Velliangiri Trek | Coimbatore | Tamil Nadu

Velliangiri Trek (Date: 19-Feb-2026)

Highest Altitude: 1850m (6000 ft)

Location: Western Ghats, Coimbatore 

State/Country: Tamil Nadu/ India

Base Village: Poondi

Trek Open: Feb to May

Total Distance: 14km (return)

Time: 4.5-5H Ascent, 4H Descent 

Difficulty Level: Moderate to Difficult 

On the 18th of February 2026, I left Bangalore on a 6:20am train to Coimbatore. The train journey was comfortable. In the seats behind me there were some school boys from Kerala. Their jersey indicated that they were part of some football club. They were accompanied by young coaches from the club. These small town kids seemed really well behaved. This reminded me of my wish to work in a boarding school or at a school in small towns. There is a certain innocence in children of small towns. City kids grow up too fast with all the exposure they receive. 

I reached Coimbatore at around 1:30pm. The train was late by 30 minutes. After a tasty meal prepared by my mother-in-law, I took some rest. I had two online classes to conduct. After that, we went to Annapoorna hotel for dinner. The parottas and dosas there were delicious. 

Next morning, I went for a walk in Race course. Later that day, I bought some oranges for the trek and got ready. My wife’s uncle wanted to join me on this trek. So, we decided to leave on his scooter at around 4:30pm. We reached the base of the hills by 5:30pm. After a quick visit to Velliangiri Andvar temple at Poondi, we began our trek.  

 

The trek involves ascending 7 hills. The climb felt relatively easy to me. Specially in the evening as we did not have to deal with the scrotching heat. Many make it sound extremely difficult, more than it actually is. For seasoned trekkers, this isn’t a difficult climb. Most devotees climb the hills barefoot. However, trekking shoes are allowed.  The first 3 hills are steep and have steps. Hills 4,5 and 6 are gradual climb. The last hill is steep again but not very difficult. 

There were a few people climbing with us. Many were returning from their climb early in the day. There are shops set up by locals along the way. Though the forest guards are strict on checking plastic bags at the base, these shops are the source of trash that is filled along the way. The collected trash is dumped right next to the shops. I wonder what is the point of restrictions only for trekkers? 

The trek is open for devotees from February to May end. No booking is required during this time. There are special buses arranged during this time from Gandhinagar bus stand in Coimbatore to Poondi. You can also take a local bus to Isha foundation and then walk 2km to Velliangiri foothills. There are some auto rickshaws available too. However, they may demand heavy fares. 

Menstruating women are not allowed to trek. Although, we did see about 4-5 women who mentioned that they had taken special permission. Not sure how that works. 

As it got dark, it was impossible to climb without a flashlight. There is no source of light here. So, make sure to carry one. 

At the 6th hill there is a pond. Devotees take a dip here before continuing the climb. There is also a water source slightly above this point. Do not collect the pond water as it is non drinkable due to the devotees taking bath there. There is a pipeline slightly above this point, near a huge rock and a shop.

We managed to reach the top by 10:40 pm. It took us 5 hours despite several breaks. At the top, there are caves formed by huge boulders resting against one another. Inside them are a few shrines - for Shiva, Parvati and Ganesha. There were many trishuls lying on the top. I found out later that devotees take Trishul to the top. There were hundreds of them outside the cave. 

After visiting the temple, we picked a spot to sleep. It was windy, so we had to pick a spot that had minimal effect of the wind. We were the only ones there at that time but all through the night people kept coming and the place was packed by dawn. People slept wherever they could find some space. 

Due to the clouds, we did not see the  sunrise but the views were great nevertheless. The mist gave the place a mystic appearance. 

There were about 1000 people there that day, despite being a Friday morning. The descent was a bit hard as the load falls on your knees and ankles. We took about 4h to reach down. All along the way, there were great views.

We headed back home directly from there. After a good lunch, I went to bed. I slept undisturbed till 5pm. After some more snacks and dinner, I went back to bed. 

I would not say it is the best trek I have done but it was an interesting experience. However, the trash filled trails disappointed me. How do we drive civic sense in people? Day by day, this is becoming worse. The reason for this mess is that we do not see nature as it is. We associate Gods and religion to them. This is what brings in general crowd and unnecessary rituals that have diluted the original intent of walking to such places to experience solitude.  People bring packets of Vibhooti, flowers, flags and leave their clothes behind, buy packed food and drinks at the shops set up for them and discard the garbage on the way. Why? 

Can we not keep nature as it is - undisturbed by human intervention? I may never want to go back to Velliangiri hills again because it does not feel peaceful there like it does when I visit a mountain where there is no temple, no religion, no devotees, no garbage but only the sight and sound of nature and a gathering of perhaps few people who truly respect nature. 

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