Visakhapatnam and Araku Valley — The Coast and the Coffee Hills in Three Nights

Your driver meets you at the airport or at Visakhapatnam railway station. Flights now use the new airport at Bhogapuram, well to the north-east of the city, so the transfer is a good deal longer than it was from the old city airport; we confirm the time when we quote. After check-in, the late afternoon goes to RK Beach and INS Kursura, a Soviet-built submarine the Navy retired in 2001 and set on the sand as a museum, with a TU-142M naval aircraft displayed opposite. The submarine is listed as closed on Mondays and opens only from the afternoon; if your arrival falls on a Monday we move it to day two.

The morning starts at Simhachalam, the hill temple of Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha about 16 km from the city; darshan queues decide how long it takes. From there the car crosses to the coast for Kailasagiri, a hill park above the sea with a ropeway from the foot, and continues to the beach at Rushikonda, 8 km out. If time allows, the excavated Buddhist monastery sites on Thotlakonda and Bavikonda hills lie further along the same road; alternatively the afternoon can go south to Yarada beach. Choose one — the two are in opposite directions.

An early start for the drive inland. Araku is about 115 km away and the road climbs through forest in the second half; allow roughly three and a half to four hours of driving, plus stops. Borra Caves, a limestone system some 10 km off the main road, is the principal halt, with the coffee slopes of Ananthagiri and the Galikonda viewpoint on the way up if the weather is clear. You reach Araku in the afternoon. The Tribal Museum and Padmapuram Gardens follow if they are still open, and the evening is yours in the valley.

The early morning is the quiet part of the day in Araku, before visitors arrive from the coast. Anything missed yesterday — the museum, the gardens, the valley’s small coffee museum — fits before a mid-morning departure, and the Chaparai cascades are possible only if your onward travel is late. The car then returns down the ghat to Visakhapatnam railway station or the airport. This is a long road day: please book an evening departure, and tell us your timings before you confirm so that we can set the leaving time from Araku.