Araku Valley

Araku lies in the Ananthagiri hills of the Eastern Ghats, about 115 kilometres inland from Visakhapatnam and roughly 910 metres up, a bowl of terraced paddy, silver oak and coffee that stays green while the coast bakes. The journey is half the point. The Kirandul passenger line, laid to carry iron ore from Bailadila, climbs through 58 tunnels and over 84 bridges, and Shimiliguda near the top was the highest broad-gauge station in India when it opened; the road version runs three dozen hairpins past the coffee slopes at Ananthagiri.

Coffee here is unusual, arabica planted under shade by Adivasi families, mostly Bagata, Valmiki and Konda Dora, organised into cooperatives whose beans have won awards in Paris and carry a geographical indication as Araku Valley Arabica. You can taste them at the coffee museum in the valley. On the way up, Borra Caves open a chamber of stalactites in karst limestone some 705 metres above sea level, theatrically lit and holding a naturally formed shape that locals worship as a Shiva linga.

In the valley itself the Tribal Museum lays out Dhimsa dance costumes and bamboo instruments, Chaparai's flat rock cascade makes a good picnic, and Katiki waterfall needs a short walk in. Come for the quiet, the bamboo chicken and the smell of coffee blossom in March.