Your driver meets you at Madurai airport or railway station. Breakfast in Madurai, a short stop at Vaigai Dam, lunch in Theni, then through Chinnamanur and the forest check post up the Meghamalai ghat road, about 150 km and 4.5 hours of driving in all. You reach the tea estates by mid afternoon for a first look at Highwavys lake.
- 9:00 AM
Pickup at Madurai airport or railway station
Your driver meets you when you land or arrive. Times below assume a 9:00 AM pickup. If yours is later, we move the day to fit, but we must pass the forest check post on the ghat road before it closes in the evening.
- 9:20 AM
Breakfast in Madurai
Idli, pongal or ghee podi dosa with filter coffee. Pay as you eat.
- 1 h 36 min · 69 km
- 11:40 AM1
Vaigai Dam
30 min hereA short stop at the big dam on the Vaigai river near Andipatti, with a park below it. If you would rather reach the hills sooner, tell your driver and we skip it.
- 31 min · 20 km
- 12:40 PM
Lunch in Theni
The last big town before the hills. Tamil meals with rice and many curries, or a veg plate. Pay as you eat.
- 1 h 35 min · 56 km
- 3:15 PM2
Highwavys Lake and Dam
1 h hereAfter Chinnamanur we pass the forest check post and climb 18 hairpin bends through forest to the estates. The first of the Meghamalai lakes sits among tea bushes and is calm and misty in the late afternoon.
- 12 min · 6 km
- 4:30 PM
Check in at your stay
There are only a few small eateries up here, so tell your stay by lunchtime if you want dinner cooked (paid there). Do not walk on the estate roads after dark, as elephants and gaur move around.
