Explore Chettiar Mansions and Stay in Art Deco Style at Visalam

(To open the embedded Facebook posts fully for the recipes and details, just click on the date/time under the heading Food and Travel Secrets.)

Our first visit to Visalam in 2015, was my very first CGH Earth Experience. Since then I have discovered that, like Visalam,  CGH Earth properties all offer a unique local experience in lovely comfort with a warm and genuine team who can’t do enough to help . Most of the Visalam team had changed but the new team made our second visit to Visalam just as wonderful as the first. 

Visalam has an interesting history. It was built by a Chettiar father for his daughter Visalakshi around 70 years ago in an art deco style. The traditional Chettiar architecture meant that rooms were built around open courtyards. Visalam’s thick walls and verandahs help keep it cool but there is also a very lovely pool to cool off in after a bike ride or walk around the village.

There’s so many gorgeous aspects at Visalam! Visalam’s 15 rooms are surrounded by a beautiful garden and the furnishings have been perfectly chosen to fit the original period when Visalam was built.

The suite at Visalam is enormous but all the rooms are gorgeous in art deco heritage style with their own verndah.

One of the many things I love about Visalam is the included activities like the Visalam Heritage Walk, that takes guests through the quiet nearby streets full of mansions built by Chettiar families, to store and show their wealth by furnishing them with wood, tiles and glass from their travels aboard. The Chettiars were successful traders, brokers and bankers. They brought back building materials and spices and ingredients from surrounding countries that has been the basis for the mansions and Chettinad dishes. The Chettinadu area has 74 villages with 5,000 Chettiar homes, mostly now neglected since Chettiar fortunes turned and generations have moved and sought lives elsewhere. However the family home is retained for formal functions even if not maintained. Kanadukathan is also the village where the Raja of Chettinadu has his palace, just a few blocks from Visalam.

Visalam is excellent value with all it’s great included activities like the Peacock Trail morning bike ride which is a very good way to start the day in the cool of the morning while the village is getting ready for the day.

After the morning bike ride ride and before breakfast there is time to watch and help with the kolam making, floor decoration that is also an included daily activity.

You can also use the bikes from Visalam to ride around the village on your own. It’s full of fascinating old houses that must have been magnificent in their prime.

In the afternoon, Visalam offers daily cooking demonstrations where you can learn a new recipe each day. It’s a great way to unpack the  nuances of Chettinad cuisine and the large, open airy kitchen at Visalam is just a great place to around in.

After the cooking demonstration, there’s an opportunity  to learn to wear a sari or dhoti.It’s well worth doing for the great photo in Visalam’s majestic setting.

It’s a special treat to look forward to eating each meal in a different setting at Visalam. Breakfast in the garden….

Lunch by the pool…

….and dinner on the upstairs terrace.

There are also more excellent activities that have costs attached and some need a car and driver. The Once Upon a Time in Chettinad tour is especially good!

Leaving the second time was just as hard as the first time. With just 15 rooms, Visalam is very much like a grand family home and the team are so wonderful, it’s like leaving new friends. I can’t help but know that I’ll be back again!