Araku Valley and Borra Caves by road
Araku Valley · 12 hrs · Cab included · Pickup from your stay
From ₹2990 for the whole vehicle, up to 8 people. The price is per car, not per person.
Vehicles
- Swift Dzire: Sedan. Best for a couple or a small family. ₹2990 for the vehicle.
- Tata Sumo: Rugged 8-seater. The most room for the money. ₹3490 for the vehicle.
- Innova or Ertiga: The comfortable one on a long hill day. ₹4990 for the vehicle.
The whole valley road, in the order the opening hours allow
Araku is 115 km from Visakhapatnam, the last half of it a ghat road climbing into the Eastern Ghats through forest and coffee. It is the trip almost everyone in Vizag takes, and most of it is the road itself: the coffee at Ananthagiri, the long view from Galikonda, and the valley floor at the top.
The opening hours set the order. Borra Caves opens at ten and sits on the road about 30 km short of Araku, so the climb goes straight past it in the morning and comes back to it in the afternoon. Padmapuram Gardens takes a midday break, so it goes before lunch, and the two museums sit together in town. The tribal museum's opening days have varied, so we check it against your date when we confirm.
It is a long day, about three hours each way on the road, and that is precisely why it is sold as a car for the day at one flat price. There is no app cab in the valley, and nothing that will wait at a cave entrance for an hour and then take you back down the ghat at dusk.
Your day, stop by stop
1. Ananthagiri coffee country
The first coffee on the climb, grown under silver oak by the tribal farmers whose beans are sold as Araku coffee. A stop to stretch your legs and look across the slopes after two and a half hours on the road.
2. Galikonda viewpoint
A pull-in below Galikonda, one of the highest hills in Andhra Pradesh, with the ghat falling away in ridge after ridge. Ten minutes in the morning; often in cloud in the monsoon.
3. Padmapuram Gardens
A botanical garden on the edge of Araku town, with old trees, flower beds and treehouse cottages on stilts. It closes for a midday break, so it comes before lunch.
Entry ticket at the gate
4. Araku Tribal Museum
Life-size dioramas of the valley's tribal communities, their houses, hunting, harvest and the Dhimsa dance, in a building shaped like a hill hut. The most useful hour of the day for making sense of what you drove through.
Entry ticket at the gate
5. Araku Coffee Museum
A small museum on the history of coffee in the valley, with a café and counters selling local beans and coffee chocolate. The place to buy the coffee you came for.
Entry ticket at the door
6. Borra Caves
Limestone caves in the Ananthagiri hills, a long flight of steps down into chambers of stalactites and stalagmites lit in coloured light. Damp, echoing and much bigger than the entrance suggests.
Entry ticket and phone camera ticket at the gate
In your price
- Private vehicle with driver for the full day
- Pickup and drop at your stay in Visakhapatnam
- Fuel, tolls, driver allowance and parking at every stop
- Stops ordered around the opening hours
- GoExplorer support number for the day
Not included
- Entry and camera tickets
- Meals
- Coffee and shopping
- Anything personal
What you pay on the day
- Entry tickets at Borra Caves, plus a phone camera ticket if you want photos
- Entry tickets at Padmapuram Gardens and the two museums
- Coffee and anything else you buy
- Meals and anything personal
Who this suits
Families and anyone who wants the classic Araku day without a coach. Six hours of it is in the car on a winding ghat road, so anyone prone to travel sickness should sit in front and bring something for it. The Borra steps are many and damp. The sedan seats four, the Sumo eight and the Innova six, each at one flat price for the car.
What to bring
Shoes with grip for the wet steps in the caves, a light layer for the valley, which is cooler than Vizag, and travel sickness tablets if you need them. Cash for the gates, signal is patchy on the ghat.
Rain and cloud on the ghat
Monsoon cloud on Galikonda and rain in the valley are normal and are not a cancellation. If the ghat road is closed by landslides or an official order, you get a full refund or a free reschedule.
Cancellation
- More than 24 hrs before: Full refund
- Within 24 hrs: 50% refund, or reschedule free once
- No show: No refund
Safety and the operator
Run by a licensed local ground operator, one driver per vehicle, commercially registered and insured, and used to the Araku ghat. The steps and floors in Borra Caves are wet and slippery; use the handrails and keep children close.
Questions
Is the price per person?
No. It is one price for the whole vehicle for the day. Eight of you in the Tata Sumo pay ₹3,490 between you, not each.
Is Borra Caves open every day?
It is open daily from about ten until five, and the ticket counter can pause for lunch. That is why the caves are the afternoon stop rather than the first one.
Can we take the train one way?
Yes, that is our other Araku day: the morning train up from Vizag, and the car meets you at Araku station and brings you back down by road.
Can we add Chaparai or Katiki waterfalls?
Not on this booking. Both are off the main road and Katiki needs a local jeep for the last stretch, and the day is already long. Ask us if you want a version with one in place of another stop.