Saturday, June 7, 2008

How to reach Ooty - Ooty route

Reach Ooty by Road

Ooty is very well connected by road with all major cities around it . Distance of Ooty From Kochi - 280KMs From Kodaikanal- 270KMs From Mettupalayam - 46 Kms From Coimbatore - 90 Kms From Mysore - 160 Kms From Bangalore - 250 - 290 KMs depending on the route/short cuts taken From Trichy – 300 Kms (My college :) )

Bangalore Ooty route

Drive from Bangalore to Ooty takes 5-6 hours and the Bangalore Ooty route is very good but for 20KMs after Gundlepet. The total distance from Bangalore to Ooty ranges from 250-290 Kms depending on the route taken. The route to Ooty from Bangalore is through Mysore. Though you can take the outer-ring road to bypass Mysore, you will end up driving around 20kms more. Both the roads are good but the route through Mysore city will have much more traffic. To take the bypass road you will have to take a right turn at the traffic signal just after the town of Sirangapatna, famous for the Ranganatha Temple. if you miss this turn you can go straight & you will enter Mysore and can take the route through Mysore city. mysore --40-- nanjungad --30-- gundelpet --20-- bandipur forest The road from Mysore till Gundelpet is decent and you can easily average around 60Kmph. However, from Gundlupet till Bandipur (distance of around 20km) the road is full of pot-holes. Though the construction of the road is on going but will easily take another year unless an MLA is selected from that region ;-) Once you are inside the forest don't honk and drive slowly so that you do not disturb the wildlife. You can find deer, wild boars, monkeys and Langurs and if you are lucky you can even spot elephants. I have not seen a single one in my three trips to Ooty. Once the Bandipur Forest boundary ends you will enter into the Madumalai forest. It is actually the same forest but falls in Tamil Nadu. There is an entry fees of around 20 rupees. After Madumalai there are two roads that lead to Ooty (I think the place is called Masinagudi), one with 36 hair pin bends and the other one is the older route that buses normally take. In the former route buses and heavy vehicles are not allowed and is around 30Km shorter than the latter one. I have never taken the older route as it is in a really bad condition. The shorter route with 36 hairpin bends is amazing and anyone passionate about driving will love it. You would however need to have a vehicle with good pickup. These routes meet around 8 Kms before Ooty and there is a police check post there. You might have to show your vehicle papers etc. They do not ask everyone to stop :).

Reach Ooty By Nilgiri Toy Train

Ooty is connected by a narrow gauge railway link to Mettupalayam. One can reach Mettupalayam by train from Coimbatore or by road. Mettupalayam is 46KMs from Ooty and 43KMs from Coimbatore. I would definitely suggest taking Nilgiri Toy train. The 4 hours journey is one of the most scenic train journey you will ever be on. There are close to 16 tunnels and bridges on this scenic route. It is the steepest railway track in the whole of Asia. Alternate Biting system (ABT), also called the rack and pinion system, is used to overcome this steep ascent. It is similar to the fashion in which we climb a ladder. Here the engine pushes the train from behind during this uphill climb and is present in the front while going down from Ooty to Mettupalayam.

Reach Ooty by Air

The Coimbatore Airport is the nearest airport. From Delhi to Coimbatore there are just 2 airlines, Jet Lite and Indian, operating a direct flight. All other flights are either through Hyderabad or Chennai. From Chennai, Bangaluru ( Bangalore) and Mumbai there are quite a lot direct flights. Coimbatore is around 90KMs from Ooty and you can book cabs/buses from the airport or through travel agencies( may be a better option if you are coming for the first time). One should definitely also consider the option of taking train to Ooty.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi
I want to visit Ooty & Mysore during Nov 21-25, 2008 along with my family. Kindly advise how should I plan it. Is it advisable to go on our own or through a travel agent as I shall be going for the first time and I am located at Hyderabad. Kindly also provide some names of travel agents if it is advisable to go through a travel agent.
Regards,
Rajneesh

Eesh Mengi said...

Hmm... it is a very broad question and my answer would also be in the same way. Hope it will be helpful to you.
Since you are going to visit Mysore as well my guess would be that you will coming through Bangalore. So in mysore my advise would be to avoid going to the Brindavan garden. It is just waste of time. It would be crowded and the dancing fountains are not that great. You can visit other places like the Tipu's summer palace, Mysore palace, Church, and the Chamundi temple. Should be fine if you spend a day there ? So no need for travel agent here :) . I am assuming you will have to have your own vehicle. You can visit Mysore on the way back. If you need to stay there you can book any hotel. I have never stayed in Mysore though. For reservation in Ooty you can either call up directly the Hotel and check with them or you can go through these travel portals like Cleartrip and Makymytrip. I used makemytrip. Call them and bargain for a deal. For 3 days they might add dinner to it or maybe breakfast. Try your luck. Also try to book in advance.. If you don;t manage to get any reservation try in Coonoor. It is a better place than Ooty ( atleast I liked it better than Ooty). Let me know if you need any more info.
Another advise that I can give you is to break your Journey in either Bandipur forest or Madumalai forest either on the way to Ooty or back. You can go for jungle safari. I have heard it is good.

Unknown said...

Thank you very much..
Rajn

Anonymous said...

hi!
I want to plan a trip to Ooty during March. i am currently in Manipal, Karnataka. Can u pls advise me on the route that i can choose to go Ooty. I am actually visiting ooty, mysore, kerala. So i am wondering whether i should visit kerala first before going for ooty, or ooty then kerala.
Any recommendation for hotel in ooty?

Eesh Mengi said...

I stayed at Hotel siNClairs. It is a 3 start hotel. It is located quite near to the main city. The view is good from the hotel. Food is also good. I didn't like the room but it seems rooms in most of the hotels in Ooty are slightly damp. I got a good deal .10K with Breakfast/Dinner/Tea for 3 days. Other times I have stayed in Coonoor or at Ratan Tata Guest house.
I am not very sure where exactly you want to go in Kerela. If you can provide little bit details I can suggest sth

Anonymous said...

Hi Traveller,

I am planning a trip to Ooty /Kodaikanal during the x-mas time.

I have 4 days to myself and want to know if I can:
1. Visit only Ooty?
2. Visit only Kodailanal?
3. Do both of them?

How big is Ooty? Are there lots of places to see? Would I need all 4 days? Can I keep 2 days for Ooty?
Also, did you book a trip along with the travel to Ooty?
I am not able to get a good web site to book both travel and stay in Ooty.

Can you please guide me?

Regards,
Charan

Eesh Mengi said...

Hmm... in 4 days.. going to both the places would be tough.. i did this same route while i was in school... that is around 10 years back.. and believe me it was very tiring.. my suggestion would be to visit any one place...and since you have 4 days visit a place whihc is farther from your place..the other one you can do when you ahve less days at hand.. there are a lot more places to see at OOty so need to have 3 days if you dont want to rush .. i assume you would want to relax while visiting all the places.. kodai is also a beautiful place but not many tourist spots but very romantic ;-)..
call up makemytrip or cleartrip.. ask them for a good deal and bargain and you should get a good deal..I got a good deal .10K with Breakfast/Dinner/Tea for 3 days in hotel Sinclair and that too during peak season of summers..

Anonymous said...

Hi

I am from Malaysia and planning a trip to India i 10 days time. can anyone pls adivse whether this is the most appropriate way to reach the destination :

Chennai-Tripathi-Tirutani -kancipuram -Tirchy-kodaikanal-palan-ooty - tircy.

Is there any other shotet route.

pls help urgent

Tks
js

Unknown said...

Hi I have 10 days and would like to visit ooty and places nearby for Honeymoon. Any suggestions regarding places to visit and stay

Anonymous said...

Buy Stock Photos directly. High quality premium photos

ibuystockphotos.com