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-   -   Queen of the hills : Bangalore to Ooty. (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/88109-queen-hills-bangalore-ooty.html)

My wife always wanted to visit ooty. Even though i have been there numerous times, this one was special. I used to get away earlier saying that we will go once we buy our own car.
Earlier this month, we finally bought one and i couldn't think of any other reason this time!
We made plans. Selected 27th, 28th and 29th as the dates. Applied leaves for 27th and 30th ( i always get a kick when i take Monday off!).

We left on 26th evening to Mysore. It was raining very heavily. It took almost 1.5-2 hours to reach silk board flyover. From there, it was a smooth ride. Stopped on the way at Adigas and had really nice dinner.

Cut to 27th morning. We were ready by 9 and left Mysore in my dad's swift after filling full tank of Shell Petrol.
We made brisk progress. The road from Mysore to Najangud is horrible to say the least. Its narrow, pot-holed. And to add to the misery, there is always heavy traffic. You will encounter very heavily loaded lorries along the way too. Once you cross Najangud, the road is much, much better.
Its still a 2 way road but much better with very sparse traffic.

We reached Bandipur in less than 2 hours. Some pictures along the way:





















We stopped just before Madumalai to take some photos. Once we reached Madumalai, we took left and proceeded along Masinagudi and Kalhatti. This route is very steep. But if you have your own vehicle and enjoy the drive, this is really nice. There hair pin bends start after Kalhatti. There are 36 in all. You get some really breathtaking view along the way as well.

We reached Ooty by about 12:35 and stopped at Barrista. We had some sandwiched and coffee. We were staying at Zest Danish Villas.
I thought this was gonna be easy to find but we had to search quite a lot. Finally, we called them and they told us to proceed to the Collectors office and take the road opposite to it. We finally made it to the resort by about 13:45.

Some pictures of the resort:









I filled up the form at the reception and we were given the suite keys. I had booked one junior suite. The security showed us the suite. The Suite was really nice. The view from the Suite was very very good.
The suite had a big bed, perched up on a platform. All the flooring in the suite was wooded. There was a small dining hall in the suite with a dining table. There was a walk in wardrobe, dressing table and bathroom.

Some pictures of the suite:





















View from the balcony:











While checking in, on the reception desk, they had the lunch buffet menu and prices. The price for lunch buffet for a couple was 2200 + VAT. I was really shocked by this. Nealy 2500 for lunch is ridiculous. So i decided to order some biryani to the room and had some lime soda. And then, i hit the bed.
We woke up at about 17:30 and went out for shopping by 18:00. My wife bought couple of sweater at Mohans. Then we went to the main market and just window shopped to kill some time. We headed to Higginbothams and check out some books.
At about 19:50, we headed to Nahar hotel, Sidewalk cafe. I wanted to try their Wood Fired pizzas. We ordered Chetinad medium and Veggie small supreme. They were pretty expensive for the quantity offered. The medium was 200 and small was 170 rupees.
We got the pizza and were pretty disappointed. They were very blank and the topping was coming off, the cheese was too much and so on. We finished it and left from there.
We came back to the resort and went to bed.
The next day was very hectic. Or so i thought. We finished breakfast (which was thankfully, included in the package!) and went to the botanical gardens. I parked my car in some complex right next to the garden, thinking it was free.
I paid rupees 15 person (total 30) and 30 rupees for the camera. This was my nth time to this garden. Some pictures:

I have been to B'lore & Mysore only, would love to visit Ooty and other hill stations in the south next time. Loving every picture of the region.

And believe me the roads are far better over there than what we are having in Assam.

Some more pictures of the garden:

















From there, we went the ooty lake. We saw a big rush there and decided to skip this one.

Then i took my wife to the Fern Hill Palace. This is the same palace used by the Maharaja of Mysore. Its a beautiful heritage structure, which has been converted into a hotel now. I had stayed here last time i was in Ooty.
This place is nothing short of spectacular. You feel like a king, literally.

Some pictures of the palace from the outside:





View of the valley below from the rear of the palace:



We had some coffee, iced tea and toast in their restaurant, which is at the very end of the palace building.

It was about 11:45 when we left from this place. We still had about 2-3 hours to kill. So we decided to drive to Coonor.
The road leading down kill was quite narrow and it was very misty with passing clouds. It started raining also while we came back.

Some pictures of the drive down to coonor and back:

















We didn't go inside Coonor town, instead proceeded along the road to Mettupalyam. We went about 2-3 kms and took a u-turn and came back to ooty.

I wanted to have lunch at hotel dasaprakash. I had lunch on one of the numerous trip i had had to ooty. They used to provide very nice south indian thali, on steel plate.
When i reached the place, i was told there that Dasaprakash had sold the place to Club Mahindra. This place was now called Derby Greens.Anyway, we had lunch there. Its was quite reasonably priced and the buffet spread was quite elaborate. It cost 450 rupees per person plus tax.

After lunch, was came back to the room and relaxed for the rest of the day. There was India Vs Sri Lanka finals and Formula one qualifying. We spend the day in the suite. We ordered some soup and french fries for dinner!

Next day, we finished breakfast and headed back to Mysore. Some pictures while coming back:

















Finally reached Mysore by about 12:30 with one pit stop for coconut water.

This was the first time i drove to ooty. Overall, it was a good trip. But in the end we felt that one day and night would have been sufficient. 2 nights felt too much for us.

Any reasons why you had to break at Mysore?
When I visited the palace, there was a shooting going on for a tamil movie.

Hi Naveen,

Really nice pics. Had been to Ooty in May. It was pretty hot at that time. Planning to go again.

Naveen,

A very nice trip and good pictures. I quite like your narration style, to the point and crisp.

Hope you have many more such trips. I hope driving yourself to such a destination will make you want to DRIVE from now on than be driven to beautiful places.

Cheers

half the travelogues out of bangalore are to mysore - bandipur - ooty. You guys are so lucky that you can run off to ooty anytime!
Amazing photos you got there naveen. The resort looks pretty impressive.

Good you did that! The parking charges for the other parking you are directed to is 45 bucks! That too, with receipt! One tidy sum they make there on a daily basis. Vehicles are asked to park real close to one another, and also with the handbrakes disengaged so they can accomodate more cars.

Mentioned on my travelogue here : Link

Hey Ampere, I had to replace cars in Mysore :D. I have a brand new Ritz Zxi, which is still 'running-in'. So i left that with my dad and took his swift. I just love the swift on long drives.
Also, going to my house during weekends is by default. Just as the sun rise everyday!!!!

Benbsb29, I actually forgot to mention this in my report but i paid 40 bucks :Shockked: for the car parking

I paid only 30 rupees to get into the gardens. This is nothing more than day light robbery :Frustrati!!!!!

Thanks.
I like to DRIVE wherever possible, which is almost everywhere!!!. I hate being driven around!!!

Hi Naveen,

Nice pictures and really well written log. Been twice before once for 7 days-took kids from hyderabad on a camping trip it was just out of this world.
Will go back??

So that was the reason! I was thinking why should some one take an overnight break at Mysore to go to Ooty!

Congrats on the new car. Ritz ZXI is an amazing one. The more I drive my dad's LXI the more I like it.

Thanks for the wishes. It kind of grows on you as time goes on. Very unlike the swift that we have!

Nice pictures and good narration to go with it.

Quick question..

How was the Road from Mysore to Nanjangud ? And Nanjangud to Gundlupet?

TIA

Regards

Sateesh

Here's the irony. The Zest property that you stayed at used to be the Club Mahindra property in Ooty before Zest was launched. Zest is marketed as a cheaper version of Club Mahindra - the duration being less. The old Dasprakash has just been opened as the new Club Mahindra property. If you are a CM member you can opt for the fun dining offer where you get breakfast, lunch and dinner for a cost of around Rs.700. So for the price that Zest offered for lunch, a person could eat in CM for 3 days :uncontrol, and they both belong to the same group. BTW the Zest property used to be the old Mahindra guest house.

Fernhill Palace I agree is fantastic. Had stayed there a few years back when it was being renovated - the costs are now just too high. But it is one of those once in a lifetime experiences.

In Ooty I also like driving/walking to the Hindustan Photo factory and the golf course. Some really nice and non crowded places. Best is to get off the tourist circuit and just drive - you'll encountr some fantastic places.