[rajivtelang]

Visited Ooty from 8th to 10th November.

Started at 5.30AM and reached Ooty (Greenleaves Countryside Inn) at about 3PM with one breakfast break at Kamat Lokruchi and one lunch break at hotel Lake view, Ooty. I went up via Gudalur. Roads are good except some broken patches after Madumalai and in ghat roads as well. The hotel was about 8KM away from Ooty and that helped to keep away from the noisy Ooty town. It is more of a homestay with good ambiance.

Return was on 10th, started by 9AM post breakfast and visited some of the remaining places such as Pykara boat house etc. Made a stay at Mysore ginger that night. On 11th morning started by 11AM after visiting Karaji lake. Took conventional Mysore road to reach back. With a huge lunch break reached home by 3PM. No traffic jam anywhere due to the timing factor. Thanks to all BHPians for all the recommendations.

[vsun]

Friends, planned a family trip to Ooty from Hyderabad in January 2019.

Booked a resort near avalanche lake.

Please advise me on the following:

Need to have a night halt in between. Confused over choosing night halt ( Bangalore or Mysore, or Salem).

Will it be a problem to go through the Masinagudi route? Is it allowed for out of state cars?

I am ready to take a night break at Salem, if Salem to Ooty route is more safer.

The car that will be used for the trip is Innova Crysta.

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by vsun

Friends, planned a family trip to Ooty from Hyderabad in January 2019.

Booked a resort near avalanche lake.

Please advise me on the following:

Need to have a night halt in between. Confused over choosing night halt ( Bangalore or Mysore, or Salem).

Will it be a problem to go through the Masinagudi route? Is it allowed for out of state cars?

I am ready to take a night break at Salem, if Salem to Ooty route is more safer.

The car that will be used for the trip is Innova Crysta.

The route via Salem is at least 150 Kms longer. Instead you can take the Mysore route and halt at Mysore for the night. Masinagudi is a steep climb with 36 hairpin bends, so even if cops don't allow traffic, you can take the Gudalur route.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by vsun

Need to have a night halt in between. Confused over choosing night halt ( Bangalore or Mysore, or Salem).

Will it be a problem to go through the Masinagudi route? Is it allowed for out of state cars?

If you start early from Hyderabad say 5am, you can reach Bangalore by noon and reach Mysore by say 5pm with a longish break for lunch in between (provided this isn't one of the long holiday weekends ?).

You can stay at Mysore or even take the Mysore Ring road and drive up to Gundlupet and halt for the night. On my recent trip I saw that there are many new hotels that have come up at Gundlupet. You can consider Hotel Misty Rock (pop. Cafe Coffee Day/HP Petrol bunk) or Nijaguna which is almost next door. I haven't stayed at these places, but location wise they're good (bang on the highway). Next day you can start leisurely and reach Ooty. You can even do a forest safari at Bandipur if you leave early.

Masinagudi route - no restrictions when going uphill to Ooty. Downhill traffic from Ooty is usually restricted on holidays and weekends (locals and those with bookings at the Masinagudi resorts are allowed downhill).

[mpksuhas]

To add to what NPV mentioned above, you can consider staying as Bandipur tiger reserve. It's roughly half hour drive from Gudulepet towards Ooty and stay is located next to road. If you fancy, you can book for a morning safari too before starting to Ooty.

At around Rs 1600 per night, its value for money too. There are travelogues by few members who has stayed there, you can view those to get an idea about rooms.

You can book online using this link

[vsun]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

The route via Salem is at least 150 Kms longer. Instead you can take the Mysore route and halt at Mysore for the night. Masinagudi is a steep climb with 36 hairpin bends, so even if cops don't allow traffic, you can take the Gudalur route.

Thank you for the advise. Decided to take Mysore route and halt at Mysore for the night.

Originally Posted by NPV

If you start early from Hyderabad say 5am, you can reach Bangalore by noon and reach Mysore by say 5pm with a longish break for lunch in between (provided this isn't one of the long holiday weekends ?).

You can stay at Mysore or even take the Mysore Ring road and drive up to Gundlupet and halt for the night. On my recent trip I saw that there are many new hotels that have come up at Gundlupet. You can consider Hotel Misty Rock (pop. Cafe Coffee Day/HP Petrol bunk) or Nijaguna which is almost next door. I haven't stayed at these places, but location wise they're good (bang on the highway). Next day you can start leisurely and reach Ooty. You can even do a forest safari at Bandipur if you leave early.

Masinagudi route - no restrictions when going uphill to Ooty. Downhill traffic from Ooty is usually restricted on holidays and weekends (locals and those with bookings at the Masinagudi resorts are allowed downhill).

Thank you for the suggestion, and the information provided. Decided to start early, and stay at Mysore for the night. I have planned my trip after the festival holidays, and the travel will be in the week middle. Today, we searched for good Hotels for night stay in Mysore, and almost finalized 'Hotel Southern Star Mysore' (Good reviews and good parking).

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

To add to what NPV mentioned above, you can consider staying as Bandipur tiger reserve. It's roughly half hour drive from Gudulepet towards Ooty and stay is located next to road. If you fancy, you can book for a morning safari too before starting to Ooty.

At around Rs 1600 per night, its value for money too. There are travelogues by few members who has stayed there, you can view those to get an idea about rooms.

You can book online using this link

Thank you for the information provided. Travelling up to Mysore is maximum for me (Being new to the route, and travelling with 4 year old child). For now, I will be happy by travelling through Bandipur forest while going to Ooty .

[NPV]

Originally Posted by vsun

Today, we searched for good Hotels for night stay in Mysore, and almost finalized 'Hotel Southern Star Mysore' (Good reviews and good parking).

Haven't been there since the late 90's, but I think it's still good

Siddhartha also could be an option near the BSNL office at Nazarbad. Another old time place with ample parking, rooms had been renovated when we last visited in April this year.

[srvm]

Originally Posted by rajivtelang

Visited Ooty from 8th to 10th November.

Started at 5.30AM and reached Ooty (Greenleaves Countryside Inn) at about 3PM with one breakfast break at Kamat Lokruchi and one lunch break at hotel Lake view, Ooty. I went up via Gudalur. Roads are good except some broken patches after Madumalai and in ghat roads as well. The hotel was about 8KM away from Ooty and that helped to keep away from the noisy Ooty town. It is more of a homestay with good ambiance.
.....

We visited Ooty between 7-9 November. And we stayed in Hotel Lakeview
I took the Gudalur route as well during onward journey.
I have a short travelogue under preparation. Hopefully, it can make it out of the assembly line soon.

[hyderabadi]

Can ane one suggest good breakfast points between mysore and bandipur.. And also please advise whether to and from drive allowed from mysore to ooty via masinagudi.. (alternate route is via gudalur)..

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by hyderabadi

Can ane one suggest

1. There are no good breakfast options between Mysore - Bandipur. Comparitively better one is De Shell . Though it can't be termed as a breakfast option, there is a Cafe Coffee day opposite to this.

Also, Jungle lodges and resorts restaurant used to cater to walk in customers earlier. However, they used to have only buffet options. Location

Another option is canteen at Bandipur safari start point.

2. Yes they allow both side traffic if you are driving down on weekdays and if you reach start point of ghats by around 7.00 AM or so.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by hyderabadi

Can ane one suggest good breakfast points between mysore and bandipur..

At Gundlupet, now there are a few options. As @mpksuhas mentioned DeShell is there (food is not great here), next door is Nijaguna. After this, I remember seeing at least 3-4 other restaurants that seem to have come up recently. I haven't tried any of them though.

[sansvk]

Originally Posted by hyderabadi

Can ane one suggest good breakfast
points between mysore and bandipur..

As others have mentioned, there are not many options and the food is not that great. You can use these places for a bio break and plan to have food at Mysore or pack some snacks.

[hyderabadi]

Thank you all for the information provided. I am planning to start from hebbal around 4am with family. Most probably will carry food stuff...

[KK_HakunaMatata]

Originally Posted by hyderabadi

Thank you all for the information provided. I am planning to start from hebbal around 4am with family. Most probably will carry food stuff...

In May, when we went for a ride to Wayanad, we had breakfast at Hotel Misty Rock, which is just before reaching the Gundlupet town and opposite HP petrol bunk. Food was quite decent there, we had dosas. There is place for parking and also, hotel is quite neat in all aspects, including washrooms. You can definitely consider this.

KK

Edit - I just realised Misty Rock is the same as DeShell mentioned by mpksuhas and NPV above.

[gadadhar]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

.

Also, Jungle lodges and resorts restaurant used to cater to walk in customers earlier. However, they used to have only buffet options.

JLR uses a separate restaurant for the walk in customers and they used to have alacarte. I am not sure if this is discontinued now, it is better to call up and check.