[creative420]

Just got back from Ooty about an hour back. Took Bangalore-Malavalli-Gundlupet-Ooty to and fro (via 36 hairpin bend road). This is possibly the best route for Ooty unless you like eating on Highways (or like off-roading which Gudalur, Ooty road will provide). Mysore road route has n number of restaurants, this one almost nil. But the joy of driving via country side is unparalleled. I carried fruits, dry fruits and gujarati farsan with me to do a non-stop drive.

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by creative420

Took Bangalore-Malavalli-Gundlupet-Ooty to and fro (via 36 hairpin bend road).

Creative420, glad to hear you had an enjoyable trip.
Were you stopped on way back at Ooty side while talking Masinagudi route. Have heard of many drivers who had to convince the policemen and some drivers who were diverted via Gudallur route.

[creative420]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Creative420, glad to hear you had an enjoyable trip.
Were you stopped on way back at Ooty side while talking Masinagudi route. Have heard of many drivers who had to convince the policemen and some drivers who were diverted via Gudallur route.

Nopes. I wasn't. In fact, I didn't see any policemen on the way back.


Sent from my iPad using Team-BHP

[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.

[prashkul]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

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.

Agree.

I had done Bangalore-Ooty late Nov-2013. Onward journey to Ooty was via Masinagudi (36 hair pin bends). Road is narrow, steep but good. Car climbed mostly in 1st gear.

I took the Gudalur route for the return trip based on suggestions from locals. Route was much longer. Roads are really bad till KA border. It may have saved the car from load on the engine and brakes had the descent been thru the same 36 hair-pin bends route, but didn't provide any comfort due to the horrible roads via Gudalur.

[ankan.m.blr]

My office has granted leave on Holi this year (17-Mar-2014), so decided to do a small trip to KA jungles around Mysore. On a whim I have reserved Thirunelly KTDC guest house on Saturday & Sunday. For Monday I have reserved myself (& family) a room the KA forest guest house @ Bandipur. The plan is to leave Thirunelly on early Monday morning and reach Bandipur for lunch. Now Gmaps shows a shortcut route through Sulthan Battery with distance as 136 KM. No idea about road conditions in this route. another option is Thirunelly - Nagarhole - Hunsur - Mysore - Nanajangud - Gundulpet - Bandipur. This route is around 210 KM. Please suggest which route will be better for a small hatch (ritz).

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

My office has granted leave on Holi this year (17-Mar-2014), so decided to do a small trip to KA jungles around Mysore. On a whim I have reserved Thirunelly KTDC guest house on Saturday & Sunday. For Monday I have reserved myself (& family) a room the KA forest guest house @ Bandipur. The plan is to leave Thirunelly on early Monday morning and reach Bandipur for lunch. Now Gmaps shows a shortcut route through Sulthan Battery with distance as 136 KM. No idea about road conditions in this route. another option is Thirunelly - Nagarhole - Hunsur - Mysore - Nanajangud - Gundulpet - Bandipur. This route is around 210 KM. Please suggest which route will be better for a small hatch (ritz).

T travel from Thirunelli to Bandipur, take the route via Sultan Battery.

Thirunelli-Kattikulam-Mananthavady-Panamaram-Sultan Battery-Muthanga-Gundlupet-Bandipur. Roads are excellent.

You can also do Sultan Battery-Gudalur-Mudumalai-Bandipur. There are some rough roads around Gudalur.

[ankan.m.blr]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

T travel from Thirunelli to Bandipur, take the route via Sultan Battery.

Thirunelli-Kattikulam-Mananthavady-Panamaram-Sultan Battery-Muthanga-Gundlupet-Bandipur. Roads are excellent.

You can also do Sultan Battery-Gudalur-Mudumalai-Bandipur. There are some rough roads around Gudalur.

Sir, is this the route you have mentioned.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

Sir, is this the route you have mentioned.

Exactly. That is the route.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by ampere

I would suggest take the Gudalur route. But account for at least an extra 2 hours of drive. Gudalur stretch is not as a steep as the Masinagudi one.

Planning to drive to Ooty next weekend. It's going to be just two days drive to and fro, hence I don't have much time for sight seeing. Therefore I was thinking of taking the more enjoyable route from Bangalore to Ooty and back.

Which route is better in terms of scenery and driving pleasure, (less traffic, good Tarmac)?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Which route is better in terms of scenery and driving pleasure, (less traffic, good Tarmac)?

You have two options: Short Road and the Long road

Short:
Ooty-Gudalur-Gundlupet-Chamarajanagar-Kollegal-Kanapura-NICE-Bangalore

Long:

Ooty-Manjoor-Mulli-Karamadai-Bannari-Sathyamangalam-Chamarajanagar-Kanakpura-Bangalore

Route Link

This is the route which folks for the Ooty BHP meet took.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by ampere

You have two options: Short Road and the Long road Short: Ooty-Gudalur-Gundlupet-Chamarajanagar-Kollegal-Kanapura-NICE-Bangalore Long: Ooty-Manjoor-Mulli-Karamadai-Bannari-Sathyamangalam-Chamarajanagar-Kanakpura-Bangalore Route Link This is the route which folks for the Ooty BHP meet took.

Thank you.

I'll stick to the short route since there seems to be a big difference between the two. Two doubts in mind though-

1. How good is chamrajnagar to kollegal route? Last time I took this route back in Jan, wasn't really impressed and I ended up taking Mysore road for the Kannur meet trip return.

2. Masinagudi or Gudalur? Previous page seems to have reports of bad roads in the Gudalur stretch. Is it better now?

Planning to start by 4am next Sunday, and start return by 4pm on Monday. I think it's better to take chamrajnagar option for onward journey, with breakfast stop at Nijaguna (Do they open by 7am?). And take the safer option of Nanjangud - Mysore route for return since it will be night anyways.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

1. How good is chamrajnagar to kollegal route? Last time I took this route back in Jan, wasn't really impressed and I ended up taking Mysore road for the Kannur meet trip return.

The road is good. But the downer is it goes through multiple small villages where it narrows down to a single lane. You may have to wait for oncoming traffic to clear. Else otherwise the road is awesome.

2. Masinagudi or Gudalur? Previous page seems to have reports of bad roads in the Gudalur stretch. Is it better now?

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

Planning to start by 4am next Sunday, and start return by 4pm on Monday. I think it's better to take chamrajnagar option for onward journey, with breakfast stop at Nijaguna (Do they open by 7am?). And take the safer option of Nanjangud - Mysore route for return since it will be night anyways.

If you start by 4AM (try 3:15/3:30 even better), you can also take the Mysore road (but for the humps). For break fast you can also stop at Misty Rocks (I think I got the name right) which is right opposite to Gundlupet CCD.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Thank you.

I'll stick to the short route since there seems to be a big difference between the two. Two doubts in mind though-

1. How good is chamrajnagar to kollegal route? Last time I took this route back in Jan, wasn't really impressed and I ended up taking Mysore road for the Kannur meet trip return.

2. Masinagudi or Gudalur? Previous page seems to have reports of bad roads in the Gudalur stretch. Is it better now?

Planning to start by 4am next Sunday, and start return by 4pm on Monday. I think it's better to take chamrajnagar option for onward journey, with breakfast stop at Nijaguna (Do they open by 7am?). And take the safer option of Nanjangud - Mysore route for return since it will be night anyways.

I did these stretches in early March. Ch nagar to kollegal is as same as it was during my earlier trip in December. So what ever it was that caused your concern in Jan would still be there. Personally I felt an increase in the 2 Wheeler volume.

Theppakadu to gudlur has 3-4 bad stretches 100-200 mtr long and generally the surface is not great. I have heard it is bad beyond gudalur also. So masinagudi would be better. Nijaguna does open by 7. But personally have not reached there at 7 in my trips. So not fully sure.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Planning to start by 4am next Sunday, and start return by 4pm on Monday. I think it's better to take chamrajnagar option for onward journey, with breakfast stop at Nijaguna (Do they open by 7am?). And take the safer option of Nanjangud - Mysore route for return since it will be night anyways.

Originally Posted by ampere

The road is good. But the downer is it goes through multiple small villages where it narrows down to a single lane. You may have to wait for oncoming traffic to clear. Else otherwise the road is awesome.
...
If you start by 4AM (try 3:15/3:30 even better), you can also take the Mysore road (but for the humps). For break fast you can also stop at Misty Rocks (I think I got the name right) which is right opposite to Gundlupet CCD.

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!