Papi Hills

Greetings! The Godavari Vihari cruise begins at about 9 in the morning from Pattiseema. You can reach Pattiseema from nearest bus station Kovvuru, AP by bus or auto-rickshaw. If you reach before time, you may visit the famous Temple of Shiva in Pattiseema.

From there the joyful cruise in the Godavari lasts for about 3 hours by the time you reach the Koraturu, the beginning of Papi hill ranges. In between, you get to see popular Elephant hill, a nice little temple built on a rock amidst the Godavari, nice sandy beaches, and local tribal life.

In Koraturu, “Telugu or Andhra bhojanam” is served right in the shadows of mango trees on top of a small hill. It just happened to visit this place in spring season, time for “Ugadi” festival. the place was like garden of mango trees full of mangos,  on banks of Godavari. It was good watching beautiful Papi Hills and having lunch served with “appadam” and “perugu" (yogurt) as well!

The cruise resumes for the most exciting and scenic part of the journey, …ride through the narrow passage in Papi hills for about one hour. By then it must be noon, and you will get to see all the water around shining in sunlight, …it’s going to be absolutely amazing experience, transcends language to describe. Finally, you reach in Perantapally, a small village of tribals and the destination of your onward journey. Generally, visitors go to the “Ashram” of Balananda Swami located there on top of a hill. On the way, you get to see different herbs, rare trees, and some water falls.

 Defying all your expectations, the return journey is going to be a different experience, all together…by evening time, you get to watch herds of cattle on the banks, birds returning to their nests, sun setting behind the hill ranges, small huts on the banks with glowing lamps, camp fires, locals making preparations for dinner and lot more. The most exciting and beautiful thing is watching the Sun hide-and-seek behind uneven hill ranges as the cruise takes curves along the river, … something you cannot miss to shoot.

 On board, you get fresh hot “Pakodi”, “Mirapakaya Bajji”, the local snacks for a bite. Besides good service, cruise attendant-cum-anchor keeps the passengers entertained with her song and dance, on demand. By the time of about 6 in the evening, as a standard practice the artificial fun is cutoff allowing the passengers to enjoy the calmness, chirping sounds of birds, twilight and meditate while the cruise continues. Cut off from the modern day life, you will experience all the peace you ever wanted that will cherish forever, in the calmness of those hills. The round trip ends at about 7 or 8 in the late evening.

West Godavari Tourism has been organizing this daytime tour. Online ticket booking facility is available. There is a facility to book a cottage at Koraturu to spend a day or two in the scenic Papi hills.  The cottages are located in right place with all the necessary facilities, and more importantly, you won’t miss the view of the hills even for a moment.

I recommend this outing delight to all nature lovers. The best time to visit would be the winter season, from october to march. Typically, cruise tickets are priced at about INR 300 (USD 7) per head and the cottages are at INR 400 (USD 9) for a non-AC, and INR 600 (USD 14) for AC. They may vary from time to time and on the season basis, please check with the tourism office for up to date information.

AP Tourism
West Godavari Tourism

Online Ticket Booking