We visited this gem of a town in Kerala in December of 2025, mainly to see my niece, and her baby son. In addition to spending time with my niece and family in their beautiful house, we managed to visit a few attractions nearby including a couple of temples.
The nearest airport to Palakkad is Coimbatore (in the state of Tamil Nadu). We took a 1-hour flight from Chennai to Coimbatore. My niece and her husband were at the airport to meet us and drive us to Palakkad which is a mere 60 km away. We reached Palakkad by lunch time and were treated to a traditional and yummy Kerala meal.
- Malampuzha Dam
- Hiking to Dhoni waterfalls
- Local Temples
Palakkad is blessed with abundant natural beauty and greenery and is blessed with irrigation facilities. Dams have been constructed across almost all the important tributaries of the Bharathapuzha to provide irrigation facilities to the district. Six out of the ten completed irrigation projects of Kerala are in Palakkad district. We visited one of the dams built here – Malampuzha Dam.
Malampuzha Dam – Built in 1955, the Malampuzha dam is a 6,066 ft. masonry structure built across Malampuzha, a tributary of Bharathapuzha, with a network of canal systems. The dam and reservoir are located 13kms from Palakkad town. It has a catchment area of 145 square km with two canal systems that irrigates the Palakkad districts within a radius of 32km. The reservoir also provides drinking water to Palakkad town.
One can spend a few hours at this dam admiring the well maintained garden, riding the ropeway, walking on the dam, and enjoying the sunset. You can walk around the garden, across the pedestrian bridge and follow a path that leads to a stone stairway that will take you to the walkway at the top of the dam. You can get a great view of the garden.
We took a walk on the dam walkway from where we also got an amazing view of the Malampuzha river and the western ghats beyond. We watched the sunset before making our way back down.
Note: The line to get onto the ropeway can be long on weekends with wait-time in the excess of 40-50 min. it is not so crowded during the early part of the day during weekdays.
Hiking to Dhoni waterfalls – Dhoni Hills, located around 12 kms from Palakkad town, is a popular tourist destination in Kerala. The trekking starts at the foot of the hills near the Teak plantations. The trail leading to the waterfalls is 4 km long through the lush green forest with an elevation gain of 800 ft. It took us an hour and half to reach the waterfalls. The waterfalls are full during monsoon and it overflows with beautiful small streams gushing down, so the best time to visit is during monsoon (June – October). Bathing in the waterfall is not allowed. The return journey is comparatively easy lasting less than an hour.
The hike uphill is moderately difficult. Sensible shoes is recommended as the hiking path is full of stones.
Visiting Temples nearby – We visited a few popular local temples that were within walking distance of my niece’s house.
