[anuradhac]

I have been travelling to coonoor for past few years.. I have taken all possible routes.


The easiest and most reliable has been via Coimbatore-Mettupalyam-Kotagari Ghats. Though its 80kms more but one can reach in 7hrs.



Mysore-Bandipur-Masingudi is good but gets really crowded on weekends and takes 9-10hrs.. Advantage is its slightly shorter and one does get to see some animals.


The Gudular road is sometimes very good and sometimes pretty bad to drive.


I usually take chamrajnagar-satya-mettupalyam-kotagari road and since last year lot of road work is happening so there is some delay in reaching coonoor.



If you are interested there is a nice vacation stay there :
https://www.thexanadu.co/


Cheers
Anu

[AMG Power]

Has anyone travelled on the Nanjangud - Satyamangalam route recently? A couple of years ago, the road was completely broken up for relaying for miles on end. Ended up travelling in first gear for more than 50kms. I actually apologised to my car.

Would anyone know the condition in its entirety from Nanjangud till Dimbum - most of the stretch a little before the forest and beyond uptil Sathy was good.

[anuradhac]

Originally Posted by AMG Power

Has anyone travelled on the Nanjangud - Satyamangalam route recently? A couple of years ago, the road was completely broken up for relaying for miles on end. Ended up travelling in first gear for more than 50kms. I actually apologised to my car.

Would anyone know the condition in its entirety from Nanjangud till Dimbum - most of the stretch a little before the forest and beyond uptil Sathy was good.

In May I had comeback via Dimbum-Nanjangud and followed google maps and it took me through long stretches of horrible road .. Road construction was happening..


In July first week, I did comeback via Ooty-Bandipur-Nanjangud and the road was quite good.

[ssjr0498]

Hello All,

I am planning a trip to Masinagudi with my family during the last weekend of September and have booked my stay with a famous resort.

Yesterday, I heard someone in my office say that the govt has declared the entire bench as an Elephant reserve and has asked all the resorts to close. Also, they are not allowing vehicles to go the resorts and are personally checking resorts!

Is this true?

Cheers

[anuradhac]

Originally Posted by ssjr0498

Hello All,

I am planning a trip to Masinagudi with my family during the last weekend of September and have booked my stay with a famous resort.

Yesterday, I heard someone in my office say that the govt has declared the entire bench as an Elephant reserve and has asked all the resorts to close. Also, they are not allowing vehicles to go the resorts and are personally checking resorts!

Is this true?

Cheers

Yes I also heard from few people that the resorts in Masinagudi have been closed and the news came in several newspapers


https://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...le24764556.ece

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by ssjr0498

Hello All,

I am planning a trip to Masinagudi with my family during the last weekend of September and have booked my stay with a famous resort.

Yesterday, I heard someone in my office say that the govt has declared the entire bench as an Elephant reserve and has asked all the resorts to close. Also, they are not allowing vehicles to go the resorts and are personally checking resorts!

Is this true?

Cheers

If the resort you have booked have said they are open and have said there are no issues, you should be good. As per reports all impacted resorts were asked to vacate and close within 48 hours. This was a month back.

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by ssjr0498

I am planning a trip to Masinagudi with my family during the last weekend of September s

You can check if your resort name is present in news link mentioned by Anuradhac above or the initial list of resorts mentioned here Link

It's not that all resorts around there are closed, but many were working illegaly (permissions for plantation/ estate, additional illegal buildings)

So if your resort is taking booking and not in the list you need not worry.

[KRRaj]

Is the Masinagudi hair pin route permanently closed? They were not allowing anyone yeterday and I took the Gudalur route back to Bangalore from Ooty.

[ssjr0498]

Originally Posted by anuradhac

Yes I also heard from few people that the resorts in Masinagudi have been closed and the news came in several newspapers


https://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...le24764556.ece

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

If the resort you have booked have said they are open and have said there are no issues, you should be good. As per reports all impacted resorts were asked to vacate and close within 48 hours. This was a month back.

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

You can check if your resort name is present in news link mentioned by Anuradhac above or the initial list of resorts mentioned here Link

It's not that all resorts around there are closed, but many were working illegaly (permissions for plantation/ estate, additional illegal buildings)

So if your resort is taking booking and not in the list you need not worry.

Update: Spoke to the owners of the resort (Jungle Hut. Apparently one of the oldest in masinagudi, and I believe belongs to Vikram mathais's family.. that's what i've been told) and they informed that, they were also asked to submit their papers for verification to the SC, which they did and post that, they have got the clearance to do business which they started doing from the past 3 weeks.

[BenjiRoss]

Originally Posted by ssjr0498

Update: Spoke to the owners of the resort (Jungle Hut. Apparently one of the oldest in masinagudi, and I believe belongs to Vikram mathais's family.. that's what i've been told) and they informed that, they were also asked to submit their papers for verification to the SC, which they did and post that, they have got the clearance to do business which they started doing from the past 3 weeks.

I'm staying at Jungle Hut from 24-26th too and got the same reply about them being open.Their website states that some facilities are not available, but the receptionist told me all was OK.


From Vellore, I'm planning a visit to the Mysore zoo, stay overnight there and then proceed to Masinagudi. Can anyone update me on the route from Mysore to Masinagudi? Planning to do Nanjangudu - Bandipur - Masinagudi route. How are the rains during the daytime? I'm also posting this query in the Bangalore - Masinagudi thread which is a little old

Also any particular issues with TN registered vehicles on this route?

[ankan.m.blr]

I have heard (and seen photos) of these mesmerizing places 'Upper Bhawani', 'Avalanche' etc but my trips to Ooty have always been confined within the popular Ooty-Coonor tourist circuit. Are these places ('Upper Bhawani', 'Avalanche' etc) do-able in a small car with family accompanying? How are the road conditions? Can I visit this place on a 2-night schedule from Bangalore? Please suggest any decent accommodation with secure parking too. TIA.

[keroo1099]

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

I have heard (and seen photos) of these mesmerizing places 'Upper Bhawani', 'Avalanche' etc but my trips to Ooty have always been confined within the popular Ooty-Coonor tourist circuit. Are these places ('Upper Bhawani', 'Avalanche' etc) do-able in a small car with family accompanying? How are the road conditions? Can I visit this place on a 2-night schedule from Bangalore? Please suggest any decent accommodation with secure parking too. TIA.

Mesmerizing is the correct word, but unfortunately you can no longer visit Upper Bhavani without permission from the forest department (roads are closed with checkposts). If you can get permission then you have two ways to get up to the Upper Bhavani dam.

1. Via Manjur (Manjoor) and past Korakundah estate (highest tea garden in the country).
2. Past Avalanche and along the smaller lakes that dot the road and are fed by the Upper Bhavani lake (absolutely stunning drive)

Both roads should be good enough for a small car but you need to drive slowly, and Manjur may have a few places to stay now, but not sure. Avalanche has several places to stay and Red Hill is one of the better places. A google search should give you several options

If you do get permission, you could ask for accommodation at the forest bungalow at the dam, which I remember being simple but clean.

[BenjiRoss]

Originally Posted by ssjr0498

Update: Spoke to the owners of the resort (Jungle Hut. Apparently one of the oldest in masinagudi, and I believe belongs to Vikram mathais's family.. that's what i've been told) and they informed that, they were also asked to submit their papers for verification to the SC,

I'm in Jungle Hut right now and it's all good. Between gazing at deer walking all around our room in the morning and staring at a tiger at Bandipur, it looks like a great place to stay!!
The drive from Mysore to Masinagudi via Bandipur was excellent. The drive through the national park is quite exciting especially the first time you see some animals! We also drove this route at 7 pm and the dark was a bit eerie but there were plenty of vehicles. On the narrow roads on mudunalai, vehicles coming in the opposite side usually make sure you get off the road. This was the only annoying part of the drive.
Masinagudi has a good Essar gas station which I saw, so you have options for tanking up.
There are lots of petrol bunks and small hotels between Mysore and Bandipur.

[cogWheel]

Not sure if this is the right thread for my query, but couldn't find a more specific one:
What is currently the best route to Mysore from Hassan? Google Maps has two options - one through Holenarsipura and the other through Krishnarajapete and Srirangapatna. Which is the better of the two? Thanks in advance for your inputs.

[vikas.mishra]

Originally Posted by adutta2k

Hi,

planning to do a bangalore-ooty trip in the month of july. I have done this stretch many times before and I take the mysore road-bandipur-ooty route. For some reason google is showing the coimbatore route as the fastest option (7.5hrs). Does anyone know of any issues with the mysore road option?

Google is showing this route even now. Does someone know the state of the BLR -> MYS -> Bandipur -> Ooty road? I would much rather take that route.