[chaitanyakrish]

Introduction

We love to travel and are waiting for an opportunity to explore the lush green forests around Western Ghats/Nilgiris. Just when the monsoon had paused its onslaught, we had decided to go to Wayanad region.

But, Wayanad is a huge region with an area of 2000+ Sq. Km and it takes time to cover entire stretch in 2-3 days without savoring the area.



So, we started looking for a spot, which can serve as the core area, around which, the rest of the trip can be planned.

Dr.AD's recent trip helped me to finalize easily, as the key decision maker ( my daughter ) saw the photos of the tower near Karapuzha Adventure Park and shouted that, it looks like Rapunzel's Tower and she must visit. So, we choose Karapuzha as the main spot and planned trip, breaks around it.

Trip Plan : Day 1

So, we planned to reach Karapuzha on Day1 and took the following route:

Bangalore - Nelamangala - Breakfast at Dhruvataare - Bellur Cross - Srirangapatna - Gundlupet - Muthanga Forest - Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary - Sulthan Bathery - Karapuzha - Karapuzha Village Resort.

We spent the evening enjoying the views at the lake view resort and had an awesome food. Fish Fry is a must try dish at the restaurant in the resort.















Day 2 :

Day 2 started with little rain and we had a nice early morning walk both in and outside the resort.

Had breakfast and started to Karapuzha Adventure Dam.

Had an amazing time at the Adventure Park and I would let pictures do the talking.



















As we lost time due to rain in the morning, we spent most of the time at the Dam during noon and moved to Sulthan Bathery to do some shopping.

Spent the evening at Sulthan Bathery and did some shopping there. We stayed at KTDC Pepper Grove and its a very nice property.



Day 3 :

Had nice idiyappam breakfast at KTDC Pepper Grove and started our drive to Mysore via Gudalur - Mudumalai - Bandipur.

This is the most scenic route and we drove slowly to enjoy every moment.
We kept songs from 96 movie and it exactly synced with the location.

Google Maps will try to redirect you towards Wayanad -Muthanga Route, but continue via Gudalur and we won't regret.

Pics below :

[chaitanyakrish]

We reached Mysore by evening and decided to see the lights and sound show at Palace.

So, we suddenly booked a hotel room, dumped the luggages and went straight to Palace.

Sound and Lights show is a must watch and had a nice evening at the Palace followed by Dinner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Bu1IfQPELg

Started to Bangalore via Bellur Cross - Nelamangala route and had a quick brunch at Swathi Delicacy.

Returned to Bangalore with loads of memories and memory cards with dashcam videos and photos.



Trip Summary :

Vehicle : i20 Asta IMT

Distance ( Round Trip ) : 900 Km

Fuel Efficiency : 19.5 KMPL

Road Condition is excellent throughout and will post some videos after some editing.

Thanks for reading !!

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[chaitanyakrish]

I must thank TBHP as my trip is very well planned using the inputs from the forum, which even my family members had acknowledged that.

Starting from route to restaurants, every thing is planned and handpicked to ensure, we get the best experience out of the trip.

Most common trouble elements on a road trip are bad roads, bad food, which can spoils the mood.

Thanks to the recommendations, none of us had to face any bad food related challenges and had a nice experience.

[Turbohead]

Nice trip! Glad you had a great time in Wayanad!

I remember seeing your car on our way back from Wayanad on Wednesday morning on the Bellur Cross road. Considering the speed it was driven at, how clean the car was and the big LTD sticker, I knew it was a BHPian behind the wheel!

[chandrda]

Nice Pictures and the weather looks amazing, just the kind of weather I like.

The resort looks interesting and I have put in my list to explore in future.

How do you rate the resort?

Regards

[chaitanyakrish]

Originally Posted by chandrda

How do you rate the resort?

Resort is very good and the staff is very supportive. Resort is easily reachable using Maps and approach road is wide enough, without any potholes.

When we travel with kids, we will have ad-hoc needs, and the staff responded very well, whenever we asked for some customized dishes etc.

Even though, it is close to water body, there aren't any mosquitoes in the rooms and entire resort is clean and tidy.

Food is very tasty and I loved their filter coffee.

[chaitanyakrish]

Hello Mods,

In my above post, There is a small typo. Please correct "Staff is" to "Staff are" .

[Artyom]

Lovely Photos and a warm travelogue.Just the post I was looking for. My parents are visiting in the last week of September and we plan to visit Kerala. Now with just 3 days to spare its not possible to cover the whole region. Can you suggest which place should we visit and stay ? The trip is mainly to visit and relax and maybe spare 2-3 hours in between to visit any place nearby.Most of the time we plan to stay in the property and relax among nature.There are lot of places so that creates even more confusion .Could you suggest something for our use case?

[chaitanyakrish]

Originally Posted by Artyom

Lovely Photos and a warm travelogue.

Thank You. I had shared Wayanad District Map in the post and it shows 3 main areas around which, trips/stays can be planned.

1. Stay near Mananthavady/Tholpetty/Kutta ( North Wayanad ) and you can cover Iruppu Falls, Thirunelly Temple, Nagarahole Safari, Banasura Dam and few others, if time permits. You can go towards Coorg also from this side.

2. Stay near Kalpetta or Karapuzha ( South Wayanad ) and cover Karapuzha Dam, Karapuzha Adventure Park, Pookode Lake, Lakkidi View Point, Edakkal Caves etc. You can go towards Ooty also from this side. You have 4 Safari parks within 100 Kms from this side and you can cover them, if time permits.

In addition to above, Vythiri area also has good number of resorts, which can be explored.

[Turbosailor]

Originally Posted by chaitanyakrish

We love to travel and are waiting for an opportunity to explore the lush green forests around Western Ghats/Nilgiris. Just when the monsoon had paused its onslaught, we had decided to go to Wayanad region.

Nicely written up, photos are a visual treat for eyes. And details you provided will be a reference for my upcoming travel. As you said forums in TBHP is one of the most valuable tools I use while planning a ride, DIY or for a new possession hunt .


Mod Note: Please avoid quoting the entire post when responding

[searacer932]

Originally Posted by chaitanyakrish

I must thank TBHP as my trip is very well planned using the inputs from the forum, which even my family members had acknowledged that.

Wonderful crisp travelogue! Thanks for sharing this . I love your Professor Calculus profile picture as well

How did the I20 IMT perform on the highways?

[chaitanyakrish]

Originally Posted by searacer932

How did the I20 IMT perform on the highways?

IMT performance is very good, I never felt any lag/jerks while shifting gears.

Even on the hilly roads, I didn't face any issues.

[chandrda]

Originally Posted by chaitanyakrish

When we travel with kids, we will have ad-hoc needs, and the staff responded very well, whenever we asked for some customized dishes etc.

You exactly answered what I had in mind when I asked about the resort. My 6 year old daughter is very picky when it comes to eating. We always carry a lot of snacks just in case the resort/restaurant doesn't oblige. But its good to know that the resort is happy to customize the dishes to kids needs.

Regards

[ant_vas]

Sorry to hijack the thread.

I was in Wayanad from 2 - 4 Sep with couple of my friends from work. It was a trip planned at a very short notice (started talking about it at around 7 PM on 1 Sep). Booked the our stay at After the Rains resort via goibibo and started in the morning at around 8 AM.

The mysore road will maddur is very beautiful and the morning drive was amazing with empty roads and the clouds playing hide and seek throughout. After a quick breakfast at Shivalli restaurant, we took the malavalli route as suggested by google maps. Though this route is good initially, then the surface becomes patchy. I would suggest to stick to the maddur, Mandya route as you can easily make up time.

After a quick coffee break at Gundlupet, we took the route towards Sultan Bathery via the Bandipur forest. Surprisingly we didn't see a single animal (other than monkey's), not even the spotted deer!

Reached the resort and it was already cloudy there. The rooms are well arranged with a large window over looking the valley. By 4.30PM on each days it became pretty cloudy and the experience was amazing!

Now let the photos do the talking.











And this is what i did the whole day while my friends visited a waterfalls near by


We returned on Sunday morning and again no animals were sighted in the jungle! This time we took the Mandya, Maddu rote and were in Bangalore by Noon.

Kia Sonet belonging to my friend was used for this travel and the car felt solid and the ride was very comfortable.