[NPV]

Originally Posted by NGM

Can anyone share the road condition from Ooty to Avalanche/emerald dam.I am planning a trip to destiny farm stay by September first week.
I hope roads are in reasonable condition and doable in a sedan.

I was there in early May. Roads from Ooty to Emerald (place where you need to turn off towards Destiny Farms & Red Hills) was excellent. In fact, the road leading towards Red Hills was also in great shape.
I had posted the route to Red Hills, almost same for Destiny Farms as well - see this.

[NGM]

Just back from a trip to Destiny Farm stay Avalanche.Excellent location and kids are going to love the activities.

Road from Ooty to Emerald is in excellent condition and from Emerald town to destiny parking slot it is just average.

From Emerald if we want to skip Ooty,there is an alternate route through Kundah Dam, Selas which joins at Katteri Junction in the Connoor Mettupalayam Road.Katteri is just 3 Km after Connoor in mettupalayam direction and roads are in excellent condition now.

[soarer]

@ NGM, Can you kindly elaborate little more details on the below route

"From Emerald if we want to skip Ooty, there is an alternate route through Kundah Dam, Selas which joins at Katteri Junction in the Connoor Mettupalayam Road.Katteri is just 3 Km after Connoor in mettupalayam direction and roads are in excellent condition now. "

I have also booked my rooms in destiny on 21 & 22-Sep-14 and I will be driving from Coimbatore, so want to check whether to take the normal route of Cbe-Mettupalayam-ooty-detiny or try some different routes. I will be travelling with my family in my sedan (TATA Manza) and how long does it take to reach the resort from Mettupalayam.

Also can you give me little review about Destiny farm stay ( I know quite a few reviews are available in trip advisor) but I would like to hear from Bhpian like climate, approaching road and some where I read the food options are limited and also expensive, do we have any other option available.

And have you visited upper Bhavani and nearby places, do I need to take prior approval?

[NGM]

Originally Posted by soarer

@ NGM, Can you kindly elaborate little more details on the below route

It will take almost 3 hours including the 30 minutes travel in resort 4WD truck.
If you are prefer to skip Ooty and relax in the resort then it is better to take the route mentioned by me.Roads are in excellent condition.

Just 3 Kms before Conoor,Take left from the Katteri Junction towards Selas,Kundah dam etc.It will take you to emerald township and from there you can follow the destiny route map from the 18.6Km point in the map.Since you will be coming from opposite direction,take left.The resort reception is very helpful with directions.

I have not visited Upper Bhavani as i was very happy with destiny location.So did not visit any other sight seeing places in ooty.

If you plan to go to upper bhavani,then i think it is better to get permission from Ooty and return via the route i mentioned which is less confusing on return trip as destination is Mettupalayam. Destiny farm stay/emerald may not be known to all. Last 1 km is a bit rough,but can be done with all car's.

About the resort,it is excellent scenic place.There was slight rain in between,but not something that will trouble you.There is some renovation work ongoing.So activity room,kids movie etc is not available.But I am sure you won't get bored.There won't be much crowd as they are not taking booking for all the rooms due to renovation.
Food is a bit expensive,but they serve good portions.A Plate of noodle is good enough for 2 pax.In that sense it is reasonable.No other options and off course you should bring your own drink.Go for the morning trek.

If your family prefer less bumpy ride from parking place,request for the Swaraj Mazda pickup.Other truck is too bumpy.

[Srikanthan]

Sorry for Intruding into this thread:

Here is a short travelogue on our vacation to Ooty:

From: 24-May-2015
To: 28-May-2015

Our trip to Ooty (from Chennai) and back was via Bangalore, due to personal reasons.

Saturday, 23-May-2015
Started around 11:30 AM;
Arrived at JP Nagar, Bangalore around 7:00 PM with enough breaks, for my mother to stretch herself.

Sunday, 24-May-2015
JP Nagar (Bangalore) to Coonoor via Mysore; Route Here

Started around 6:30 AM; Reached Coonoor around 3:30 PM

Road work is on-going between Nanjangudu and Gundulupet and condition of the road is poor. Expect delays in your trips if you plan to use this route.

Stay at Coonoor was in Sunvalley Homestay. Here is Tripadvisor Link.

Hotel is good. Rooms are well kept and neat. Food quality is good. In particular the hospitality is great

If you are intending to eat in the Homestay restaurant, you need to pre-order by specified time daily as they cook only for their guests. This is NOT an “open to all” restaurant.
Main deterrent is the approach road to the Homestay – which is very poor and bad! The Homestay management is confident that Coonoor municipality will lay the road within few months.

The best experience of the vacation was visit to Avalanche. We hired a cab to drive us to the park, as I had feedback from my friends about the road condition. The feedback was partially right, partially wrong. Though the road leading to the park entrance is bad and lonely, it is motorable.

You can drive up to the park entrance and pick-up tickets at the office there. If you could manage permits with Forest office, you can drive yourself within the park. But I would suggest not driving your car in the park as the roads are too bad within the park.

It is advisable to take the first vehicle to go into the park (~10:00AM). They operate 8 vehicles starting 10:00AM till ~3:00PM. Each trip within the park is expected to be around 2 hours. Per my conversations with the office staff and the drivers, they operate 365 days of the year!

Few Pics:

Entrance Board to Avalanche Park


My son trying to catch water from one of the streams - Believe me, the water was tasty but too cold!


Bhavani Amman Temple (This is where Bhavani river originates)





Avalanche Lake! After rains, water used to get filled-up till the portion where the hills are exposed i.e. without vegetation. It was summer and lake is 'dried-up'. Stand in front of the vast expanse of land - it hits you how minuscule you are in front of nature.







On our way back to Coonoor, we took the route via Kundah Dam and Selas to reach Coonoor. Magnificent route and greenery. At one place, we stopped and started taking some pics but here's what we found and the next second we were in the car scooting off!!

Can you spot the beast?!



Another interesting view was Catherine falls from Dolphin's Nose and night view of Mettupalayam town below (on our way back from Dolphin's nose)

Catherine Falls:



Night View of Mettupalayam:


And what is a vacation to Ooty without seeing the Tea Factory, Doddabetta Peak, Ooty Lake and Botanical Garden etc.? Customary tours and purchases completed!


Our return journey:

Thursday, 28-May-2015
Coonoor to JP Nagar;
Coonoor > Kotagiri > Mettupalayam > Sathy > Gobi > Mettur > Dharmapuri > JP Nagar
Route Here

Started around 11:30AM from Coonoor
Reached JP Nagar around 8:30PM

We chose this route because we wanted to show our sons Bhavani Sagar Reservoir, Stanley Reservoir and Mettur Thermal plants on the way and we did.

Moreover we also did not want to miss the scenic views along Coonoor > Kotagiri > Mettupalayam route. Road condition in this segment (Coonoor > Kotagiri > Mettupalayam) is just awesome and traffic is very less. But we could not visit Kodanadu view point on the way back. So, it goes into the list of pending items for future Ooty vacation.