My experiential road trip: 6-day South India trip in a Toyota Fortuner

Of course, one of the primary objectives is to "see" places that we have not seen so far, however, a trend that is catching up these days is to "experience" places and not just "see".

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We all go on trips - via road, rail, waterways and air!
Of course, one of the primary objectives is to "see" places that we have not seen so far, however, a trend that is catching up these days is to "experience" places and not just "see".

For example, travelers have now started living amongst locals, cook/learn local food, trek to unusual places, enjoy local festivals and art forms, etc. So when we planned our yearly Christmas/New Year trip this time, we chose to indulge in more of "experiences".

Our trip may sound like a usual Kochi -> Bangalore -> Mysore -> Ooty (Coonnoor) -> Kochi round trip, however, there is more to it. Let me elaborate:

Crew:- Me, wife and 2 kids aged 12 and 15.
The car:- 2024 Toyota Fortuner AT Sigma

Day-1
We started from our apartment in Kochi city (Kakkanad area), at around 5.00 am on 25th December. Destination - Bangalore. Travelled via Thrissur, Palakkad, Coimbatore, Salem, Dharmapuri, Hosur and finally Bangalore (by 6.00 pm). The pit stops were as follows>>

a. Travlounge, near Walayar - This place boasts of a very well maintained rest room 24/7. The whole objective of this business is to provide hygienic rest room for women (men too). The quality of toilets are on par with 3 star hotels. The usage fee is a meagre Rs.10 for men's standing urinal and Rs.30 for full toilet (can be used by both men and women; in separate sections). The place also offer a lounge area with well cushioned seats, sleeping pods (hourly rates), shower cubicles, convenient store and cafe. A tea shop with local snacks is also available just outside the main building. Plenty of car/bike parking spaces plus EV charging points too.

I would love to see such businesses along all National Highways in our country. It's an un-tapped pan-India business opportunity. Private sector should step-in and seize this golden opportunity instead of waiting for Govt., for providing safe and hygienic public toilets, especially for women during travel.

b. Had buffet lunch from Radisson, Salem. Amazing food spread, especially butter naan, dosa and dessert spread. This was our third visit to this hotel. We also stayed there once, when we went for Yercaud trip.

c. Took tea at a roadside coffee shop somewhere near Dharmapuri. What i noticed is the taste of tea/coffee, which was very good in multiple highway side tea shops in TN. We never get good tea/coffee in similar tea shops in Kerala, except a handful ones.

d. Checked-in to the hotel, ITC Windsor and took rest. The hotel was booked via MakeMyTrip, with a discounted rate.

Day-2
The morning half was booked to "experience" a vineyard and winery. Few weeks before, i researched on such places in Bangalore and found many. Finally booked Rico Wine park & Vineyards via their web portal. I also called up the phone number mentioned in Gmaps to confirm availability and for checking details before making payment. The Google reviews were also thoroughly checked to ensure the ratings were very good.

Here is what we experienced and we definitely recommend this place:
a. They have 2 slots everyday, 11.00 am and 1.00 pm. We opted the 11.00 am one.
b. The tour starts with an introduction to vineyard and wine processing, Rico's history, types of wine etc., followed by a walk through their model field in front of the main building. We will be shown the grapes at various stages of its lifecycle.
c. This is followed by a visit to the brewing terminal, where the whole 9 yards of extraction, fermentation and packaging is shown to us.
d. Next comes the wine tasting ceremony, where we will be provided an opportunity to task different types of Rico wines.
e. By then, it was 1.00 pm and we indulged in a good buffet spread. This is part of the package.
f. Finally, there is this grape stomping fun event, which we decided to skip.
The price for this package came to Rs. 1695 per adult.
There are other smaller packages too, for details, please visit their official website.

Disclaimer:- Alcohol consumption is injurious to health.

In the evening, we visited a famous Japanese restaurant named Kuuraku and also spent sometime strolling in the commercial street. Being Christmas week, the streets, shops and malls were all decked up with decorative lights, and the festive mood was very high in the air.

Day-3
We were on the road from Bangalore to Mysore via the recently opened expressway. Beautiful roads and a completely relaxed drive. The car was on cruise mode most of the times. We reached Mysore by around 2.00 pm and then checked into an airbnb apartment named "Itti Taara". I would rate this place excellent - clean, well-maintained, 2 bedrooms, dining hall, fully equipped kitchen, beautiful un-hindered views of Chamundi hills and near-by areas from its balcony, a well behaved caretaker available 24/7, etc.

Now comes the "experience" part >> After some research in airbnb, we found a super guide in Mysore, who is a local and knows the city in and out. The itinerary we followed:
1. First, he suggested to meet in front of the Mysore clock tower, a.k.a Doddagadiyara. There is a corporation controlled underground parking spot near to this place. Sharing the location here as it is not marked in Gmaps >> Parking location link. We parked our car there and met him in front of clock tower.

2. He was spot on-time (5.00 pm), and we first introduced each other. He then explained the history of Mysore and made it more interesting to my kids by making the conversation a quiz type. They enjoyed answering them and immediately we all felt that emotional connect and became friends.

3. We started by walking towards the main streets from where we could see multiple statues, mysore palace and the old market. The history behind every nook and corner were explained to us.

4. We then deep dived into the old market, which surprisingly to me was reasonably well maintained. All the small lanes were kept clean and no trash anywhere. We purchased few ladies' items like flower, make-up stuff, ornaments, etc.

5. He then took us to a lane that sells only banana and we were given a particular ripe banana to taste from a 100+ year old banana shop. It was indeed tasty.

6. After exiting from the market, we then proceeded to "Guru sweets", a shop established by the inventor of "mysore pak" sweet. We were given small pieces to taste and we indeed liked it. It is totally different from the mysore pak we tasted so far elsewhere. Bought couple of "authentic" mysore pak for our dear and near ones back home.

7. We then headed to "Madhushahi samosa center", where we tasted crispy samosa chat. The place was crowded like any other place that sells tasty food.

8. Next stop was at a shop named "chatpatta", which is famous for a snack called "churmur". There are many varieties available and we tried the classic and garlic ones.

9. Finally, we arrived at the dinner place, one of the best "benne dosa" shops in Mysore. We tried of course the masala version and it was indeed heavenly.

That's it and we said bye to him and we headed to our stay place and slept.

Day-4
The next day morning, for breakfast, we headed to "Vinayaka Mylari" dosa restaurant". It was super crowded and we waited in a long queue for our turn. The dosa was really tasty however, the inside masala was not to our liking. Anyways, food taste is subjective.

Next in our plan was to visit "Payana car museum". It was a wonderful experience. The museum itself is well maintained. Spet around 1.5 hours there.

For lunch, we headed back to city to the famous veg cafe named "OH - Old House". There also, it was a painful long queue. However, their food made up for the long wait - the pizza and pasta were well made and delicious, so were their inhouse-made ice creams. Our kids loved it.

By the time we finished lunch, it was evening time and we thought of visiting Chamundi hills. The ghat roads are good and it is a pleasant drive uphill. Since it was a bit crowded at the top, we thought of skipping the temple visit and instead took a u-turn after spending few minutes at the top. Good to see that there is a multi-level car park structure where we could comfortably park our cars.

Day-5
Now the return leg started and we headed to Coonoor, Ooty, via Masinagudi. On the way, we stopped at "Himavadh Gopal Swami hills", which is around few Kms after Gundlupete. It was a nice de-tour with very good views of the hills and plains.

We finally reached our resort in the evening. Being December, it was super cold in Coonoor. Spent rest of the evening in the resort with good food and enjoyed pleasant weather.

Day-6
Our final lap - back to Kochi. Travelled via Coimbatore, Palakkad and Thrissur. Coimbatore traffic was pathetic, took more than 1 hour to enter and exit.

Overall, a memorable "experienced" focused trip!
Thank you so much for patiently reading this travelogue :-)

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