[prasad14]

Originally Posted by rkrpxz

What is the best way to reach NH209 from Malleswaram (Brigade Gateway)? Should I just get on to ORR and turn on Kanakpura Rd (which I assume becomes NH209)? Or, is there a better route than that? Also, is the Bangalore->Malavalli->Bannur->Mysore route easy to follow or are some places where we could potentially take the wrong fork/deviation/turn?

1. Second Ampere's suggestion on getting on to Kanakapura Road.

2. You need to be careful in two places in Malavalli. Once you enter the outskirts of Malavalli town, you get a T junction. Left continues towards Kollegal (NH209) and you need to take a right turn at this junction. About 300m after taking this right, you'd hit another junction and you need to take left (bus stand road) to go towards Bannur (straight goes to Maddur). Both Kanakapura and Bannur towns does present some forks, but these are mostly smaller ones and you need to stick to the one where the main traffic is (and often you'd be going straight).

Prasad

[rkrpxz]

Awesome! Thanks a lot for the tips, prasad14.

ampere, from my experience over the past two weeks going to that area, I felt that Chord Rd gets very congested for the last 1-2 kms before the Mysore Rd junction because of the Metro work. And, with the new ORR flyover over Mysore Rd. being opened, I think I'll try sticking to the ORR option all the way (till BMIC) even though it may be a bit longer.

[ankan.m.blr]

I visited Somnathpura and Mysore today. I went via NH-209 through Harohalli - Kanakpura - Sathnur - Malavalli. From Malavalli, I went to Bannur via SH-33, took the Somnathpura road to visit Chennakesava temple and went to Mysore via Bannur. and The road is very good almost till Mysore. But after crossing Bannur, there is patch of untarred road (SH-33) although drivable. After this untarred section, their is a 1.5 KM stretch which is in bad condition. Small and big potholes scattered throughout this 1.5 KM. I think the condition worsened after it rained in the last few days. Small cars need to slow down to cross this rough patch. Other than that, it was a wonderful journey to Mysore without the maddening traffic of usual Bangalore- Mysore Highway (SH-17).

[ampere]

Originally Posted by rkrpxz

ampere, from my experience over the past two weeks going to that area, I felt that Chord Rd gets very congested for the last 1-2 kms before the Mysore Rd junction because of the Metro work. And, with the new ORR flyover over Mysore Rd. being opened, I think I'll try sticking to the ORR option all the way (till BMIC) even though it may be a bit longer.

What you say very true. Even I wanted to suggest you take the ORR all the way esp. so because the underpass at Mysore road is now open.

But I was not sure how easy it would for you to hit the ORR from Malleshwaram. Hence suggested Chord road.
To add to what you said, I have not been to Chord road side/intersection of Mysore road for years thanks to NICE!

[rkrpxz]

Wondering if anybody has stayed at Destiny Farm in Ooty recently? If so, how long does it take to drive from Ooty to the place? The email from Destiny Farm says it takes 90 min to do the 25 km ride. That seems like an awfully slow drive. Just wanted confirmation from a few folks with experience.

Thanks in advance.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by rkrpxz

Wondering if anybody has stayed at Destiny Farm in Ooty recently? If so, how long does it take to drive from Ooty to the place? The email from Destiny Farm says it takes 90 min to do the 25 km ride. That seems like an awfully slow drive. Just wanted confirmation from a few folks with experience.

Thanks in advance.

The place I am told is very nice (its a part of little earth group, the guys who operate King's Cliff and Sherlock).

Its about 20-30km from Ooty along the Avalanche road. You can park you car at their property in Ooty and also opt for their transportation.
Beyond a certain distance after you cross the bridge joining Avalanche-Emerald lakes, only a jeep can take you that place.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by rkrpxz

Wondering if anybody has stayed at Destiny Farm in Ooty recently? If so, how long does it take to drive from Ooty to the place? The email from Destiny Farm says it takes 90 min to do the 25 km ride. That seems like an awfully slow drive. Just wanted confirmation from a few folks with experience.

Thanks in advance.

Yes it would take approximately that much of time to cover the distance.You would not be able to take your vehicle to the resort,as the territory is total OTR.The resort has a parking space around 3kms before the property and from there they have their own jeep/truck etc running to the property.

[VindyWheels]

The drive after the right turn at Emerald town will be very slow due to the rocky road.

In our sedan we had to tread along in the second gear, but enjoyed every bit of it. When the view is that good moving slowly is fun. We had been there in Aug last week.

It is the only place in Ooty and Kotagiri we could find true natural beauty. In any other place you cant look around 360 degrees and not spot some buildings.

The farm environs are beautiful and kids will love the place and activities. We did not stay there but spend a whole day there opting for the day package.

Cheers

Vindy

[rkrpxz]

We returned from Ooty / Destiny Farm yesterday evening. Here's a quick recap of our trip.

We left Bangalore at about 5:45am on Thursday [25th Oct]. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I took Chord Rd -> Magadi Rd -> Outer Ring Rd -> BMIC Expwy -> NICE -> Kanakapura Rd [NH 209]. Thought of having a quick breakfast at Hotel Gokul in Kanakapura but it seems they open only at 11am. Instead, drove till Kollegal and had breakfast at a small joint (Nandini, I think, was the name). Roads were very good and not crowded, so we made good time. The only issue I have with the stretch till Kanakapura is that the road never stays straight for a decent stretch, so I had to keep slowing down and accelerating. No problems with directions because roads are clearly marked. The stretch between Kollegal and Chamarajanagar (and even further to Gundlupet, actually) can be a bit slow because it goes through villages very frequently and some stretches are very, very narrow (sometimes only enough for vehicles to pass in one direction). Continued past Chamarajanagar to Gundlupet without any problems although the quality of the road falls a couple of notches here. From Gundlupet, the road becomes a beautifully smooth, black runway. Very difficult to stay below 120kmph. But, you're forced to drive more sedately once you enter the Bandipur forest area, partly to take in the silence and scenery and partly due to the speedbreakers [very gently, nicely designed ones, I must say]. People talk a lot about the dream-like highways in TN, but I found that, in the Bandipur forest area, at least, the roads on the Karnataka side were far better than those on the TN side. To fast-forward a bit, we navigated the 36 hairpin bends [over 20km] and reached Ooty around 11:30am and then continued on to Destiny Farm. The road quickly becomes terrible here. Although we didn't have any problems with directions, the car took quite a beating, I'm sure. And, from there, we proceeded to Destiny Farm by a truck that they sent to pick us up. There is practically no surface here but just two deep ruts in which the truck bounces, bumps, shakes, rattles and grinds its way through. It takes about 40 min to do the 3km from the parking lot to Destiny Farm. I will reserve my comments about the place itself because it is not pertinent to this forum, but suffice it to say that it's no Kashmir. The return journey was more adventurous. We left the Destiny Farm parking lot at about 11am and at some point, in Ooty downtown, I must have taken the wrong turn/fork/deviation. We didn't encounter the same ghat section that we had come on [the one with 36 hairpin turns]. Instead, we were on some road that went past Pykara Lake/Dam towards Gudalur. We asked somebody if the road took us to Mysore and they answered in the affirmative, so we continued on the same road. But, quickly, I realized that this was not the same route. It seemed a bit longer, the turns weren't as sharp and it wasn't [at least, in my opinion], as scenic. The quality of the road on this route was also pretty bad. It took us far longer to reach the Bandipur forest bit. By the time we reached Gundlupet, it was already 2:30pm, so we had taken more than 3 hours to get there. We decided to return by the same route [Chamarajanagar -> Kollegal -> Malavalli -> Kanakapura -> Bangalore]. We found that the directions, especially when we passed through the town areas, were not clear at all, so we had to stop to ask people how to go to Bangalore. On a couple of occasions [Chamarajanagar and Kollegal], we had to backtrack a bit. We had a highly forgettable lunch at a place called Nijaguna near Chamarajanagar. Traffic around late afternoon / early evening was also a bit heavier, so we made slower progress. From Kollegal to Kanakapura was still a great driving experience though. The road is very good and it passes by the Cauvery river near Bluff / Shivanasamudram, so it is quite scenic. After Kanakapura, it became dark and the traffic was very heavy, so progress was very slow. The absolutely appalling habit of Indian drivers to keep their headlights on high beam made my task much, much more difficult and exhausting than necessary. We reached NICE around 6:45pm and decided to go on NICE all the way till the Tumkur Rd exit and take the elevated Nelamangala Bypass back home. This route would be much longer, but at least I wouldn't be facing oncoming traffic with high-beam headlights because of the wide divider. This stretch was fairly uneventful (except for one place on NICE where they had put the usual barricade, which made me brake rather suddenly from 120kmph down to 10kmph in a very short distance). Finally, we reached home at about 7:30pm.

Thanks to everybody who responded to my questions about the route to Ooty.

[KarthikK]

I would need some route help here. I'm planning to go to Coonoor later next week for 4-5 days with my parents. My normal route would be this :

while going : Bangalore - Mysore (breakfast stop) - Bandipur - Gudalur - Ooty - Coonoor - Farmstay.
while coming back : Coonoor - Mettupalyam - Satyamangalam - enter NH-209 - Chamarajnagar (lunch stop) - Kanakapura - Bangalore.

The map below will try to convey what I am thinking of
http://maps.google.co.in/maps?saddr=...ia=1,7&t=m&z=9


I have tried to avoid the shortcut from Bandipur to Ooty via Masinagudi since some people suggested that the road is narrow and steep. If it means lesser opportunities for photo-stops, I would rather prefer the wider Gudalur road since I don't like to be in a hurry when on vacation. Any suggestions from route gurus Ampere, prasad14, etc? Is the second road (return route) re-tarred properly from Satyamangalam to Mettupalyam? I ask because I will be taking the Linea for this trip. Last time I drove till Chamarajnagar, it was fully re-tarred and a delight to use.

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by rkrpxz

Continued past Chamarajanagar to Gundlupet without any problems although the quality of the road falls a couple of notches here. From Gundlupet, the road becomes a beautifully smooth, black runway. Very difficult to stay below 120kmph.
I will reserve my comments about the place itself because it is not pertinent to this forum, but suffice it to say that it's no Kashmir.
We had a highly forgettable lunch at a place called Nijaguna near Chamarajanagar.

Though you are mentioning about strech after Gundlupet I have seen police with speed guns between Kollegal - Chamarajanagar and also around Gundlupet town. Guess speed limit there is 70 KMPH (not sure). Good that you escaped them.

Destiny farm has a lot of mixed review on trip advisor, which majority of review off late negative.

What was the reason of you having a negative comment about Nijaguna? Though I have never been there yet; have seen lot of positive comments about the place in forum.

Originally Posted by KarthikK

I have tried to avoid the shortcut from Bandipur to Ooty via Masinagudi since some people suggested that the road is narrow and steep. If it means lesser opportunities for photo-stops, I would rather prefer the wider Gudalur road since I don't like to be in a hurry when on vacation.

Yes the road is narrow and steep but also more scenic than Gudallur route. However its not that you wont find any place to park the car enroute, just that you will have to wait for a safe place, park and walk back.

[lloydofcochin]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

I would need some route help here. I'm planning to go to Coonoor later next week for 4-5 days with my parents. My normal route would be this :

while going : Bangalore - Mysore (breakfast stop) - Bandipur - Gudalur - Ooty - Coonoor - Farmstay.
while coming back : Coonoor - Mettupalyam - Satyamangalam - enter NH-209 - Chamarajnagar (lunch stop) - Kanakapura - Bangalore.

I have tried to avoid the shortcut from Bandipur to Ooty via Masinagudi since some people suggested that the road is narrow and steep. If it means lesser opportunities for photo-stops, I would rather prefer the wider Gudalur road since I don't like to be in a hurry when on vacation. Any suggestions from route gurus Ampere, prasad14, etc? Is the second road (return route) re-tarred properly from Satyamangalam to Mettupalyam? I ask because I will be taking the Linea for this trip. Last time I drove till Chamarajnagar, it was fully re-tarred and a delight to use.

KarthikK, I had driven to Ooty - Coonoor via Gundlupet 2 weeks back. I took the Kallaty route to go up and returned to Cochin via Coimbatore. The road even though it's narrow is really beautiful. And you shouldn't have an issue stopping en route for pics. We also got to see a Bear crossing the road while approaching the ghat section from Masinagudi.

OTOH last week I drove to Tirur via Gundlupet - Gudalur. The roads in TN after you Cross Theppekad is bad with big potholes. This was the condition till Gudalur from where I took a turn to Nilambur. Don't know the road condition to Ooty beyond Gudalur.

And off course you would enjoy the ghat section in your T-Jet. My parents enjoyed the scenic drive in my Palio

[RAINMAKER]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

I would need some route help here. I'm planning to go to Coonoor later next week for 4-5 days with my parents. My normal route would be this :

while going : Bangalore - Mysore (breakfast stop) - Bandipur - Gudalur - Ooty - Coonoor - Farmstay.
while coming back : Coonoor - Mettupalyam - Satyamangalam - enter NH-209 - Chamarajnagar (lunch stop) - Kanakapura - Bangalore.

I have tried to avoid the shortcut from Bandipur to Ooty via Masinagudi since some people suggested that the road is narrow and steep. If it means lesser opportunities for photo-stops, I would rather prefer the wider Gudalur road since I don't like to be in a hurry when on vacation. Any suggestions from route gurus Ampere, prasad14, etc? Is the second road (return route) re-tarred properly from Satyamangalam to Mettupalyam? I ask because I will be taking the Linea for this trip. Last time I drove till Chamarajnagar, it was fully re-tarred and a delight to use.

I recently (3 weeks ago) did this trip. Ooty is my native.
To: Coorg - Mysore - Gundalpet - Sultanbatheri (No vehicles via tamilnadu due to Cauvery water issue) - Guldalur - Ooty - Coimbatore.
Fro: Coimbatore - Ganapathy - Sathy Ghats - Dhimbam - Kollegal - Kanapura - Bangalore.

While on the way back from Cbe via Ganapathy, I missed a right which would have taken me to the usual 4 way highway (a boring one at that no to mention all the tolls)... This led to an "on-the-drive" decision to take this route.. Not knowing the condition of the route just drove on in my Palio Stile 1.6. Me (driver), Dad (shotgun), wife and kids at the back..It was a GREAT drive... The road has all twists and turns, ups and downs and a few potholes. nothing that a Linea cant handle..

After Sathy ghats traffic grows leaner.. Once you cross Dhimbam and start towards Kollegal the road is isolated except for a few villages here and there.. Its a broader single track road (enough for two vehicles to cross where required)... I just crossed 3 vehicles (2 which I overtook and 1 which came from the opposite direction) ... There are 3 stretches where the road is bad, but these are small stretches...

The Drive is fantastic... Its like a Colin Mcrae type (sans the dust of course).. You can keep the needle above 80. .Only thing is it might feel a bit scary (as you are all alone).... and no fancy Coffee Days etc.. plenty of village styled bakeries en route.. .Just pack what you want from CBE and hit this road...

Take this road... The total kilometes are almost same as the highway (a single toll at the Karnataka border - saving you almost 350 ruppes in tolls - not a concern but this needs to be mentioned), but this route is awesome...
Trust me you will love it ..
From one "FIAT"ian to another..
Drive safe..

[rkrpxz]

mpksuhas, it looked very impressive from the outside and the food itself was palatable. I didn't mean to put down the restaurant that much. Let me put it another way. It would have rated a 3.5 / 5.0 on burrp.com. The things we didn't like about it were:
1. There were a lot of flies and other insects that we felt was a major threat to the hygiene.
2. Service took a long time. We ordered a fairly simple meal of fried rice and curd rice and they took about 45 min to serve us.
3. This is a nit-pick which many of you may disagree with, but my daughter counted about 40 spelling mistakes in the menu card across 4 pages, which I treat as an indicator about the standards of the owners/management. Sorry if I come across as snooty and obnoxious, but that's how I feel.

[RGP]

I will be part of the herd that will depart from Bangalore tomorrow morning for a long weekend. Could not stop for diesel today evening because of traffic jams caused by rain.
Is there any risk of pumps being closed tomorrow due to the state holiday? If so, will need to head out and top up at night. I have just about enough to get to Mysore.