I think I have been doing short holidays wrong. For years, a three-day trip meant one of two things. Either I would pack the itinerary so tightly that by the time I was heading home, I needed another holiday to recover. Or I would book a lovely hotel, stay put for three days, eat, swim, sleep and eventually start wondering what we were supposed to do next. My three-day stay at Club Mahindra Virajpet in Coorg made me realise there is a third option. Find a property where the holiday is already happening. And suddenly, three days felt like a lot more.
That sounds like a small thing, but for me it was quite a revelation. I usually want to see the place I have travelled to. If I am in Coorg, I want coffee, viewpoints, local food, pretty roads, little shops and all the things that make Coorg, well, Coorg. But when you only have three days, trying to fit everything in can turn a holiday into a very attractive version of a timetable. Here, I could actually slow down. Our family room was spacious enough for two people to spread out properly, with a sofa cum bed and a balcony overlooking the greenery. And that balcony quickly became my favourite spot. Coffee in hand. Rain in the distance. Green hills in front of me. Honestly, I could have sat there for hours.
Destination Buzz: Planning a Switzerland train holiday in 2026? Because it was a fairly important part of our three days, i have to talk about the food. I will admit I was slightly apprehensive about this one. A coffee plantation in monsoon sounds gorgeous until you remember that you have to actually walk through it. So we put on long socks, pulled on our boots and headed out. It turned out to be completely worth it. Walking through the plantation, surrounded by all that greenery, felt very different from simply looking at a coffee plantation from the road. We also got to do a coffee tasting, which made the whole experience even better. This was one of those moments when I realised the property was giving us a taste of Coorg without making us spend the entire day driving around Coorg. And that became the recurring theme of the holiday. Breakfasts became long, lazy affairs. We sat in the balcony area of the buffet restaurant, ate slowly and looked out at the scenery instead of rushing off to the next stop. Then there were the Coorg thalis. What I particularly liked was how much attention went into individual preferences. Vegetarian meals were catered for vegetarians, ingredients could be left out for people who did not eat them, and the non-vegetarian thalis could be planned around the meat each person preferred. It made the meal feel personal rather than like a standard regional thali placed in front of everyone. And yes, I ate very well. I came to Coorg thinking the destination was the important part. I left thinking the property might matter just as much. If the purpose of a three-day break is to spend time with family, catch up with friends, relax with your partner or simply get away from city life for a bit, you do not necessarily need an itinerary filled with tourist spots. You need enough things to do, enough space to breathe and enough variety that everyone can enjoy the holiday in their own way. Here’s what to know about the Grand Train Tour
