[Electricpig]

Intro
The point of this trip was to say goodbye to my sister, who will be going abroad for higher studies in September. A sort of a last dance before she leaves. We live in Bangalore and our criteria for the destination were as follows:
-Drive should be less than 8 hours.
-Off beat/Not a crowded tourist spot.

We were looking at :
-Kodai
-Wayanad(Canned for obvious reasons)
-Coonoor
-Ooty
-Gokarna
-Varkala
-Vagamon

Finally decided that Coonoor/ Kotagiri fit our criteria and started looking at home stay options. Found a place in Coonoor-Ghar homestay Coonoor that was away from the main town. More on that later.

Day1
The plan was to start from home at 4:30 a.m. on 15th August. Surprisingly, we were only 20 minutes behind schedule, and ended up leaving at 4:50. Crazy traffic at 5:10 near Hudson circle/KR Market.





Cleared the traffic and finally hit the Mysore expressway at 6.



Stopped at one HariGovindas for Coffee, after the expressway. Nice spot and very good filter coffee.




Some photos from Bandipur/Mudumallai:








On exiting Mudumallai, we were asked to stop and register for a Nilgiris E-Pass. We didn't have to pay anything but no idea what the point was, since we were never asked to show the pass at any point during the trip.

After Mudumallai, we started the 36 hairpin bends to Ooty within an hour or so.



These Mist covered mountains......



We stopped for lunch at one Thalssery restaurant in Ooty, which was on the way to our homestay. I doubt if this restaurant is actually a part of the Thalssery chain. Food was okay. Deserted restaurant. 5/10.

We finally reached the homestay around 3 p.m. The location is insanely beautiful and scenic.....especially for us city people . It's located in the middle of acres upon acres of tea plantations




Sharing some pics from the numerous walks we took around the place.









Day 2

Today, we were supposed to take the toy train that goes from Coonoor to Ketti. However, IRCTC randomly cancelled the train at the last minute so we made alternate plans. First on the agenda was to visit an RC church, say our prayers, and then carry on. After some searching in the Coonoor town, we came to St. Anthony's church- A beautiful and cosy church on a hill top.
From the church, we set out in search of Filter Coffee- a rare commodity in Coonoor(Only instant coffee). In search of our coffee, we had the opportunity to walk through Coonoor's "shortcuts" - flights of stairs that run literally through the city.





The stairs:





Some sights of Coonoor:







After Sim's park, we had lunch in one fraud dosa joint (It had strawberry and dry fruit dosa, and gave us a kallu dosa for Uthappam). This restaurant was on Bedford road....and as it turned out, Bedford road had quiet a few interesting places to explore. We checked out one 'Gaia pottery store', a handicraft store which occupied a beautiful house.





Will continue this thread in the next post, with more photos

[Electricpig]

Some more pics from the pottery store:







Next stop was a beautiful CSI church- All Saints Church, just down the road.





After that, we drove the 15 kms or so back to our homestay, ate dinner , played a game of Carrom and went straight to sleep. Apparently the other guests at the stay saw a bear at night.

Day 3

Today is the day we are to start back to BLR. Started the day with a morning walk as usual. Dad spotted a bison on his walk.



Had breakfast, packed up, and checked out around 11 from our homestay. Some pics from the Metupalayam route. A round about route, but more scenic than the 36 hairpin bends.





Some creative advertising...made us stop, take out the binoculars, and see what brand it is



On the other side of what I think is Pykara lake. I assumed they were bisons, but just regular cows when I looked through the binoculars



Somewhere in Gudalur. The rain + these super tall Eucalyptus tress was just





Stopped for a late lunch in Gudalur. Belted one out of the world parotta beef roast. 10/10 ,would come back to this place again.



After Gudalur, made some good time in Bandipur/Mudumallai , and in no time (actually 3 hours) we were back at HariGovindas for Coffee before entering the expressway.


Last of the open greens for this trip




After spending nearly 12 hours on the road (mainly because we stopped a lot), we finally reached home around 10:30 p.m.

And that's it Overall a beautiful, beautiful trip...Extremely relaxing, and just what we needed. Coonoor definitely has a lot more to be explored, and deserves another trip, next time longer.
Thank you for reading, and do let me know if you have any questions.


Stats for the entire trip :

Distance: 660 Kms
Mileage: 14.9 km/l

[adv]

Thanks for the great post with details of your trip! I am visiting Coonoor with family for a short 3 day visit this month. Will be flying into Coimbatore airport and then heading to Coonoor by road.
How is the road from Coimbatore airport to Coonoor?
I was wondering how feasible is it to rent a self drive car from Coimbatore airport and drive up to Coonoor and keep the car with us for 3 days for the duration of our stay?
Is it easy to find parking around the sightseeing points, etc.?
Or would you recommend getting a local taxi for sightseeing?
Thank you!

[m8002?]

Originally Posted by adv

Thanks for the great post with details of your trip! I am visiting Coonoor with family for a short 3 day visit this month. Will be flying into Coimbatore airport and then heading to Coonoor by road.
How is the road from Coimbatore airport to Coonoor?
I was wondering how feasible is it to rent a self drive car from Coimbatore airport and drive up to Coonoor and keep the car with us for 3 days for the duration of our stay?
Is it easy to find parking around the sightseeing points, etc.?
Or would you recommend getting a local taxi for sightseeing?
Thank you!

Best option : If possible, take the Nilgiris toy train to Coonoor/Ooty and hire a taxi for local sight seeing. Its very difficult to find parking at all the tourist points.

Second best option : Take a cab or bus from Coimbatore to Coonoor. You can use the same cab for the 3 days in Coonoor/Ooty.

The last time, though I drove to Ooty from Bangalore, hired a cab for local sight seeing and it was bliss.

[adwaith]

Originally Posted by Electricpig

However, IRCTC randomly cancelled the train at the last minute so we made alternate plans.

This tends to happen if there are rains or something impedes the track. Happened quite a few times over the last year.