Araku Valley
A coffee-growing valley in the Eastern Ghats, reached by one of the most scenic railway journeys in southern India.
About
Araku sits in the Eastern Ghats inland from Visakhapatnam, high enough that the air stays cool through most of the year. The valley is known for coffee, grown here on smallholdings and sold under a tribal cooperative label, and for the tribal communities whose culture the local museum documents. Most visitors arrive by the railway line from Visakhapatnam, which climbs through a long series of tunnels and bridges and is the reason many people come at all — the journey is genuinely the attraction, not merely the way in.
Worth your time
- The railway climb from Visakhapatnam through tunnels and viaducts
- Borra Caves, on the same route
- Coffee plantations and the tribal museum
- Viewpoints over the valley
The train is the point. Booking the Visakhapatnam–Araku service well ahead, and sitting on the side with the valley view, changes the trip from a drive to a destination into something people remember for its own sake.
If you drive instead, the ghat road is winding and slow, and the same tunnels and viaducts are not visible from it.
Boat services, permits, entry fees and road access change with the season and at short notice. Check anything your plan depends on before setting out.