[hydtraveller]

Flash, just got back from Coonoor. Left Hyderabad on the 12th and stopped over at Mysore for the night as my Nilgiris e pass had 13/14 as validity dates. By passed Bangalore city on the way to Mysore. Took a right before Bangalore International Airport ( Nandi X ) towards Doddabalapura - Dobaspet - Solur - Bellur X - Srirangapatna - Mysore (210 km). Hitech city - Bangalore (Nandi X) took 7 hours and Nandi X - Mysore took 3 1/2 hours.

Left Mysore at 8 am and reached Ooty at 1030. Had to stop at Kakkanallah Check post which is on the Karnataka - T.N. border. Had to show the e pass, details of which were entered along with duration of stay. Was made to take a mouth swab covid test and the results were sent by SMS two days later. All this took 5 minutes. Very efficient. Locals with a Nilgiri Aadhar were sent without any entry or test. The roads were empty from the check post all the way to Coonoor.
Was not stopped on the way back.

If you do not have any work in Mysore, suggest you drive on from Bangalore to Ooty. Will take max 6 hours.
Have a safe trip.

[FlashMustang]

Thank you so much for the detailed trip report, hydtraveller!
Was looking forward to your trip report!
Sounds like you had a good drive and a good trip! Happy for you!

Thanks for the details about the e-pass and the Covid test.

We do have a number of wish-list items in Mysore (Chamundi temple, zoo, palace, Brindavan gardens, etc.). We hope to visit as many as we can on either the onward or the return stop over at Mysore. We changed our bookings in Mysore to Radisson Blu Plaza for the onward stop over and to Grand Mercure Mysore for the return stopover (over concerns about Royal Orchid Brindavan Gardens hotel based on a recent TripAdvisor review related to inadequacy of Covid safety measures there).

Thanks for your wishes. Your trip report gives a lot of confidence for our trip. We look forward to it!
Will be sure to post our experience once we complete it.
Take care!

[jkrishnakj]

Flashmustang : Your trip is post Dushera, isn't it ?.
If you wish to experience slightly lesser crowds at Mysore, please do the Mysore day outing on a) Weekday and b) Post the Dushera holidays.

[FlashMustang]

Thank you, jkrishnakj!
Yes, on the onward journey, we'll be in Mysore on October 29 around 10 a.m. and on the return journey, we'll be in Mysore on November 5 - both are weekdays.

[JohnnyBoss]

Planning to drive from Bangalore to Kochi via Kanakapura, Nadugani, Nilambur next week.

Those recently travelled Bangalore - Kanakapura - Mysore - Gundlupet may kindly update road conditions and amenities enroute.

Thanks in advance.

[jkrishnakj]

Johnny - The Kanakpura main road will slow you down quite a bit. The roads from Sarakki Signal at JP Nagar, till the NICE junction is bad. Post the NICE junction, you will find deviations and slow traffic till Harohalli junction, post which, it gets a little better.

I read in a different thread that the route to Mysore from Kanakpura is quite good.

Mysore to Gundlupet is a breeze, butter smooth roads.

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by JohnnyBoss

Those recently travelled Bangalore - Kanakapura - Mysore - Gundlupet may kindly update road conditions and amenities enroute.

Kanakapura - Mallavalli - Mysore ring road - Gundlupet is my usual route to Calicut. This year though, had traveled on this route just twice.

The second time was last weekend.

Bangalore - Kanakapura has lots of work in progress sections (actually, no much progress just dug up sections). Past Kanakapura, work is mostly done and you can reach Mallavalli soon.

From there you need to exit NH and take Bannur SH, again road remains good through out. Though there are 4 speed breakers which has come up recently.

From there, you join Mysore ring road and then again road conditions are good.

From NICE road / Kanakapura road exit to Gundlupet, you can budget around 3 hours.

You can check the video here. However, most of the sections which you are checking for was done in dark, since I had started from Bangalore at 03.45 AM on 23rd Oct.

https://youtu.be/lJAC0VeSOZE

[JohnnyBoss]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

The second time was last weekend.

Thanks for the detailed information. I opted for Vazhikkadavu CP for entry, but no vacant time slot is available. Same is the case with Muthanga also. So I opted for Walayar, but still want to enter through Vazhikkadavu or Muthanga. Is it possible? Read there is no checking either enroute or at CP. Fingers crossed.

[FlashMustang]

I drove from Bangalore to Mysore on October 29, 2020 and from Mysore to Ooty on October 30, 2020.
Started from Hebbal, Bangalore around 11:45 a.m.
Google Maps showed a difference of over 20 minutes between the Nelamangala - Belur Cross - Nagamangala route and the Mysore road, so, decided to take the Nelamangala - Belur Cross - Nagamangala route. I'm so glad to opted for this route!
It was a very scenic drive, with butter smooth roads. I was able to easily maintain 80 kmph speeds with complete ease. The road and the car begged to push it further, but, I restrained myself to maintain around 80 kmph and enjoy the scenery. We stopped for a break of 10 minutes after about 1.5 hours of drive.
We crossed Belur Cross toll plaza around 2:00 p.m.

Thereafter, we turned left towards NH 150 A. Again, the roads were butter smooth, and I was able to easily maintain speeds of around 80 kmph on the two-laned undivided road (slowing down to around 40 kmph when nearing villages and cross roads).
We reached Thotada Mane, Srirangapatna around 3:00 p.m. for a late lunch. We had a leisurely lunch for an hour, and resumed our drive around 4:20 p.m.
Thereafter, we had to join the Mysore Road. There were multiple diversions due to road works and we reached our hotel around 5:00 p.m.

The next day, October 30, 2020, we drove from Mysore to Ooty. Started from Mysore around 8:45 a.m. Topped up our tank at Essar Petrol bunk around 8:55 a.m. and started driving. Made a pit stop at Cafe Coffee Day Gundlupet at 10:00 a.m.
Thereafter, the route was very scenic. We maintained speeds between 30 kmph and 40 kmph throughout Bandipur and Mudumalai sanctuaries. We were lucky enough to spot an elephant each in Bandipur and Mudumalai, multiple herds of spotted deer and numerous groups of monkeys in both sanctuaries. It was the first of its kind experience and we thoroughly enjoyed it.
After exiting Mudumalai sanctuary, we decided to take the scenic Gudalur route. We stopped at multiple scenic spots after Gudalur for photos. We finally re-fueled at the BP Hill Bunk at 2:30 p.m. and reached our hotel around 3:00 p.m.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable and a memorable drive!

[cogWheel]

How are the roads on the Mysore - Bannur - Malavlli - Halgur sections? Also the Halgur - Muthathi stretch? Would be grateful for any pointers.

[CliffHanger]

Guys, anyone travelled to Ooty from Bangalore in the last couple of days? I'm driving to Ooty tomorrow and Google maps is showing only one route that is from the Coimbatore side. Even if I add stop at Gundulpet, the direction leads via Coimbatore side to Ooty.

Is Masinagudi-Bandipur area closed for any reason?

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by CliffHanger

Guys, anyone travelled to Ooty from Bangalore in the last couple of days? I'm driving to Ooty tomorrow and Google maps is showing only one route that is from the Coimbatore side. Even if I add stop at Gundulpet, the direction leads via Coimbatore side to Ooty.

Is Masinagudi-Bandipur area closed for any reason?

As the forest stretch is closed from 9pm to 6am, if you plot on Google at a time where you would hit that stretch in this window, it will not show the route. I guess you would have tried plotting now.

[CliffHanger]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

As the forest stretch is closed from 9pm to 6am, if you plot on Google at a time where you would hit that stretch in this window, it will not show the route. I guess you would have tried plotting now.

Yep, that answers it. Thank you, Rajeev.

In case anyone is travelling in the next few days, I was told epass could be must, and also that it is very cold currently. Could get epass within minutes though.

[ravib]

Completed Bangalore-Ooty-Bangalore trip last weekend.

Onward journey left Bangalore at 6.30 am and reached Ooty at 3.30 pm, after breakfast break and also an hour stop over at Nanjangud Siva Temple.

Took the usual Bangalore-Mysore-Nanjangud-Bandipur-Masinagudi-Ooty.Road conditions are good all throughout. Despite active construction work is going on between Bangalore to Mysore, since we get 2 full lanes in both sides, there are no problems and road surface is good. Just that there are several diversions to watch out for.

Return Journey, left Ooty at 1.30 pm post lunch and reached Bangalore at 9 pm including an hour break for Dinner at Kamat Lokaruchi.

While going towards Ooty from Masinagudi, I did notice several vehicles where allowed to climb down in 36 hairpin bends when i was climbing up. So was expecting that i may be allowed to drive down as well and can reach Masinagudi/Mudumalai/Theppakadu fast. But as usual, i was forced by police (after seeing KA registered car) to take Gudalur route instead of Masinagudi route to return down to Theppakadu, so additional 30 odd kms and an hour more to add up.

There are few patches / potholes and road construction happening between Ooty to Gudalur. It seems to be a permanent thing that always some work happens in that road. Otherwise, nothing much to complain on road conditions.

Overall, it was a good trip to enjoy December's single digit night temperature weather in beautiful Ooty.

-Ravi

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by ravib

While going towards Ooty from Masinagudi, I did notice several vehicles where allowed to climb down in 36 hairpin bends when i was climbing up. So was expecting that i may be allowed to drive down as well and can reach Masinagudi/Mudumalai/Theppakadu fast. But as usual, i was forced by police (after seeing KA registered car) to take Gudalur route instead of Masinagudi route to return down to Theppakadu, so additional 30 odd kms and an hour more to add up.
i

You need a special pass issued by the Collector. Normally issued to those who have property or resident in the area