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Old 2nd April 2008, 14:00   #1
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Mangalore to Ooty?

I'm toying with the idea of driving to Ooty someday, from Mangalore. Can anyone advise me on the best (most advisable) route?

I would like to get info on the distances involved, road conditions and approx driving times.

regards
Jay
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Old 2nd April 2008, 14:20   #2
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I dont know much about the road conditions of the Iritty-Virajpet ghat section, so from what I know a decent option could be:

Mangalore - Kannur - Quilandy - Balussery - Thamarassery - S.Battery - Gundulpet - Bandipur - Masinagudi - Kalhatti - Ooty.

1) Good road for most part except for a brief stretch around Bandipur - but then you wont be bothered too much about the road condition there as you will be enjoying the view and the occasional encounter with the wildlife!

2) Wayanad ghat is usually in a good condition, and so is the kalhatti ghat. I believe most of the ghat section between mangalore and bangalore are not that good anyway.

I am sure more regular users of the routes concerned will have more tips coming in...
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Old 2nd April 2008, 15:32   #3
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Hi BigZero,

Checkout this route.

managalore - kannur - thallessery - kuttyadi- kalpetta - sultan battery - straight in to ooty through gudulur.

This route you are avoiding Bandipur, Madumalai .

Mangalore to thallessey is NH, Thallessery to Sultan Battery is state highway. condition of road not known. from Gudulur to ooty is horrible road, 25 kms of stretch seems to be more than 1.5 hrs.

Warm regards,
Dwarak
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Old 10th April 2008, 12:48   #4
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Try Mlore-Sullia-Coorg-Mysore-Bandipur-Ooty

Quote:
Originally Posted by pjay_in View Post
I'm toying with the idea of driving to Ooty someday, from Mangalore. Can anyone advise me on the best (most advisable) route?

I would like to get info on the distances involved, road conditions and approx driving times.

regards
Jay

If you are planning to enjoy every moment of the drive,then i suggest you take the route from Mangalore - Puttur- Sullia- Coorg- Mysore-Bandipur-Ooty, you will enjoy every moment of it. Th road between sullia & madikeri is pretty bad,but once you cross madikeri,its an amzing road.

It would take approximately from mlore to coorg- 3 hours & from coorg to mysore- max 11/2 hour & from mysore to bandipur- 3 hours & from bandipur to the top - roughly 1to2 hours
enjoy cheers

Last edited by nbr : 10th April 2008 at 12:51.
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Old 10th April 2008, 14:23   #5
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It would take approximately from mlore to coorg- 3 hours & from coorg to mysore- max 11/2 hour & from mysore to bandipur- 3 hours & from bandipur to the top - roughly 1to2 hours
enjoy cheers
coorg to mysore would take atleast 2hours.it takes almost an hour to travel the 30kms from madikeri to kushalnagar and then another hour atleast if you rip from there via hunsur to mysore.
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Old 10th April 2008, 14:26   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nbr View Post
If you are planning to enjoy every moment of the drive,then i suggest you take the route from Mangalore - Puttur- Sullia- Coorg- Mysore-Bandipur-Ooty, you will enjoy every moment of it. Th road between sullia & madikeri is pretty bad,but once you cross madikeri,its an amzing road.
Variation of this would be even better. From Madikeri, go via Virajpet, Gonikoppal, Kutta, Kartikulam, Mananthavady, Kalpetta and Meppadi to Gudalur, and Ooty. Kerala roads are in good shape, a Dwaraka mentioned, it is only the Gudalur region you have to careful about.
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Old 20th October 2010, 13:20   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hvkumar View Post
Variation of this would be even better. From Madikeri, go via Virajpet, Gonikoppal, Kutta, Kartikulam, Mananthavady, Kalpetta and Meppadi to Gudalur, and Ooty. Kerala roads are in good shape, a Dwaraka mentioned, it is only the Gudalur region you have to careful about.
Hi HV, my friends and I are planning to ride motorcycles down the route you mentioned next month. Can you elaborate on your warning for the Gundalur stretch? Also do you have any updates for the road conditions on this route?

Here is a link to my proposed route. Appreciate any advice.
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Old 20th October 2010, 15:01   #8
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Gudalur road is now OK. Rest of the road, no update, but expect some rough roads from Meppadi to Gudalur.

Of the rest of the route:
Any updates on the Puttur-Sulya-Madikeri road, traditionally gets battered during the rains?
Rest of the routing is perfect.
remember to cross the Udumalaipet-Munnar stretch before 6 pm, there are checkposts and wildlife on the road.
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Old 21st October 2010, 10:49   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hvkumar View Post
Gudalur road is now OK. Rest of the road, no update, but expect some rough roads from Meppadi to Gudalur.

Of the rest of the route:
Any updates on the Puttur-Sulya-Madikeri road, traditionally gets battered during the rains?
Rest of the routing is perfect.
remember to cross the Udumalaipet-Munnar stretch before 6 pm, there are checkposts and wildlife on the road.

Thanks for the advice.

Anyone out there have information for the Meppadi-gudalur and the Puttur-Sulya-Madikeri stretches?

How does this route compare with khozikhode-chundale-ooty route overall?
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Old 21st October 2010, 11:57   #10
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Originally Posted by 500modder View Post
Thanks for the advice.

Anyone out there have information for the Meppadi-gudalur and the Puttur-Sulya-Madikeri stretches?

How does this route compare with khozikhode-chundale-ooty route overall?
The Meppadi Gudalur stretch is part of the Kozhikode-Chundale-Ooty route. (Meppadi comes about 12 kms after Chundale on the same highway). The road conditions when I travelled last (a few months ago) were reasonable.

The worst roads you might encounter when travelling the route that HVK suggested could be the ones in South Coorg - specifically from Kutta to the Kerala border where the roads are reported to be in bad shape. No first hand experience though, it's a long time since I passed by that area.
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Old 29th October 2010, 09:16   #11
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Originally Posted by kala View Post
The Meppadi Gudalur stretch is part of the Kozhikode-Chundale-Ooty route. (Meppadi comes about 12 kms after Chundale on the same highway). The road conditions when I travelled last (a few months ago) were reasonable.

The worst roads you might encounter when travelling the route that HVK suggested could be the ones in South Coorg - specifically from Kutta to the Kerala border where the roads are reported to be in bad shape. No first hand experience though, it's a long time since I passed by that area.
Doesn't sound too bad. We're going to head down this route unless I hear something drastic before November 15 - departure day! It's seems to be the most picturesque route. Will report back on road conditions when I'm back. Thanks for the help.
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Old 1st December 2010, 17:44   #12
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Came back from my Mumbai to Cochin ride a week ago. We ended up taking this route. Basically similar to the route I outlined in my last post, except we went from Kutta to Mananthavady, bypassing Chudale. Also we took the Madhumalai forest road from Gudalur to Ooty.
The bad sections of road from the Goa to Ooty stretch, via Mangalore are:

1) Much of the NH17 from Honnavar to Mangalore is poorly surfaced. 100 meters of good road followed by 100 meters of bad potholes - very frustrating. The road seemed to improve around Kundapura.

2) Road from Mani to Puttur is bad in patches. Rains have made roadwork areas slushy. Many of these are one way traffic due to construction/widening of roads.

3) Forest road from suliya to 10km outside Madikeri is poor. But the beautiful scenery on this stretch makes up for it.

4) The worst road we encountered is Ponnampet to Kutta. 10 km of agony which took us more than an hour on bikes. Can't imagine what it would be like in a car with all 4 wheels hitting the potholes. However this does pass through some gorgeous plantations which eased the pain The road forks at Ponnampet and we took the left fork - maybe the right would have been better.

All other roads were decent to good. Here are the god ones:

1) Goa to Karwar road is nice.

2) Puttur to Suliya forest stretch is nice and scenic.

3) The Kutta to Kattikulam stretch is one of the most perfectly surfaced roads I've come across, through a beautiful forest.

4) Scenic hill / forest Roads from Cherambadi to Gudalur. and Gudalur to Ooty.

If anyone wants to know the conditions of other roads we took from Mumbai to Goa and Ooty to Cochin, I'll be happy to tell you. Didn't include them as they are not relevant to this thread.

Happy driving.
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Old 2nd December 2010, 13:37   #13
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4) The worst road we encountered is Ponnampet to Kutta. 10 km of agony which took us more than an hour on bikes. Can't imagine what it would be like in a car with all 4 wheels hitting the potholes. However this does pass through some gorgeous plantations which eased the pain The road forks at Ponnampet and we took the left fork - maybe the right would have been better.
Hi, I would be doing Ooty-Madikeri very soon and would like to know if the route from Ponnampet to Kutta via Srimangala is better compared to the one outlined above? What would be the approximate time taken from Kutta to Gudalur?

Thanks,
NMA
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Old 2nd December 2010, 17:26   #14
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What would be the approximate time taken from Kutta to Gudalur?
I think it was around 3-4 hours. Left Kutta at 330pm. Got into Gudalur at around 630pm. Much of it is winding hill/forest/village roads so even though its only 125 km you can't go very fast.
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Old 3rd December 2010, 12:16   #15
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Quote:
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I think it was around 3-4 hours. Left Kutta at 330pm. Got into Gudalur at around 630pm. Much of it is winding hill/forest/village roads so even though its only 125 km you can't go very fast.
Thanks 500modder. Any clues on the Srimangala route?
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