee grows on the lower slopes. The coolest weather is from December to February, with cold nights and clear mornings, while April to June is the popular holiday season. Heavy rain falls from October to December, and mist wraps the hills much of the year.