Things to do in Chikmagalur, honestly ranked

Every list of things to do in Chikmagalur contains the same eleven items in the same order, and none of them tell you which ones are a waste of a morning. This one does.

Worth building a day around

Kudremukh. A real trek — 20-odd kilometres round trip, a permit, and a guide. The horse-face peak. If you are fit and you have the day, this is the best thing in the district and nothing else is close.

Hebbe Falls. A jeep through nine kilometres of coffee estate, then a walk through the stream. 168 feet. Full day.

Belur and Halebidu. Hoysala carving from the 12th century, ninety minutes out. Not a Chikmagalur thing at all, and better than most things in Chikmagalur.

Worth a morning

Mullayanagiri. Karnataka's highest point. Go at sunrise. Do not go at eleven.

Baba Budangiri. Where coffee entered India. The drive up is genuinely one of the best in the state.

An estate walk. Free, if you are staying on one. Consistently the thing people remember.

Skip, or lower your expectations

Coffee Museum. Twenty minutes, a lot of laminated panels.

Hirekolale Lake. Pleasant. It is a lake. Go at sunset if you are passing, do not make a trip.

"Adventure parks" on the Mudigere road. Zip lines and paintball. You have driven into the Western Ghats. Please do not.

The thing nobody lists

Sit on a verandah for an entire afternoon and watch the mist move up a valley. Every single guest who does this mentions it afterwards. Nobody plans for it.