[raptor_diwan]

Entire route and the destination is also not going to be pleasant on that month, Ooty will be much crowded, due to this few places will be having heavy traffic, which means you will have to bear the slow moving traffic after driving for 1000KM,

I used to visit Kodaikanal, Ooty or Yercaud in Tamil Nadu at least once every month. However, I must say that I won't be traveling to any of these places from late April to early June. During this time, the entire hill station will be crowded, and finding a room will be a hassle, not to mention the inflated prices. Restaurants will be packed with tourists, leading to a drop in quality of food and the behavior of sellers.

For the new destination changes, you can consider visiting any place in Kerala. The weather may not be as chilly as the North, but it can still be quite pleasant. Based on my own experience, I would recommend avoiding Ooty and exploring different destinations such as Gangtok or Siliguri instead.

[abhijeetp]

Originally Posted by alpha1

As an alternative, I may suggest traveling towards the Konkan coast (Alibag to Ratnagiri stretch).

Drivable distance from Pune (most places within 4-6 hours) - that will satisfy your craving for road journey, should be less crowded, and perhaps you may get a great off-season pricing on resorts..

Apart from Himalayas, all other destinations in India will be hot. I would suggest similar route suggested by alpha1 above, you can start from Dapoli and can go till Ratnagiri or even Tarkarli via Guhagar-Malgund-GanpatiPule-Aare-Ware-Ratnagiri along the coastal road. This will be a leisurely drive.
Added attraction is that it will be Alphonso Season !

If both of you are interested in wildlife, then you can also look at Tadoba/Nagzira/Tipeshwar/Pench/Kanha/Bandhavgah. Except for safari timings you would be at the resort indoors.

[Raghu M]

Take a flight! That's a simple no brainer. It's no road trip when you are planning it as a staycation. You will get ample additional time, no headache of the long travel and when you hire a local cab, you get to visit many places and enjoy the views. The locals can help you with itinerary much better. Also, try to stay around Ooty rather than Ooty itself. Like Coonor, Kotagiri etc. You can rent pretty good places around Ooty for half the price and still enjoy breathtaking views and food. Coorg is not the place to be in right now, if the choice is Ooty or Coorg, it's Ooty all the way.

[Samfromindia]

Last time I went Ooty from Bangalore, brother insisted on riding his 390 all the way. However for the sake of saving time and comfort of 1N stay, decided to take public transport and hire a 2W over there. Worked out well although the condition of the bike was pretty bad and only basic options were available.

KSRTC Bus from Bangalore - Ooty


Hotel Sinclairs, our stay for the night. Had wonderful views.


Zipline & other adventure activities nearby


The rented bike. Brought our own helmets though

[GoBlue]

Best to do road trips in the off season, plan car drives on working days, roads should be reasonably empty.

Did a Pune - Coorg drive recently, had a wonderful experience.

It all depends on how much the spouse likes long drives, if that's the case then a road trip could be more rewarding.

[rpunwani]

If your wife and you enjoy driving, please drive to either Coorg or Ooty.

We drove from Mumbai to Conoor in May 2022 and made an overnight halt at Davangere. Since you will leave from Pune, you can push your overnight halt to say Tumkur or Bangalore. The next day will be a comfortable 6-7 hours to Coorg or 8-9 hrs to Ooty. To go to Ooty one has to go through Bandipur/Madumalai forest and the roads are open only during the day. The way up to Ooty is quite steep with hairpin bends so one has to be careful when driving up. May be better to stay in Conoor rather than Ooty. Having a car is great in Ooty/Conoor. The climate was great around 12-14 degrees C.

The drive to Coorg on the other hand is a lot easier and Coorg is not as crowded as Ooty. Drove to Coorg from Mumbai in 2014. Coorg may be a bit warmer. Best to have your own car as taxis can get expensive.

[sam264_2000]

Originally Posted by GoBlue

...Did a Pune - Coorg drive recently, had a wonderful experience....

May I ask what route did you take? I am also evaluating Pune-Coorg-Pune road trip so any tips would be helpful. I am okay with a break journey with a night halt rather than driving full day to reach the destination.

[rohan_iitr]

If you are planning a hill-station holiday to get some respite from the summer heat, both coorg and ooty would disappoint you.

Since you are open to flight travel, I would suggest to go some hill station in north or north-east, like Srinagar, Leh, Manali, Sikkim etc.

[swarnava.ch]

Originally Posted by 07CR

Hi all, my first marriage anniversary will be approaching in this May 2022. I intend to have a great staycation at Ooty.

Travel duration -
1) If going by flight- 19-23 May.
2) If going by car- 19- 25 May.

If you are a roadie and want to still enjoy a small drive, you can fly from Pune to Bangalore and take a rental car and drive from Bangalore to Ooty. This will take you around 7 / 8 hours. There are many rental / self-drive options available in Bangalore. The roads all the way are fantastic and scenic and last 50 kms to Ooty will be a hill climb. As others have suggested, Ooty is still colder than Coorg but the month of May would be very crowded so best to take local cabs for sightseeing and not take the headache of finding parking or waiting in traffic snarls.

Originally Posted by sam264_2000

May I ask what route did you take? I am also evaluating Pune-Coorg-Pune road trip so any tips would be helpful. I am okay with a break journey with a night halt rather than driving full day to reach the destination.

Its the same standard route from Pune -> Satara -> Davangere (Mumbai Pune Expressway) from here Chennagiri, Karur, Ramnathapura, Kushalnagar roads are ok, mostly undivided in some places with local traffic and through Chikmagaluru jungle areas but after Kushalnagar it will be again great till Coorg (Madikeri). This is exactly as per google. I am not sure of any alternates between Davangere to Kushalnagar unfortunately but have travelled on some of these in the past.

[Kashief]

Don't expect a cool weather in the month of May in Ooty. May be night times are soothing. Those days are gone and now the hills is commercialised in lot of places. As already pointed out by Bhpians, check the convenience of your better half on driving 1000+ kms one side even though you take breaks. And you cannot cover Airport to Ooty in 2.5 hours by road. There are few bridge construction work going on for a long time in Coimbatore to Mettupalayam road and it take hours to cross that 40kms.

[vjbox]

Originally Posted by androdev

Not really.

Cost: The cost of car travel can't be just fuel cost. You should use cost per km of an equivalent taxi to find the total cost. Plus the costs of overnight stay, etc. Flight always works out cheaper in my opinion unless you are a family of 8 going by Innova.

Convenience: Yes, door-to-door convenience is there but in a touristy place you will be better served by a local taxi so you don't have to deal with the headache of finding the places, parking and so on.

Flying would be the way to go if you are looking at optimising costs and travel time, etc. Going by car only makes sense if you both love roads trips and hate flying. Honestly, I don't think Ooty is a worthy destination to drive for four days.

True. For newer/ farther destinations, it could be better to fly in and out and explore the local places with a Taxi. 'Time is money' concept can be applied here to some extent.

But even for a family of 4, a car seem to work out cheaper when it comes to a travel radius of say 500-600 KMS oneway. For instance we do a lot of Coimbatore runs from Chennai and even the train fares ( 2A, Shatabdi CC etc) seem to work out much higher for a round trip than a car. For a family of 4 you are looking at atleast INR 10K-11K and then the cost of cabs to go around. Where as the diesel + toll cost put together only works out to at best INR 7K and coupled with flexible timings and stops. I am not even talking about Air fares here as they would be easily 3X the train fares. Not to mention the prior arrival and the amount of hours you need to kill before and after flying.

I would say, flying works out really well if the distance is more than 600 KMS oneway and if you know you can beat the traffic to the airport and check in without having to kill time at the airport.

[Safedriver2023]

It depends on the priority. Long drive vs less stressful enjoyments in the destination. After driving 1100 kms your body needs proper rest. Then another 1100 drive back. Unless you have plenty of on the way spots planned with more days of leave i don't think driving will be a pleasure. We have driven 1000 plus kms a day however it was friends only trips with all 3 capable of driving 500 plus kms continuously. Think and decide.

[streetfighter]

Originally Posted by 07CR

Thank you all for your opinions. I have concluded two things-

1) It's not a good idea to drive such long distance in MAY month at this point of time(first anniversary)
2) Ooty and Coorg aren't the best destinations in May (read:crowded).

Can you all in this case help me decide-

Do I need to Change destination. If yes, which one. Been to North East (Sikkim and Darjeeling), so would avoid it. Kashmir, plan to visit later this year. Any other destination?

I beg to differ here... my viewpoints...
Long distance travel can be done in any season It all depends on how comfortable you'd be driving the distance and how you plan it. I have taken many long drives (with kids too) and we've had a great holiday each time. I try to plan my trips so that I do not have long 10-12hrs drive on consecutive days. And I like to spend atleast 3-4 days at one place.
I am not sure for how many days you are planning the trip, but if it is for around a week, I'd suggest you break the trip and stay at 2 places. First stay can be at South Goa or Karwar or Gokarna. Second part of the trip you can do Kotagiri or Coonoor or Coorg. Ooty is probably always crowded, hence I'd suggest go a little offbeat. This way, you can do a combination of both beaches and hills. During peak season, I avoid the heavy touristy spots and markets, hence I am not too bothered about crowd. Since I have the vehicle, staying a little away from the main town also helps beat the crowd and spend the holiday peacefully.
Since it is your anniversary, make it special by booking some exotic places to stay, not necessarily star properties. A stay in a tea/coffee estate or a comfortable homestay or a jungle stay is equally relaxing and satisfying. You may get some trip ideas from my travelogue which I did in April-end 2019 - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...uth-india.html (10 days of a super drive - Mumbai to South India) Go for it !!

[SNayak]

I would go against the opinion here and would suggest nothing wrong in going to Ooty in May. I have been there exactly in the same month and have enjoyed a lot. The trick is to hire a Taxi rather than driving and you should be okay. Believe me the local drivers knows lots of shortcuts and avoid traffic jam routes. There are lots of off-beat places around Ooty which are very scenic as well and would be a good option if you want to avoid crowd.

[narayans80]

Depends on where you will be staying and how much local travel you will be doing at the destination. If you are staying in those off-the-beaten-track places and you want to explore the surroundings. You have no choice but to take your car. Few years back we stayed at a resort near Emerald Lake, we hardly saw < 10 vehicles beyond Conoor.

From Pune you will take a day to reach Bangalore, from there you are basically on the same page as Bangaloreans planning trips. As long as you time it right, its a piece of cake.

Ooty atleast you have a choice of not taking your transportation. Exploring Kodagu needs a car, or you have to depend on hired taxi.

The 'stress' associated with road trips is only a mindset. I enjoy driving, my missus enjoys travelling by car. 90% were drive trips over the last 5 years change with kids, which predominantly involve driving upwards 800 km on the first and last day as a norm.