[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Thanks guys. The journey went well, atleast the travel part. Ooty was a mess though. Crowd, crowd, cars, cars and even more crowd. Will not be going back there again during the vacation season.

209 was also a nice drive. I guess the road we took to reach Chamrajnagar last time was not via Gundlupet. That road was full of broken sections and I hated it. Need to check with fellow BHP'ians KarthikK, Rohittunga and MohanKV which route they mislead me into that day since they were in the lead car.

Originally Posted by ampere

Gudalur road is not all that great. But while coming down, I doubt if police may allow you through Masinagudi (hairpin bend route).

Was able to take the Masinagudi route for the return as well. As informed by the guys at a BP petrol bunk in Ooty- police block traffic for this route during weekends only. Checkpost was operational on Sunday, but all barricades were removed when we returned on Monday.

However, would not advice this route for novice drivers. Saw many many cars with hoods open, and some cars with burnt brakes. Saw few owners trying to cool brakes discs by throwing water on it. Been there, done that during my early driving days and I'm sure they are in for a major service expense once they get the car back to the service center. All these even after so many signboards requesting cars to go down the slope only in 2nd gear.

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Personally I felt an increase in the 2 Wheeler volume.

Me too, but thankfully I was spared the trouble this time. Took 209 both ways, onward early Sunday morning and the return on Monday (holiday) afternoon. Traffic seemed very less compared to last time thanks to the holidays.

Not only has 2 wheeler traffic increased recently- they seem to be very adamant to drive on the middle of the road.

Originally Posted by NPV

The Kollegal-Chamarajanagar section can be a little confusing if you're not familiar and looking out for signboards (and some are in Kannada only). Plus, Nijaguna stop can take a longer time as service is slower. With an early morning 4am start, I'd suggest sticking to Bangalore-Mysore route with several options for breakfast stops and leaner traffic at the time of your travel. As @ampere mentioned you can also try the new hotel opp. CCD at Gundlupet Misty Rock (I think their restaurant is called DeShell Restaurant). Once you get into Bandipur, few Km ahead of the Gundlupet junction, you can take the Masinagudi route (left turn near the visitor centre) to Ooty instead of Gudalur which will be a good scenic drive in the morning. Enjoy your trip, Drive Safe!

Started by 5am only and hence decided to tack to 209 for the scenic beauty. Nijaguna breakfast was average quality, but atleast the restrooms were very clean.

Tried Misty Rocks for Monday afternoon lunch, but they were closed for Ugadi celebration. Gundlupet CCD was open though.

[antorquetik]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Did Bangalore - Ooty 3 day trip from 22-24 Feb.
Onward trip was via Kanakpura - Kollegal -Chamarajnagar road. It was past 5AM when we crossed Silkboard, meaning we were stuck in heavy oncoming traffic from Kanakpura - Bangalore.
Once past Kanakpura traffic thins out and we were able to reach Chamarajnagar by 08.15 AM. Stopped at Nijaguna restaurant for breakfast, clean place average food.

Started after an hour break and took Gundulpet route, road from Chamarajnar - Gundulpet has quiet few bad stretches now. From Gundulpet took Masinagudi route to Ooty. Road till Masinagudi is narrow and filled with patch work. There is no space for two vehicles to pass in most places and local vehicles are very reluctant to get off the road. Once past Masinagudi road conditions gets good and continues that way till Ooty.

State highways around Ooty are in good condition, however NH's are in real bad shape. We took Ooty- Gudalur - Gundalpet route on way back and a tough time negotiating horrible roads all way till KA border.

Hi Suhas
I am travelling Bangalore- Ooty in the coming week. Travel is through the week so I should be able to beat the weekend rush. Gundulpet- Masinagudi there is no alternative I suppose, so will have to tread the patchy road.
Is it a good idea to reach Mysore Via kanakpura road and finally head to gundlupet via nanjangud or is Chamrajnagar - Gundlupet better than nanjangud road.

Also would like to know if there is any landmark after Bandipur to ensure I take the Masinagudi route and not Gudalur.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by antorquetik

Hi Suhas
I am travelling Bangalore- Ooty in the coming week. Travel is through the week so I should be able to beat the weekend rush. Gundulpet- Masinagudi there is no alternative I suppose, so will have to tread the patchy road.
Is it a good idea to reach Mysore Via kanakpura road and finally head to gundlupet via nanjangud or is Chamrajnagar - Gundlupet better than nanjangud road.

Also would like to know if there is any landmark after Bandipur to ensure I take the Masinagudi route and not Gudalur.

Taking the liberty of answering as I recently traveled. Does not make sense to take kanakpura Mysore. The Ch nagar-gundlepet is patchy but by no means is it very bad. The masinagudi deviation is from theppakadu. This is the first major jn one you cross the tn forest border. Hence you can't miss it . You need to take left from there.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by antorquetik

Also would like to know if there is any landmark after Bandipur to ensure I take the Masinagudi route and not Gudalur.

After you enter TN, you would reach a place called Theppakadu. On your left you should see a road over a narrow bridge. That is the road to Masinagudi.

PS/Trivia : That bridge is on the river Moyar

[ankan.m.blr]

Originally Posted by antorquetik

Also would like to know if there is any landmark after Bandipur to ensure I take the Masinagudi route and not Gudalur.

Continue through Bandipur forest and you'll see signboard of KA border ending. Just after that you'll cross a small bridge on a dry stream. Then you'll see a check post for TN border and may be stopped & searched for KA-made liquor. Continue on the same road (now you are in Mudumalai forest) for a few KMs. Keep an eye on the left. You can see a board on your left announcing 'Hotel Tamil Nadu'. After 100 mts, You'll come at a Y-junction. You'll see forest office building on your right side. This is Theppakadu. Take the left fork. You'll cross another narrow bridge just after taking the left (this bridge is on river Moyar). Continue around 8 KM and you'll reach Masinagudi. Please note the road from Theppakadu to Masinagudi (around 8 KM) is narrow and you may need to get down from tarred surface to give space to oncoming vehicles.

[antorquetik]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Taking the liberty of answering as I recently traveled. Does not make sense to take kanakpura Mysore. The Ch nagar-gundlepet is patchy but by no means is it very bad. The masinagudi deviation is from theppakadu. This is the first major jn one you cross the tn forest border. Hence you can't miss it . You need to take left from there.

Thanks for the updates Rajeev.
Deciding to go via Mysore as I have old people travelling with me so road side amenities are important.

Originally Posted by ampere

After you enter TN, you would reach a place called Theppakadu. On your left you should see a road over a narrow bridge. That is the road to Masinagudi.

PS/Trivia : That bridge is on the river Moyar

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

Continue through Bandipur forest and you'll see signboard of KA border ending. Just after that you'll cross a small bridge on a dry stream. Then you'll see a check post for TN border and may be stopped & searched for KA-made liquor. Continue on the same road (now you are in Mudumalai forest) for a few KMs. Keep an eye on the left. You can see a board on your left announcing 'Hotel Tamil Nadu'. After 100 mts, You'll come at a Y-junction. You'll see forest office building on your right side. This is Theppakadu. Take the left fork. You'll cross another narrow bridge just after taking the left (this bridge is on river Moyar). Continue around 8 KM and you'll reach Masinagudi. Please note the road from Theppakadu to Masinagudi (around 8 KM) is narrow and you may need to get down from tarred surface to give space to oncoming vehicles.

Thanks Ampere and Ankan for the updates.
Could someone suggest the way around Mysore so that I dont enter the city and by-pass it directly heading to Bandipur.
Since I am travelling via mysore so I'd have to have lunch after mysore.
Planning for a breakfast stop at Kamat lokaruchi. Please suggest a decent place for lunch after mysore.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by antorquetik

Could someone suggest the way around Mysore so that I dont enter the city and by-pass it directly heading to Bandipur.
Since I am travelling via mysore so I'd have to have lunch after mysore.
Planning for a breakfast stop at Kamat lokaruchi. Please suggest a decent place for lunch after mysore.

Take the Mysore Ring Road to avid the city. You can take it either clockwise or anti-clockwise to get to the "Ooty road".

Pugmarks or CCD at Gundlupet for food?

[ankan.m.blr]

Originally Posted by antorquetik

Could someone suggest the way around Mysore so that I dont enter the city and by-pass it directly heading to Bandipur.
Since I am travelling via mysore so I'd have to have lunch after mysore.
Planning for a breakfast stop at Kamat lokaruchi. Please suggest a decent place for lunch after mysore.

There are wonderful suggestions from Team-BHPians on this topic.
(1) Pass through Mysore city towards Ooty here

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

The way I follow to get through Mysore is this.

• After Columbia Asia Signal (which is the Ring Road Junction) keep going straight. There will be a couple of roundabouts, but keep going straight past those.
• You will then reach a T junction in front of an arch. Take a right, and then first left. This will take you past the KSRTC stand
• Past that the road curves left, follow that and then take the first major right.
• You will pass the palace on your right and after that you take the first left which will put you on the Nanjangud-Gundlepet Road.

(2) Bypass Mysore city to go to Ooty here

Originally Posted by sandsun7

you could also try Mysore ring road
>take left at Columbia Asia Hospital junction
>keep going for 8km or so on the 6 lane road till you reach a dead end, take right there.
>Keep going until you find a maruthi service centre to your left and Cauvery Fortis hospital to your right. Take the road which goes to your left after the hospital (clearly marked 'ooty')
> Keep going for around 500metres till you see a small roundabout and a road which goes to right, near a ground. Again well marked with 'ooty/Calicut'.
>after this right, keep going straight and you would pass Police camp, race course, couple of arches etc. Finally at a point, the road forks into two, with MALL OF MYSORE at the centre of the fork. Take the left branch of the fork
> keep going for another 1 km or so, you will meet the Mysore-Gundlupet road, take left to proceed to Gundlupet
Gmaps link here:http://goo.gl/4PfEan

Rajeevraj & Sandsun7, I hope you don't mind me quoting your posts.

You can have lunch at CCD Gundulpet or Pugmarks or Castle Rock. If you are ok with having regular South Indian food,then you can try Hotel Guruprasad at Gundulpet (right hand side just after you enter Gundulpet). All these have parking & restroom facilities.

[majumon]

Originally Posted by antorquetik

Hi Suhas
Is it a good idea to reach Mysore Via kanakpura road and finally head to gundlupet via nanjangud or is Chamrajnagar - Gundlupet better than nanjangud road.

I would still suggest you take the Kanakapura-Malvalli- Kollegal- Chamarajanagar-Gundalpet route due to -
a) scenic and less traffic
b) you can avoid the 107 road humps of which 28 of them were unscientific on the regular Mysore road as of Jan'14
c) the normal driving time between Kanakapura to Gundalpet is around 3 hrs and with your parents along you can break at Nijaguna mid way too.
d) we had been up and down this route 2 weeks ago and we are happy with the route and no special mention of a bad stretch. We also carried breakfast.

[Hart-BEAT]

Route reconnaissance report for Bangalore-Ooty via mysore.

Trip date: 29th-31st March 2014

Route details:

1. Bangalore-mysore-ooty and Ooty-Mysore-Bangalore: See route here
2. Ooty to Coonor and return: See route here

Attraction details: See attractions covered details here . Blue placemarks are confirmed locations. Red's are approximate.

Please let me know if any further details required.

[mpksuhas]

Has anyone taken Malavalli - Bannur - Mysore ringroad (Columbia Asia hospital) route recently. I had taken this route sometime last year and it was broken up around Bannur. Planning of taking this route en-route to Mysore - Kabani later next month.

[SunnyBoi]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Has anyone taken Malavalli - Bannur - Mysore ringroad (Columbia Asia hospital) route recently. I had taken this route sometime last year and it was broken up around Bannur. Planning of taking this route en-route to Mysore - Kabani later next month.

I had taken the route couple of months ago, there used to be one km of zero roads, that has been tarred now.

Only bad stretch is going through bannur town along the way.

[sdp1975]

I've booked rooms in TTDC Ooty on May 1. Check in is at 10 am. What time should I leave to reach at 10 am ? Probably 3am from Bangalore ?

I will start from around IIMB and take the NICE road towards Mysore and about an hour break in between. Will be travelling with wife and 2 kids.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by sdp1975

I've booked rooms in TTDC Ooty on May 1. Check in is at 10 am. What time should I leave to reach at 10 am ? Probably 3am from Bangalore ?

I will start from around IIMB and take the NICE road towards Mysore and about an hour break in between. Will be travelling with wife and 2 kids.

If you start at 3 am, you will reach Mysore by 5.30 and Ooty by 9 am. I am traveling tomorrow on opposite direction from Kochi to Bangalore via Ooty.

Don't try Kanakpura road if you are starting at 3-4 am.

[ankan.m.blr]

Originally Posted by sdp1975

I've booked rooms in TTDC Ooty on May 1. Check in is at 10 am. What time should I leave to reach at 10 am ? Probably 3am from Bangalore ?

I will start from around IIMB and take the NICE road towards Mysore and about an hour break in between. Will be travelling with wife and 2 kids.

You can start at 4-00 AM and take Mysore road. There'll be not much traffic at Mysore road at that hour. Keep an eye open for the speed breakers specially between Mandya, Srirangapattana & Mysore. You can take restroom break at Kamath Upachar (attached to the BP coco bunk). There are some CCDs which are open 24/7. If you take Kalhatti ghat road, you'll reach Ooty by 10-30 AM. I agree with coolclouds, dont take Kanakpura road if you are starting so early.