[snaronikar]

Hi,

I'am planning to drive down to above places on 30th April and will return on 4th May. I will be going with my family. I'am planning to leave bangalore on 30th afternoon. I need some information on below:

1) Route direction? You can suggest some 1 or more routes.
2) Can I include Ooty in the above trip?
3) Decent hotels and their rates.
4) Road condition.
5) Food availability.
6) Places to see in Munnar.
7) What is the distance and how many hour of driving?

Thanks in advance...

[eclectix 1st]

The route would be
Bangalore - Mysore - Bandipur - Masinagudi - Ooty - Coonoor - Coimbatore - Pollachi - Udumalaippetai - Amaravatinagar - Munnar

The distance would be <600Km>

Food no issues in any of the places above.

Plenty of places to stay, you can probably google on that for latest prices.

Latest road conditions: Its better to wait for latest update from fellow TBHPians, because I took this route more than 3 years back.

cheers:

[svsantosh]

snaronikar,

may be of help.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ra-munnar.html

You can do the Ooty route as per eclec-1st, Mind you 600Kms Vs 400Kms, But you need to see ooty right? Probably you can come back on my path to save some Kms onthe way back. Let me know if you want some more tips.

Ps - Are you a Infy'ian? Your Sign!!

[snaronikar]

Thanks for inputs guys.

@svsantosh: Nope. I'am not an infy'ian. My factory is around 100 meters from infy. As far as my sign is concerned, I like that quote by NRN hence I have put it. How about hotel booking there...need some addresses/contact nos (if you have)

[csentil]

Suggest you go directly to Munnar and on the way back take a break in Ooty and get back to Bangalore. This would prevent you from taking on long trip back from Munnar to Bangalore. You can stay in Ooty, recharge your batteries, and get back.

Route:

Bangalore - Mysore - Nanjangud - Chamrajnagar - Thimbam - Sathy - Coimbatore - Pollachi - Udumalapettai - Munnar.

Return journey you can take:

Munnar - Coimbatore as above - Mettupalayam - Kotagiri - Ooty.

Do not take the Gudalur route back. Take the Masinagudi route. There is a thread on this. Please search.

Ooty - Masinagudi - Bandipur - Gundulpet - Nanjangud - Mysore - Bangalore.

Road conditions are excellent throughout except for some 20 kms near Gundulpet.

Mettupalayam - Conoor - Ooty road is not so good. Better to take Kotagiri route. Its just 10 kms or so extra and is in excellent condition.

Ooty - Gudalur road is extremely bad and is being relaid. So take the winding route down to Masinagudi.

There are a lot of Munnar threads please take a look at them for Munnar related information.

[snaronikar]

What is the shortest distance? I'am thinking of doing Munnar directly after my wifey insisted on this. How about hotel booking? Can anybody give some some details please.

[hvkumar]

As Senthil said, best and shortest route is via Sathy. Lots of hotels in MUnnar depending on your budget. Best is Club Mahindra/Sterling in case you are a member/get booking. Better book in advance now that holiday seasons have begun. You can also look at KDC's ea County in Munnar town. In case you want to look at lower budgets, Green Valley View is also a good stay option. I personally stayed a couple of times in tthe S N Tourist Home (plus a separate Annexe) which is an ordinary but decent hotel near the bus stand (but please check wheher it was also demolished recently).

[abn]

No SN tourist home and SN annex both are still there.

[ad75]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

I personally stayed a couple of times in tthe S N Tourist Home (plus a separate Annexe) which is an ordinary but decent hotel near the bus stand (but please check wheher it was also demolished recently).

I had seen the SN tourist home or annexe (one of those) on the kochi road in feb 08.

@snaronikar - do a search in google you will get lot of options.I stayed in westwood riverside resort. you can find the details in my travelogue http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ound-trip.html

As Kumarji rightly said, please make advance bookings as its holiday season.

[hvkumar]

There are 2 major locations for all hotels in Munnar region. First is the Munnar town itself which is a boring place, but is the junction of the roads coming from Kochi, Udumalaipet and Thekkady/Madurai. Lots of hotels - at high end are KTDC hotels like Tea County and lower end Green Valley Views and S N Tourist Homes. There used to be hotels like Abad Copper Castle, but I believe they have been demolished. Munnar town is mostt conveneinet since all the places you wish to go to - Mattupetty/Kunadle/Top Station and Eravikulam/Chinar are roads radiating from the town.

The second region is the road from Munnar-Devikulam-Thekkady, most of he hotels clustered near Chinnakanal. This is approximately 15 kms away and to go to any of the above places I mentioned, you need to retrace to Munnar town. This region is on the way for anyone coming from Madurai/Kodaikanal/Thekkady but for Kochi/Udaumaipet routers, you need to firstt cross Munnar town. The best in my view in this lot are Club Mahindra/Sterling which are located next to each other at Chinnakanal, overlooking a valley. here are several other resorts in this are , but I think resorts like Sienna have been demolished too.

There are 2 other excellent options - for those with club memberships in their cities, check out the Highland Club in Munnar town - a great place to stay if your club has a reciprocal relationship. Even better is that Tata Tea have tied up with Taj Hotels to hire out some of the tea estate cottages in select locations around Munnar. Please note that these cotages could be anywhere between 10-30 kms from Munnar town and the best locations could be on the way to Mattupetty/Top Station. Please note for those driving late at night, some of these roads have lots of wildlife, especially elephants and bison.

[snaronikar]

@ hvkumar, csentil & ad75: Thanks for the inputs. I'am looking for a budget hotel. The above information will definately help me.

[muneemmk]

Did an awesome drive from cochin to kodaikanal the route was like this aluva , perumbavoor,adimali, munnar(total of 120km), from munnar took the udumalpeti route (85 km) ,palani, then a climb to kodaikanal(60 km from palani). Road from Munnar to Udumalpet is somewhat okay(on the tamilnadu side Obviously)

[ash_blore]

Am planning to goto Ooty on oct 2nd for 2 days. How are the current road conditions? Anyone traveled in the past one month? Please update.

Please recommend hotels in ooty. I want to stay in the city as I am taking my kids along with me (4ys and 6 months). Currently I am thinking about Nahar Nilgiris or Kluney Manor. Any other recommendations?

Am also looking for things to do and places to visit in the two days there. Importantly good places to eat veg/non-veg food as well.

[ash_blore]

Also do you think its ok to take the civic with the low ground clearance? I hope it doesnt cause any problems.

[ash_blore]

I am really hoping someone will respond. I have only 2 more days to go!!