Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   Route / Travel Queries (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-travel-queries/)

-   -   Bangalore - Mysore - Ooty : Route Queries (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-travel-queries/36388-bangalore-mysore-ooty-route-queries-14.html)

mostly the bus services and lorries take the gudalur route but there are buses that use the masinagudi road too. those hill drivers are highly experienced and are extremely polite for the most part.
it is usually a few halfwit plains-men and taxi cabs and other show-off type chaps that find themselves in a conundrum when taking the hairpin bends. mostly it is experienced and decent drivers that one encounters on these roads but with the easy access to vehicles these days, one is bound to see halfwitted cab and tourist van drivers blasting music and zipping around in the sanctuary and up and down the hill roads. several of them make foolish misjudgements and come a cropper when taking the bends in an incorrect or unscientific manner - but thats their affair.
personally i ve come across some such halfwits occasionally but like i said, for the most part people do respect the rules.
main thing is please dont overtake or try stunts on those roads especially around blind corners.
drive carefully and at reasonable speeds within the limits of you car and your driving capabilities and you as well as other road users will enjoy your holidays. if someone is kind enough to stand aside and give you right of way, remember to say a quick thanks by blipping your horn- thats an accepted form of good manners in the hills. the more of us that practice it, the better it will be, in my opinion. some of these age-old practices are very nice indeed and we are the poorer for not observing the same.
cheers

Kalhatti route is the preferable route (if you are comfortable driving in Ghats), and very doable for buses and trucks. I have done it in an Indica, SX4 and now my Fortuner numerous times. If you drive properly, you need not use first gear at all unless you are stuck behind some slow moving vehicle at a hairpin bend. The trick is maintaining enough momentum to tackle those bends. Driving on weekends is a pain, since you have slow and/or out of station drivers clogging the road.

Local drivers drive safely. Out of station drivers you need to watch out for - some of them drive quite stupidly e.g. relying on brakes to come down.

If you drive early in the morning or late at night, you might be 'lucky' to come across an elephant or gaur in the middle of the narrow road. Keep a distance, and you will be safe. Come too close, and you will need to chose between playing chicken with a charging elephant and reversing down the Kalhatti ghats keeping one eye on an advancing elephant :-)

I sometimes drive up to Bison Valley after an early dinner to try and spot wildlife. Have been able to spot a couple of elephants, one leopard (before the ghats start), and a few bisons.

based on my trip on that road last weekend
the whole route is lovely.
only the stretch of about 30 kms from Mysore to Nanjangud is bad. and even this is currently being patched up in some measure - patchwork with tar and so on - will make it a little less unbearable but it is a long way from being perfect.
cheerio

I guess another 2-4 months, and hopefully the full section would be nice.
If not at least decent.

An update - Just got back from Ooty / Coonoor last Sunday after a 5 day vacation there. Stayed as usual at Sterling Fern Hill. Took the Masinigudi route both ways and roads for most part are in a very good shape although a lot of speed breakers, especially on the return trip, have cropped up between Mysore and the Kengeri turn off on Mysore road. Traveled in the Esteem this time round and there was not a single hiccup from the 16 year old ! Average returned was around 16kmpl, only 20% usage was with the A/C on.

Update 6th March, 2011: Mysore to Nanjangud is completely patched up. There are NO potholes, but then, again, the road is far from perfect.

Atleast with no potholes, it is drivable. Two months back When i used it, it was in a very bad shape and high traffic (sunday evening towards bangalore) made the drive even worse :Frustrati

I am planning to go Ooty this weekend, starting from Bangalore at 4am, from what time traffic is allowed to cross Bandipur?

Bandipur remains closed b/w 9PM and 6AM.

The Masinagudi checkpost closes at 10 PM.

You would be in ooty by 10am for a late breakfast latest,ie if you drive non-stop.Else you could stop by for the famous Benne Mylari Dosas in Mysore.

If you want to break on the highway and also with good efficiency, I would recommend Coffee Day at Gudlupet. You would have 220Km by then and is a good place to break. Good parking and easy access.

If you break on the Bangalore-Mysore road, you would loose at least 40 minutes owing to the crowd.

No Plan to break before Mysore or even in Mysore, nothing will be open by that time. Will try Coffee Day.

Last day, we started from Bangalore at 3:AM and reached Mysore in exactly 1 hour 20 minutes, and Gundelpet in another 35 minutes. With NO ripping. Traffic will be very less, and you can maintain very good average speed.

So the perfect break should be at Gundelpet Coffeday. 2-2.5 hrs drive from Bangalore at that time of the day.

Later on too, after leaving gundelpet, there will be hardly any traffic, and roads are decent, so you should reach kallati ghats tru Bandipur in an hour, assuming you stop enjoy the 'awesome' morning scenery. And an hour for climbing up in a relaxed mode.

By 8:30 - 9, you should be in Ooty.

If you are interested, you can stop at Himmadvad Gopalswamy Temple. Nice view of hills. The path to temple normally opens at 6 AM, but may get delayed up to an hour owing to fog. Its just 10 kms away from Gundlupet (from CCD).

Update as of last weekend.

Mysore to Nanjangud road is okish, patched but not broken.

We started from Brookefields at 0620 hrs & checked into our hotel in Ooty at about 1330 hrs.

Was driving at about 80-90 kmph.
Except through the protected zones where was much slower.
Probably a wrong thing to do going by the amount of honking & stares we got from overtaking vehicles - mostly privately owned :)

The 36 hairpin route is nice, but you need to be careful.
Its quite difficult to maintain even decent momentum, with absolute a***oles coming down at speeds around 60-70kmph, the onus is on you to be safe.
This also necessitates a lot of 1st gear use.

Nice drive overall.