We haven’t enquired many hotels around conoor, but simply spotted this one through internet and as it fitted my budget.called in to ask for accomodation, and since the visit was on weekdays, there was availability and went ahead in reserving it. rates are between 1600 - 2800/-. We had moved into an deluxe room of 1600/- which comes with a decent balcony, big room, and not so great bathroom.
Travel Bangalore to Coonor, and Back.
Started at 7am@bangalore, through the kankapura road, then onto the nice road connected to mysore, and stopped for brreakfast at kadu manu(somewhere after kengeri).we generally hop here for breakfast, and no issues till now with them, After that through mysore, gundulpet masingudi reached ooty at 2:30pm. By the way at gundulpet there is a new coffeeshop opened which is last good place to have you lunch after the only option is at ooty. At ooty, had our luch at a small restaraunt named(pooja), don’t ever venture here, the resturant seems good from outside, but the food is horrible, and its over priced. It’s big mistake we landed here. Anyways after lunch @3pm we had aheaded towards coonor which is about 17kms from ooty. Finally reached the velan@Bedford around 4pm, and promptly checked-in without much hassles, the hotel has good parking place.
Road condition is almost excellent through out the journey, as 30 minutes of helluva roller coaster ride is waiting for you between gundelpet and 10kms after it towards masingudi side. I am not sure why aren’t they repairing this road, but soon by the time you visit.there maybe no road left at all. its really nerve wracking.and maching crunching road.bad to you and the car. I paced myself @30kmph on this stretch. that bad it is. however this should not dissapoint as the rest of the road is flawless.you could fly!
Hotel
I have mixed reactions when it comes to the hospitality here, the prices are moderate for the services or infrastructure available at the hotel, but what lacks clearly is the cleanliness a.k.a house keeping. The rooms are covered with carpet which is been cleaned a decade ago, and then there is a fine dust all over the room. Bathroom is small with minor plumbing issues, and complimentary monkey menace if you had left the balcony door open;-)
hmm. now on the brighter side, the hotel is located in a peaceful, serene place with good view of conoor depending on which room you got into. The food tastes good, the room is big with good light fittings and the Bed is cozy. It gives an good comfortable feeling, Many times I remember using the word "house" instead of the hotel/room while doing the day trip at coonor, so it sort of says to me that the feeling at the hotel is comforting. Overall it sums up to the equation that its a value for money stay especially considering the peak season we were in there.
Food is great with reasonable prices. Calling house keeping guyz had cleaned up most of the stuff complained but not satisfactorily. Nice restarunt with a decent lawn attached to it. If you are wine or beer lover, let me aware you that you don’t get a drop of it anywhere in coonor.not sure for the reasons, but ppl generally here believe in whisky and hot stuff(make sense being a cold place:-) hey but if you are non-hot drinkers, aka lover of wine/beer, then ensure you carry it from your place of visit. A serious recommendation!:-) Neither this hotel nor any of the alcholic shops I had enquired had any
Coonor
I think coonor is at lesser altitude then of ooty which makes it secondary option when compared to ooty, but this would underestimate the value of coonor itself, although it is lesser crowded(means to say lesser visitors) then to ooty, but hey.it got its charm in spots like dolphin nose, lamb’s rock. Which have excellent breathtaking views. On top of it they are secluded.
By the we had also enjoyed the train journey between coonor and ooty which is good. Minus the crowd, the stattions were neat and you got see some of these enginees which are 50-100 years old. Engineering marvels!
overall enjoyed the stay at coonor, if you have plans to visit velan ritz, then better check the room before you check into it. Ask for clean up if required. Overall coonor is good place for weekend getaway and the hotel is also good a.k.a "value for money"!
Happy motoring!
Please write to me, if you need any help on this subject.