Ooty

We had been to ooty in the last weekend. We had planned very well before the trip, but still there are lot more points to be noted which I wanted to share with all of the readers, so that this information is useful for all.

1. Selecting a hotel/ Resort to stay. - This is the biggest catch point, which you need to plan before you start. We have gone thru all the possibilities, checked all travel web sites, gone to some of the travel agents. It will be good if you first see the hotel photos and description in the travel sites(Travel Guru, Make My Trip etc), and check the prices and availability. Same time check with the travel agent also for the rates. Some times, travel agents will give you a better deal, but some times the travel sites will be offering less price for the same hotel. Be sure that break fast is also included in the package.

We have selected a three star resort, in the Oooty-Conoor road, named Sagar Resorts( https://sagar-resorts.com). We have selected this by seeing the photos in the travel site. This hotel is good considering the fact that it offers a very good view of the Valley. From each room, you can have a very good view of the valley and you will really enjoy it.

But when we checked in, we didn’t find any three star facilities there, it was just only the valley view available, rooms were just ok kind of, and the biggest issue was(You have to take care of this point very much), we have got a room in the lowest level, which means that you have to climb somewhere around 50 steps to reach in the reception/front area.!(Going down is ok.:-), we got tired when we come up for the break fast, as there is a steep climb with the steps. There is an escalator kind of thing to take you up, but I have seen it operating only very rare times, as they had some accident in the past and takes much care now. So by default, this will be off and you have to request to reception each time for some body to come and turn it on, and it will go at 1Km/ Hr speed.better walk.!

Only thing we enjoyed in this hotel is the break fast(complimentary), you will get all items here and this is good.(Tried the lunch also, but better to have somewhere outside.!). The room rate was Rs.1500 per day with breakfast. But you will also get good hotels/ resorts in the range of 800-1500.

1. Travel to Ooty -  Again the next hurdle, as there are a few very bad stretches on the way.! If you go as per the sign boards, you will end up in 2 ft depth potholes, and you must fall into that and to climb back as there is no road other than potholes. We went by our car, but our travel agent told not to go the usual route, instead take a diversion thru Masinagudi, which is better. This road was ok, except when you near the ooty, as the road is very bad for some 5-7 km just before reaching ooty. Also around 10-12 Km from Gundulpet is also very bad. Then again there come the ghat with 38 Hair pin bends, which will test your driving skills as the road is very narrow. So better to be prepared. You can go by Bus also, but bus will be taking the bad road, so the journey may not be comfortable. Else you can go by train up to combatore and then go by Bus/Taxi.

From Bangalore, it is 290 KM by car, and will take around 6-7 hrs for the travel. Also you will really enjoy the travel thru the forest area.You can keep watching both sides for the Animals, and you will defenitely find some. We had seen a group of elephants on the side. Also be prepared to run(with car) either in forward gear or reverse gear(depends!)in case any elephants come to meet you close.! There had been incidents in the past where elephants chased the vehicles.!

1. Sight Seeing in Ooty.- Next important thing which needs planning and also the weather forecast.

First thing, if it is raining in ooty and there is lot of fog, better change time for viewing the hill tops as the valley view will not be good in the dense fog. If it is a clear sunny day, then the view from the hill top’s in oooty and conooor will be really nice and you can see a great valley view from the conoor hill tops.which is breathtaking.!

The best option to see ooty is to hire a taxi, this may cost you between 900-1300 for a full day sight seeing trip from 9 AM to 6:30 PM including ooty and conoor. You will usually find a travel desk at your hotel itself, else you can go to ooty town and find lot of taxi stands as well as travel agents. Tata Indica will cost you  900-1000 for the full day, and Sumo/Qualis will cost you 1200-1300.(Even this rates can come down if it is a non-peak season). We have got a Sumo for a full day for 1300.  Also the roads in the Ooty town are really bad. This is a very bad part as if you drive your own car, you will get tired very soon, and also if it is raining, it will be only mud throughout the road.

1. Places to see - Best option is to get a travel catalog from the Hotel itself, so that you get a list of attractions. There are a lot of places to see in ooty, as well as in conoor. Must see places are the Lake, Botanical Garden, the hill tops in Conooor as well as in ooty. We have tried the old narrow gauge train from conoor to ooty, but not that much interesting. There is a lot of rush also in this train on season as there are only 4 small compartments.

Also there is a wax museum in Ooty -Conoor main road, which is good.

1. Food / Eating in ooty. - One must try the Idli / Dosa’s at the good hotels in ooty. You will get typical tamilnadu Idlis/ Dosa’s in Ooty along with really tasty chutney and sambar. We have tried Saravanabhavan, which is very good. We went at night 10 PM, and had Dosa’s and it was really good. We also tried the non -veg hotel next day, Alakapuri, but this was not good. We don’t like the food there.  Our Cab driver had recommended Durga, a vegetarian hotel, but as we decided to have non-veg, we couldn’t try it. Hope this also should be good. Always better to try only veg-hotels, as I had find only very few Non-Veg hotels, which is also quite small and we also had parking troubles near these hotels.

Nilgiri tea is very famous, you can see big valleys with tea plantations on the way to coonoor. There are shops selling tea where you can taste the different flavours of tea before buying. We have tasted the classic masala tea and the chocolate tea which was really tastey. Also you have to taste the ooty apples(small in size, but really fresh and tasty) and the fresh small carrots and strawberries. Also famous is the ooty chocolates, but this is hard. There are a lot of flavors available and you will find this in almost every bakery in town.

1. Overall Experience - Ooty is a nice place to stay for 2-3 days. Always better to see the weather forecast before planning the trip to ooty, as rain will spoil all the spirit.

You can check the ooty local weather at the accuweather site. Link below -

https://accuweather.com/world-index-forecast.asp?partner=accuweather&locCode=ASI|IN|IN031|OOTY|&u=1

So with a bit of planning, you should be having a memorable trip to ooty.

Enjoy the vacation.!