Oravakallu rock garden is located in the district of Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh. It is known for its ingenious rock formations. If you have ever travelled on the NH-18 highway towards Kurnool, the rock formations on the side are hard to miss. Oravakallu rock garden is only a part of the long stretch of rocks formed by silica and quartz. It has a resort and a restaurant inside the 1000 acre park. The famous Bahubali movie’s opening sequence was shot here.

Reaching Oravakallu

Rock garden is approx 230 km from Hyderabad and 23 km from the Kurnool railway station. One can either drive from Hyderabad or take an auto from the Kurnool railway station. The drive takes around 4 hrs and is a nice highway drive. The garden is on the main road itself so easily accessible by public transport.

Accommodation at Oravakallu

The rock garden has a resort inside with AC and non-AC rooms. AC rooms cost Rs.1400 and non-AC rooms Rs.800 per night (as on January 2017, taxes extra). You need to make a booking online on official APTDC website. While the garden is open for day visit, it is recommended for a night stay to get the best experience. It is also very hot during the day so carry an umbrella if you plan for a day visit. Check if you can get a room at the top along because thats where all the rock formations are. Ground floor rooms do not have rock views. The downside however is that there is no room service for the rooms on the top. You can park your car right in front of the cottage.

Food/ Restaurant at Oravakallu Rock garden

The resort has a restaurant inside which serves breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner. There is a AC room and also a cave seating area. However, there are many monkeys in the resort and the staff advised us to have food inside the AC room. The food is decent, little on the spicier side. On the days when there is enough crowd, they have buffet lunch. Service for a-la-carte is extremely slow. We had to remind them couple of times before we got our orders 😐

The Rock Garden:

The garden has unique rock formations and it is not difficult to let your imagination run loose. You can find a Wall-E rock, a sheeshnag rock, a dinosaur, a monkey head 🙂 It was fun with kiddo. The rocks are not difficult to climb. Luckily for us, it wasn’t very hot during the day and we climbed one of the rocks and played games in the shade of the rock.

There are small play areas at various places.

In between the rocks, there are some animals and birds made of scrap metal.

The pathway from the rooms to the restaurant is not lighted properly in the night. The lights are lit only in front of the cottages. Carry a torch if possible.

Overall, a very nice place to spend the weekend with friends and family. It’s a must-visit for photographers who can capture the beautiful sunset behind the rocks or the gorge or just the rocks.