A Romantic trip to Ooty and Coonoor

Tripoto
31st Jan 2020
Photo of A Romantic trip to Ooty and Coonoor by Gaurav

The Planning

I have been in Bangalore for quite some time now and have been to many places nearby. One thing which we planned every time and could not go was Ooty. The place is a must visit if you live in Bangalore. I have friends who have been there so many times now to Ooty that they remember every road and restaurant there.

This time it was our 6th anniversary and we didn't want to go out for a longer period of time because of less leaves. Ooty was a perfect place where we just wanted to relax and spend time. Another excitement was to drive from Bangalore to Ooty. I am quite enthusiastic about driving, I had done Pune to Nepal and back in the car with friends last year. One of the things that I generally like is to stay in homestays near Bangalore. This is an amazing concept and luckily every time I have been to such wonderful homestays, I was never disappointed. Each homestay had its own experience, delicious food and amazing hosts.

Almost a month before me and my wife started looking for good homestays on different websites, one of my favourite is Airbnb. I have often found the quality of houses really great there. After shortlisting so many homestays and places where we could just sit, relax and enjoy nature, we zeroed on to Samvasa on the Hills (Between Ooty and Coonoor). The ratings were great, dozens of praises about the host and the place itself. But you can trust until you see yourself, that's always the case when you are visiting a place for the first time and for a short period and also for an anniversary kind of thing where you don't want things to mess up and end up in a bad mood.

The place was decided with high hopes, and got a quick response from the host. We finalised the homestay with all advanced payment as per rules on airbnb.com.

Now the main part is route to Ooty which was I was little unaware. There are 3 routes towards Ooty.

1. Via RamNagara --> Mandya --> Srirangapatna --> Mysuru --> Gundulpete --> Madhumali National park --> Ooty -- Map Route - 306 Kms

2. Via Kanakpura --> Mallavali --> Kollegal --> CharamrajaNagar --> Gundulpete --> Madhumalia National Park --> Ooty -- Map route -- 299 Kms

3. Via Hosur --> KrishnaGiri --> Dharampuri --> Mettur --> Sirumugai --> Kotagiri -- Map Route - 360 Kms

Photo of A Romantic trip to Ooty and Coonoor 1/3 by Gaurav
This beautiful tree in middle of the road while going towards ShivaSamudran

The Trip

After getting suggestions from our friends we decided to take route 2 which was via Kanakpura because we wanted to take a detour to see ShivaSamudran waterfalls as well which was around 50 Kms of detour on the way.

We started early on 31st Jan, at around 5:30 as the trip was around 8 hours of journey or more after counting lunch and tea breaks.

Pro Tip: If you wanna have breakfast, have it around Kanakpura or after that. There are very few or no good places to have food on the way till the end.

Since we didn't get much to eat on the way, we kept on driving for quite a long time and decided to take a detour towards ShivaSamudran waterfalls. The roads till Kanakpura aren't great, just okay, you won't be able to hit more than 50-60 kms/hour. After that, roads are good but most of the places it's just a single road without dividers. You can't drive more than 60-70 kms/hour on these roads.

For ShivaSamuradan, the detour is around 50 Kms from the main road, roads are okay and narrow. ShivaSamudran is located on the banks of river Kaveri. We noticed while going there that there is no water around that place. All the river along which we were driving was completely empty. Still hopeful, we reached ShivaSamudran at around 8:30 AM. After reaching there I got to know that the entry opens at 9 AM, bummer !!!. Asked the guards there that it is worth going, is there water in the falls. They confirmed the negative. Instead of wasting another hour and half, we decided to head towards our destination i.e Ooty. This is still on the list for next time during the rainy season in Karnataka.

After we left from ShivaSamudran, we crossed Kollegal, CharamRajaNagar and GudulPete and entered Bandipur National park, Karnataka side and MadhuMalai National Park on Tamil Nadu side. The jungle wasn't very green as expected. You can expect police checking and be careful if you are carrying liquor as it is prohibited in National parks. Also, you cannot drive more than 30-40 kms/per hour or more in National park as its active area of wild Animals and speed might endanger their lives, also there are tons of speed breakers.

The fun starts when you hit famous Hair Pin bends of Ooty. I have heard a lot about it that it's very dangerous and one has to be very careful about it. I haven't found it very scary, but yeah you have to be careful and have good hands on driving. Some bends are really steep and curves immediately after one another so that you don't get much time to change gears or expect other cars, heavy trucks from the other side which are coming down.

As I mentioned previously, we didn't get a good place to eat during our trip, good that we had good stock of snacks with us. After hairPin bend ends and you enter Ooty, you can feel that clean and pure ambience, at least for people who live in crowded and polluted cities, this place is much better. Our place was between Ooty and Coonoor on the way towards Kotagiri road.

The first thing you noticed when you are in this beautiful place is tea gardens. They are everywhere and they just look amazingly beautiful. You just get hooked to nature and feel like watching them forever.

We had to cross Ooty and drive towards Kotagiri. The drive inside Ooty towards Kotagiri is also interesting and full of turns and ghat kind of section. The people driving there are doing this from. years so they have this instinct of driving without effort. One has to be careful if you are driving here for the first time. I wouldn't recommend driving on these roads at night if you are not confident in driving.

The drive towards Kotagiri is beautiful and very scenic. Large landscapes with green tea gardens everywhere. More you look, the more you find. It's a photographer's heaven.

Photo of A Romantic trip to Ooty and Coonoor 2/3 by Gaurav
Breathtaking landscapes on the way to our homestay, between Ooty and Coonoor.
Photo of A Romantic trip to Ooty and Coonoor 3/3 by Gaurav
The never ending tea gardens in Coonoor.

Bedroom with minimal but traditional and comfortable furniture.

Photo of Samvasa, On the hills, Road, Bettati, Tamil Nadu, India by Gaurav

The valley view. This is best part of the homestay. Nothing just glass and they valley.

Photo of Samvasa, On the hills, Road, Bettati, Tamil Nadu, India by Gaurav

View from the down.

Photo of Samvasa, On the hills, Road, Bettati, Tamil Nadu, India by Gaurav

Beautiful living area with just glass with white and traditional furniture. Absolutely beautiful.

Photo of Samvasa, On the hills, Road, Bettati, Tamil Nadu, India by Gaurav
Day 3

Day 3, The return journey

Day 3 started early with breakfast and a return journey towards our destination, Bengaluru. The food charges for 3 days for 2 people was around Rs. 3000 which I felt was not expensive and really good. They have provided hot and delicious food of our choice whenever we asked. The caretakers were amicable and friendly.

During the return journey we decided to take Mysore road, but we were not aware that they don't allow you to take the hairpin bend ghat section while you return because you have to drive down that road. Head that there are quite a few accidents there because of the brakes getting failed and other issues while driving down on the mountain. We took

Pykara --> Gunduluru --> Madhumalai --> Bandipur --> Gundlupete --> Begur --> Mysore --> Mandya --> Channapatna --> Ramnagara --> Nice Road --> Bengaluru

Came back with memories of the beautiful nature of Ooty and Coonoor. Coonoor is absolutely beautiful, I would definitely like to go again and stay more towards the kotagiri side, that is beautiful and outside of the city which gives a lot of time to relax and enjoy nature.re.

Every shop is named as Chocolate factory there, hehe :D. This was shop cum Truck.

Photo of Bengaluru, Karnataka, India by Gaurav

The Princess !

Photo of Bengaluru, Karnataka, India by Gaurav

Ohh its me and Princess !

Photo of Bengaluru, Karnataka, India by Gaurav

Tea Gardens around homestay.

Photo of Bengaluru, Karnataka, India by Gaurav

Some where towards kotagiri.

Photo of Bengaluru, Karnataka, India by Gaurav

Beautiful sight during night from homestay.

Photo of Bengaluru, Karnataka, India by Gaurav

Overseeing Ooty while on the way to Coonoor.

Photo of Bengaluru, Karnataka, India by Gaurav

Tea Gardens on the way back from Kotagiri !

Photo of Bengaluru, Karnataka, India by Gaurav

We had little difficulty in finding the homestay. Map shows that it is on the main road but we couldn't find it. Had back and forth with caretakers and wasted around 30 mins or so in doing that. Finally found the place.

The HomeStay

The place is a huge property and on the edge of a cliff literally. The owner has a big real estate. The place is posh with all bunglows in the vicinity and is a gate community. It is a safe place. Not sure if I can justify words here but this is one of the best homestays that I have been to in recent years. The place is on the cliff, tea gardens on below and beside you, valley in-front of you. The place is sparkling clean and beautifully done with white and cream colors for furnitures and curtains. The side facing the valley does not have a wall, REALLY ! It has huge glass instead of a wall which gives you a view of the valley 24x7 ! This is an amazing view. The caretakers were good and very warm for any requests we made.

We decided to take rest for the remaining day and had delicious food prepared by caretakers. I think you just have to tell them what you want to eat and they can prepare it. Since it is at such a height, the place becomes cold at night.

Day 2

We decided to have a heavy breakfast in the morning and set out for sightseeing. We have heard a lot about Coonoor and it was just 20 Kms from our homestay. So we decided to visit places in Coonoor first.

Lambs Rock was the first place we decided to visit in the morning, it's around 20 Kms from Coonoor and the way towards it is very beautiful and breathtaking. We were very lucky to have overcast and pleasant weather in the morning.

Tea gardens are so beautiful that you literally want to spend your entire day roaming in them. There are many in which you can go around and click some beautiful pictures, locals though warned us for Bison in the fields and be careful, not to wander far inside the tea gardens.

There were some of the places which are not worth describing in words but by beautiful pictures.

This was one of the breathtaking view. We spent good 30 minutes here just watching clouds and tea gardens.

Photo of A Romantic trip to Ooty and Coonoor by Gaurav

The endless tea gardens between the clouds.

Photo of A Romantic trip to Ooty and Coonoor by Gaurav

So much fun to see clouds flying below you !

Photo of A Romantic trip to Ooty and Coonoor by Gaurav

The road to Lamb's rock is narrow and most of the places get choked if a big bus comes from the other side. It's a single road with less maintenance on the hills.

Lamb's rock is a beautiful place. When we went there was no crowd at all. You have to walk for around 500 meters to reach the top. Lots of guides will lure you to show all the peaks and ways in the Jungle. We didn't hire one. You have to pay for parking and entry receipt which is around Rs. 20 at most places but parking is expensive like Rs. 60 with some fake receipts.

When we went on the top it was completely surrounded by clouds and we could not see anything :sad

On the same way ahead of Lamb's rock there is Dolphins' nose. The way to Dolphin nose is again same single road with vehicles getting jammed on both ways if there is too much of traffic.

Such narrow single roads are there towards Dolphin Nose and Lamb's rock.

Photo of A Romantic trip to Ooty and Coonoor by Gaurav

Dolphins nose is at height and you will be on top of clouds and lush green jungle everywhere below you. The best part is that if there are no clouds you can see Catherine Water falls from here. Catherine water falls actually is really really far but in rainy season when it falls with full strength, you can hear the gushing sounds of water on the dolphins nose itself. Insipite of so many clouds we were very lucky to see the waterfalls for sometime before cloud took all the fun away.

Photo of A Romantic trip to Ooty and Coonoor by Gaurav
Photo of A Romantic trip to Ooty and Coonoor by Gaurav

The only way to come back from Dolphins nose is to come back via Lambs rock way and via Coonoor towards Ooty. We took the same way and decided to spend time in Ooty with Lunch and other attractions. I think you need around 3 hours to visit both places, Lamb's rock and Dolphin's nose.

We Visited Ooty lake which was very very crowded as expected with locals. I think also because of Saturday.

The less maintained Ooty lake. The place could have been maintained much better

Photo of A Romantic trip to Ooty and Coonoor by Gaurav

I must say, the lake is very dirty and not at all maintained, seeing the condition of the lake didn't have enough courage to do boating in the lake. The water was super dirty and the place not at all maintained, this is the case at all tourist places in Ooty. Though Ooty is one the most famous places in South India, the place is not maintained at all. They are happy to collect the tickets and parking charges but not the facility at all. Didn't see proper sanitation and toilets for women or other things. No wonder why we don't find India as attractive as other foreign tourist destinations.

After this we visited Doddabetta Peak which is on the way towards Coonoor. The place is around 10 Kms from Ooty. The place is on height and not very well maintained with any facilities. The watch tower they have made is absolutely in mess. You can see the entire city from Doddabetta peak, If there are no clouds, else you won't be able to see anything. If you are photography enthusiasts you must visit this place either early morning or during evening golden hour on a clear sky day. I am sure you will get plenty of good pictures to click.

View from Doddabetta peak.

Photo of A Romantic trip to Ooty and Coonoor by Gaurav

Another view from Doddabetta Peak

Photo of A Romantic trip to Ooty and Coonoor by Gaurav

This was all that we could visit in a day. We were back to our homestay around 5 in the evening and spent the rest of the evening seeing nature, taking a hike around the property and having delicious dinner prepared by the care takers in the homestay.

After a long time we get to spend quality time along with a beautiful natural environment. They have kept many board games there, it was fun playing them.

See you again with more such wonderful trip posts :)

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