[raihan]

Originally Posted by sami316

Hello Everyone..can someone please let me know how is the actual weather like in Ooty nowadays. People who have been here recently please update as I am planning to visit next week.

I had been there a few weeks back(April month) & it's very pleasant - warm during the day but starts cooling off as soon as 4pm.
Nights can be as low as 10-11 deg C so carry a sweater.

[sami316]

Originally Posted by raihan

I had been there a few weeks back(April month) & it's very pleasant - warm during the day but starts cooling off as soon as 4pm.
Nights can be as low as 10-11 deg C so carry a sweater.

Thanks for the update Raihan.

[sidzz]

Originally Posted by raihan

I had been there a few weeks back(April month) & it's very pleasant - warm during the day but starts cooling off as soon as 4pm.
Nights can be as low as 10-11 deg C so carry a sweater.

Originally Posted by sami316

Hello Everyone..can someone please let me know how is the actual weather like in Ooty nowadays. People who have been here recently please update as I am planning to visit next week.

I agree with Raihan.

I was there in the first week of April and the weather was pleasant.
At present, came to know from a friend of mine (a native of Ooty) that the weather is hot and definitely not pleasant.

I took Mysore - Theppakadu - Masinagudi - Ooty route for the onwards journey and Mysore - Theppakadu - Gudalur - Ooty route for the return.

Passing through Bandipur in the afternoon can be really boring and 'hot'. Try to cover it in the morning.

[suresh_gs]

Folks

My friend has planned a trip to Ooty on May 7th and will be driving from Bangalore.

1. Is it better for him to go via Gudalur for the onward journey and come via Masinagudi for the return.
2. How are the road conditions along the Masinagudi and Gudalur route
3. Any updates on the weather. Is it very cold in the night.
4. He will be staying there for about 3 days. Any good places to visit especially for the kids

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

Folks

My friend has planned a trip to Ooty on May 7th and will be driving from Bangalore.

1. Is it better for him to go via Gudalur for the onward journey and come via Masinagudi for the return.

Just on this point, makes more sense to go up via masinagudi and come down via Gudalur. Normally police restrict the downward journey via Masinagudi. So to experience the route, better to go up.

[locusjag]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Just on this point, makes more sense to go up via masinagudi and come down via Gudalur. Normally police restrict the downward journey via Masinagudi. So to experience the route, better to go up.

Thanks a lot! I was looking for confirmation that 'outsiders' are allowed to go up via Mysore-Bandipore. We're planning to go there from Chennai after staying overnight at Hosur; we'll take the NICE road, touch Mysore and then climb up. I always knew that the police have a thing against naive tourists driving on that ghat road. Left to myself, I wouldn't drive down the road - based on what I've heard. It's a scenic but steep road, is what I know about it.

[locusjag]

Originally Posted by locusjag

Thanks a lot! I was looking for confirmation that 'outsiders' are allowed to go up via Mysore-Bandipore. We're planning to go there from Chennai after staying overnight at Hosur; we'll take the NICE road, touch Mysore and then climb up. I always knew that the police have a thing against naive tourists driving on that ghat road. Left to myself, I wouldn't drive down the road - based on what I've heard. It's a scenic but steep road, is what I know about it.

We're leaving from Hosur via the Mysore-Bandipur route to Ooty on the morning of the upcoming May 9th (Thursday). But I see a full rain forecast in Ooty. If anyone knows of any road closures because of the rains, please do reply to this post so that I'll get alerted. Thanks!

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Just on this point, makes more sense to go up via masinagudi and come down via Gudalur. Normally police restrict the downward journey via Masinagudi. So to experience the route, better to go up.

Traffic is not allowed down the Segur ghats unless

1: You have written permission from the collector
2: If you own property in the area, you are issued with sticker permitting you to pass
3: If you have a local registration for the district (needs to be verified!)

[locusjag]

Originally Posted by locusjag

Thanks a lot! I was looking for confirmation that 'outsiders' are allowed to go up via Mysore-Bandipore. We're planning to go there from Chennai after staying overnight at Hosur; we'll take the NICE road, touch Mysore and then climb up. I always knew that the police have a thing against naive tourists driving on that ghat road. Left to myself, I wouldn't drive down the road - based on what I've heard. It's a scenic but steep road, is what I know about it.

Originally Posted by locusjag

We're leaving from Hosur via the Mysore-Bandipur route to Ooty on the morning of the upcoming May 9th (Thursday).

Just an update - we drove as planned to Ooty via Bandipore; we were in 2 cars and one car drove up the super-steep Kalhatty-Masinagudy route. I drove via Gudalur. The steep route is 1 to 1.5 hours quicker compared to the Gudalur route, but the occupants of that car encountered a lone tusker and frightened villagers en route, not to mention the nauseousness brought on by the incessant climbing and 30+ hairpin bends.

[mchandra13]

We drove to Ooty over the weekend in 2 cars. While going from Blr, we took Kanakapura - Malavalli - Mysore - Gundlupet - Gudalur - Ooty

I wanted to take the Masinagudi route while going up, but my cousin in the other car, a Verna, had a bad experience a few years back when he damaged his clutch plates driving up and was firm on doing Gudalur route so we took this way. 4 laning is actively going on between Blr - Kanakapura - Malavalli stretch but the route is quite ok to do. From Malavalli till Mysore via Bannur is a pretty good road. we started from Bannerghatta Road at 6:30AM and reached Mysore Ring road by 9AM without any stops.

The Theppekadu - Gudalur - Ooty is longer by 30km or so and adds 1+ hours more to the journey. However we stopped over at Needle Rock view point, Pykara and 9th Mile shooting point along the route. we entered Ooty by 4PM and planned to go to Botanical gardens for the evening. But there was such a huge traffic jam in Ooty, by the time we reached botanical gardens, it was 6:30PM and the garden closed.
The dreadful traffic in Ooty continued to haunt us through the weekend and vehicles are stuck where ever we went. We tried going up Doddabetta and had to drop the plan midway since the traffic was not moving up for close to 45 mins, so we reversed and moved down. The road to Doddabetta is in pathetic condition and its very difficult to do this road in a low slung sedan in its current condition.

While returning back from Ooty, we tried taking the Masinagudi route but police did not allow us. So we had to take the Gudalur road once again. We had a free safari in Madumalai and Bandipur stretches in the evening where we spotted atleast 10 elephants pretty close to the road and number of peacocks and Deer and a lone bison. We reached Mysore at around 8:30PM and from there we took the usual Mandya - Maddur route since it was night. The drive was as usual, full action packed bumper to bumper drive, and I reached home in 2 hour 45 min. Even with the speed breakers, this route is pretty good.

The Mettupalayam - Erode - Salem route is longer by over 100Kms to consider that as a viable alternative. I spoke to a KSRTC driver in Ooty and found that KSRTC is planning to launch buses along Kanakapura - Malavalli - Chamarajanagar - Satyamangalam - Mettupalayam - Ooty especially in the nights due to the night travel restriction on the Bandipur road. This route is shorter than the Salem route. Does anyone know the road conditions in this route?

[drpavan]

Hi everyone, I travelled to Ooty from Vijayawada by car. Road condition between Chittor and Vellore is the only thing to worry about. Rest of the entire stretch was excellent. I stayed at Perundurai at my friends place for night stay.

Vijayawada- Tirupathy- Vellore- Salem- Mettupalayam- Ooty.


Overall I spent 3 days in Conoor and Ooty. Weather was excellent with rains. I stayed there from 9 th to 12 th May.


I travelled in my duster AMT, it lived up to my expectations.

Thank you.

Regards,
Drpavan.

[locusjag]

Originally Posted by mchandra13

We drove to Ooty over the weekend in 2 cars...

The dreadful traffic in Ooty continued to haunt us through the weekend and vehicles are stuck where ever we went. We tried going up Doddabetta and had to drop the plan midway since the traffic was not moving up for close to 45 mins, so we reversed and moved down. The road to Doddabetta is in pathetic condition and its very difficult to do this road in a low slung sedan in its current condition.

I'd done the Doddabetta sojourn in my TUV 300 10 days ago. It made me super glad to be in that particular vehicle! My sister's Swift which was usually zipping ahead of us on highways and smooth ghat roads took such a beating in the Doddabetta climb and in the Pykara stretch. Indeed, only assorted Mahindras were seen ruling the roost in these roads...

An update I heard last week though is that the entire Doddabetta stretch had to be relaid on an emergency-footing after very heavy rainfalls over there. I don't know if there were landslides or whatever but if my sources are correct, the Doddabetta stretch should have been freshly laid by now.

I spoke to a KSRTC driver in Ooty and found that KSRTC is planning to launch buses along Kanakapura - Malavalli - Chamarajanagar - Satyamangalam - Mettupalayam - Ooty especially in the nights due to the night travel restriction on the Bandipur road. This route is shorter than the Salem route. Does anyone know the road conditions in this route?

We returned to Chennai via the Sathy road; Mettupalayam-Bhavani-Mettur-Anthiyur-Dharmapuri-Krishnagiri was the exact route. The road conditions are okay by Indian standards although we're looking at undivided 2 lane roads passing through villages and the mandatory speedbreakers when entering and leaving each village en route. Then you'd have to contend with agricultural tractors, goods carriers, slow motorcycles etc.

Take this route only if you want to take a dip in the Bhavani river or to visit Mettur en route. We ended up doing both and the journey took a record 15.5 hours to Chennai!

Originally Posted by drpavan

Overall I spent 3 days in Conoor and Ooty. Weather was excellent with rains. I stayed there from 9 th to 12 th May.

Cheers! I was there in Ooty on exactly those dates myself. We had to map an uncharted tour of less-visited places once the tourists started to clog the roads by the evening of the 10th though. On the 11th, we took the Lovedale-upper Bhavani road and simply drove through pristine tea estates, villages etc and chilled out.

[sarfraz1997]

Hey everyone

I'm planning to go to Ooty from Bangalore with a night planned at Mysore due to the timing. What route would you suggest while going to and coming back from? We're a family of four with a little on the older side parents. Planning to do this in a Vento TSI. Any other suggestions with regards to the car or the route would be helpful.

Thanks and Regards

[createrkid]

Originally Posted by sarfraz1997

Hey everyone

I'm planning to go to Ooty from Bangalore with a night planned at Mysore due to the timing. What route would you suggest while going to and coming back from? We're a family of four with a little on the older side parents. Planning to do this in a Vento TSI. Any other suggestions with regards to the car or the route would be helpful.

Thanks and Regards

Couple of questions. What time are you leaving? Is it a weekday/weekend?

The good old Mysore-Bangalore road(Bidadi-Ramnagar-Channapatna-Maddur-Mandya-Srirangapatna) is the preferred choice depending on the traffic. The other option is the Kanakpura road but I would avoid this because it is two-lane with no dividers and filled with villages in between(makes for a very irritating drive but the scenery is nice). Be advised, if you do take the Mysore-Bangalore road, expect some traffic till Mandya and a slowdown in Mandya because of the signals and the buses and whatnot. After that, it's a relatively smooth drive. Also, depending on where you live in Bangalore, you might want to take the NICE road which bypasses most of the city and takes you straight to Mysore-Bangalore road. Please avoid Kanakpura road if you're travelling at night. Take the same Mysore-Bangalore road on your way back but do note that the traffic is significantly a pain in the butt during the evening hours(read 17:00-21:00)

From Mysore, go via Nanjangud-Begur-Gundlepet-Bandipur-Mudumalai-Gudalur. From Mudumalai, you have the option of taking the Masinagudi route(the one with the infamous 36 Hairpins), but you'll be missing out on most of the scenery and the road is very narrow at certain points, I'd avoid if I were a first time traveler. Since you're going with family, take the longer Gudalur route and enjoy the view.

Have a safe trip! Feel free to ask any more questions.

[jaaz]

Doddabetta peak in Ooty is closed for tourists, since a week, for re tarring the Road. Not sure, when it’ll be re opened. As per the information, we got it should be opened this weekend or next week.