Kodaikanal

Kodaikanal takes a while to get to and that's probably why it still feels like it belongs to the people who make the effort. The drive up is all hairpins and eucalyptus, and by the time you arrive the rest of Tamil Nadu feels very far away. There's a lake in the middle of town you can cycle around, waterfalls within easy reach, and viewpoints where clouds actually move below you. It's quieter than Ooty, less commercialised, and the kind of place where a two-hour walk through pine forest counts as a full morning. People come here to slow down, and the town is pretty good at making that happen.