Imagine yourself leisuring around the scenic beautiful hill station of South India amidst the lush green coffee and pepper plantations running parallel throughout your road journey while you can relax and breathe in the aromatic air !!!!
Thats Coorg for you !
My #HolidayGoals for visiting Coorg was to unwind myself from the monotonous routine of city life and soak my soul away from the hectic life in this beautiful hill station.
Coorg which is also known as “Kodagu” is basically a quintessential quiet and calm place but the hill station of Madikeri is where there is hustle and bustle of the tourists and locals. Madikeri as such is not a total tourist spot but can be a connecting point to visit various tourist destinations of Coorg. As I wanted to seclude myself from the hustling hill town I enjoyed Coorg while staying at some premium properties being The Ibnii Spa Resort and Evolve Back Resorts (Formerly known as Orange County).
IBNII SPA RESORTS, COORG
I had a stay at one of the most expensive properties at Madikeri, Coorg spread over 120 acres of land and it makes you feel like you have entered a whole new world. It is a coffee plantation land and it holds one of the most rejuvenating Spa resorts in the area. They have their dining rooms, hotel rooms, spa rooms and coffee house at a considerable distance from each other because they want the guests to walk each time and experience the natural environment within the premises. The property owner believes in sustainable development so they have kept the natural habitat intact.
-> Rooms
Ibnii Spa Resort has primarily four categories of rooms with 22 pool villas, 10 wooden cottages, private residences and premium suites. We had a pool villa and a wooden cottage to get a dual experience. The pool villa comprises of a private pool, a private jacuzzi, a hall that has a tiny beer bar and snacks, two bathrooms and one bedroom. The private pool villa is a spacious apartment in itself. Each villa is at a considerable distance from each other so that privacy is maintained. Pool villa is surrounded by greens in abundance and you feel like you are swimming amidst the nature.
The wooden cottage on the other hand has two rooms. The woods used to build the cottage are imported from Thailand. It truly gives an international feel because of the minute details used to construct the cottage and its interiors. There is a balcony overlooking the dense green forest where you can sit in the morning and evening seeing the different species of different birds, sunlight falling across dew dropped trees and even some monkeys may be. The bedroom has glass windows through which you can enjoy the surroundings. The wooden cottages are close to each other so there is not much privacy compared to pool villa but it is worth experiencing once in your life. The wooden cottage does not have a private pool but you can use the common pools which are equally beautiful.
-> Culinary RollerCoaster
Ibnii Spa Resort has its own in-house restaurants namely The Fig which is a multi cuisine restaurant, Baalelle a pure vegetarian restaurant, Masi kande for barbecue lovers and Kalki Kappe which is a coffee and cookie shop. So I find myself very privileged to have tasted one of the best cuisines in Coorg from the best of the chefs who were ever ready to share their recipe ideas with us. They had assorted breads and spreads for the breakfast, freshly cut fruits and vegetables, they had installed machines for self extracting the fresh juices of fruits and vegetables, a wide variety of milkshake and a mix of buffet varying from South Indian to Italian dishes. They particularly avoided Chinese cuisines or any other cuisine artificially made or having added flavours as the leftover food is used a manure for plants so that it is recycled in a better way perhaps.
The lunch and dinner too had miscellany of different cuisines from all over the world being North Indian , South Indian, Mexican and Oriental with selected desserts on daily basis. The menu was non-repetitive and finger licking good food gets served everyday. The kalki kappe or coffee house is located besides a small pond that served us free coffee and cookies that were made by us. The coffee shop hosts a cookie baking workshop where you can learn to bake cookies and then enjoy it by the pond. It is one of the best experiences that should make you feel at home and at the same time enjoy the beautiful property of Ibnii for staycation.
-> Activities at Ibnii
Ibnii Spa Resort has a wide variety of activities to keep you busy within the property itself. Once you are in the premises you need to soak in each iota of this scenic beauty. For the same they have provided the guests with diverse activities like nature and cycling trails, bird watching, bird/duck feeding by the pond, cookies baking and Yoga.
So the nature trails happen in the early mornings from 7am – 8am followed by Yoga from 8am to 8.30am. The walk within the premises amongst the canopy of trees and wild flowers gives the morning much required kick start.
The Yoga session includes basic postures and asanas. It is more on the meditative side than rigorous exercise routines. Yoga takes place in a very secluded spot surrounded by a pond with beautiful white swans which is a mesmerising experience.
In the cookie baking workshop they teach you how to bake delicious cookies. The chef will help you design your own cookies which you can have it with coffee later on.
They have a Spa facility which needs to be pre booked because the slots run out. The name of the Spa is Manja which literally means turmeric in local language. They have weaved together the traditional and modern way of conducting the massages. This will positively unwind you from all the stress in your muscles and joints making it an enriching experience for you. The spa is quiet costly but if you are on a leisure staycation.
-> Hospitality
As we walked in the reception through the wooden bridge surrounded by fully grown out branches of dense trees we were greeted with warm welcome and smiling faces of the staff of Ibnii. There is comfortable seating at the reception desk where we were served with hotel towels and some traditional house made coffees. After the process of check in we were oriented about the various activities in the hotel and we boarded our polo cars and went on to see the rooms.
As we were a little before time, the pool villa cleaning was still in progress which gave us time to move about in the property. Hence it is suggested to go a little before time so that you can take delight in witnessing the alluring property of Ibnii.
The staff was a bit laid back in delivering the luggage to the room as there were multiple check ins going on but we got our luggages in an hour or so. The room and the pool cleanliness is on point. You will not find a speck of dirt in the rooms or the pool. The tea and coffee sachets are regularly replaced on the coffee shelves and the rooms are cleaned once a day. Towels in the rooms can be replaced on choice as they believe in “saving the water” policy. If not required then do not change the used towels.
Room service is not provided with respect to food that is food will not be served in the room as they will expect you to walk all the way to the restaurant whenever hunger strikes. That explains why it is one of the best resort. But they have personal car service for the presidential room as it is quite far away from the in-house restaurant and spa.
The service at the restaurant is very prompt. The warm hearted chef greeted us with twinkle in his eyes every time we visited for our meals. On special request he even made some complimentary pancakes and waffles for us which was a very nice gesture on his part.
Overall the service was seamless and delightful.
-> Ibnii’s efforts in conserving the environment
Ibnii Spa resort is an eco-luxe resort that is they
believe in balancing ecology while providing luxurious experiences to their guests. Rainwater harvesting is done by building a small pond to save rainwater. They are trying to save water by giving the guests an option to not give their used towels / bathrobes for washing when not required. Food remains/ leftovers are used as manures for plants and no added chemicals or preservatives are put in the food so everything is natural. Also plastic bottles are not used inside the premises for maintaining eco-friendliness.
-> Ibnii’s efforts in conserving the ebalancing ecology while providing luxurious experiences to their guests. Rainwater harvesting is done by building a small pond to save rainwater. They are trying to save water by giving the guests an option to not give their used towels / bathrobes for washing when not required. Food remains/ leftovers are used as manures for plants and no added chemicals or preservatives are put in the food so everything is natural. Also plastic bottles are not used inside the premises for maintaining eco-friendliness.
