Bangalore to Ooty by train

machadinha

<cross-posted with PMV>

OK, so for the sake of argument & assuming car all the way, all random personal tastes of course, can be interchanged and whatnot, just seeing how far you might get. And again, you don't need to dump the car I think just to take that toy train:

1 Bangalore-Sravanabelagola-Hassan
2 Hassan-Belur & Halebid
3 Hassan-Madikeri
4 Madikeri
5 Madikeri-Kodai
6 Kodai
7 Kodai-Ooty...

Hmmm, losing out here, oh, I even forgot Mysore. Are you intent on seeing Kodai? I wasn't so big on it, but I was there in winter and it was wet and foggy and cold, won't have improved my impression. It's also a bit of a loop out, and I reckon Ooty won't be that much of a different experience. Let's try that again minus Kodai:

1 Bangalore-Sravanabelagola-Hassan
2 Hassan-Belur & Halebid
3 Hassan-Madikeri
4 Madikeri
5 Madikeri-Mysore
6 Mysore-Ooty
7 Ooty
8 Ooty-B'lore

Looking better? Leave out Sravanabelagola, now try to include a day or two in Mudumalai.

All just suggestions, of course...

A final try:

1 Bangalore-Sravanabelagola-Hassan
2 Hassan-Belur & Halebid. Evening on to Madikeri.
3 Madikeri
4 Morning to Mysore.
5 Morning to Ooty
6 Ooty. Evening to Mudumalai.
7 Mudumalai, afternoon/evening to B'lore. If one day extra anywhere, so much the better When visiting a park at all, I'd say a day extra is always worth it to increase the chance of seeing any wildlife & just enjoying the surroundings. Maybe sacrifice S'belagola to it.

If this looks too hectic with the kids, just lessen on the sightseeing & focus on the being in several pleasant and mostly fairly relaxing and green surroundings, I'm sure the kids would enjoy that too You might want a day at the beginning and/or end of just taking a breather and exploring Bangalore a little of course.

Or to stick to your original plan:

1 Bangalore
2 BLR-Hassan. Visit Belur & Halebid. Evening on to Madikeri.
3 Madikeri. Evening to Mysore
4 Mysore, evening to Kodai. (Hm, I wouldn't want to drive up there by night though. Better sleep in the plains and make it up first thing in the morning.)
5 Kodai
6 Say morning or afternoon to Ooty
7 Ooty. Evening or next day to B'lore

Or if you'll be having the car for the whole journey anyway:

1 Bangalore
2 BLR-Kodai. Make it in time to go up by daylight.
3 Kodai.
4 Kodai-Ooty.
5 Ooty-Mysore.
6 Mysore-Hassan
7 Hassan-BLR.

Ah, choices, choices...

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pmvelu

<Cross posted with Mach>
If you are going to engage Taxi, the Following sample itenary might give you a brief idea !
Day 1 :-

1) Early morning start at BNG . Bangalore--Shravanabelagola ( It's quite a Steep walk to get to the top- Around 600 steps ) - Gomatheswara statue ( 4 Hours overall is enough to cover this place)
2)Drive to Halebeedu (Around 35 kms) followed by belur ( around 15 kms)
3)You could stay at Belur Or continue to Hassan (Around 40 kms)for night stay

Day 2:-

1) Hassan-Holenarsipur-Mysore. Mysore local (palace + Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary (18 kms from Mysore))
Stay @Mysore

Day 3:-
//Mysore-ooty road passes through Nanjangud,Bandipur.//
1) Early morning Start from Mysore. You could visit Najangud Temple (Very famous Shiva Temple) - 29 kms from Mysore
2) Continue to Bandipur WLS . Try out forest Safari (Timings 6-9 am) OR continue driving to Mudumalai NP and try out forest safari here(Mudumalai is just around 15 kms from Bandipur)
3) Continue towards ooty and from a place called Masinagudi there is a Short cut to Ooty (Taxi wallah will definitely know this route) and this is one of the steepest roads and by this route you will escape the Potholed Main road to ooty which passes via Gudalur (And buses and lorries Ply in this
route)
Stay @ooty

Day 4:-

Ooty local Sight seeing

Day 5:-

Ask the driver to wait in Mettupalaiyam station
Take the toy train from ooty to MTP (Timings in http://www.indianrail.gov.in/hill_2.html) .
From Mettupalaiyam, you could drive to kodaikanal via Palani
Stay @ Kodai

Day 6:-

Kodai Sight Seeing
Night Stay

Day 7:-
If you could start @ 7 am from Kodai Hills , you could reach BNG by late evening with all the stops required(for Food , Relax etc) via Karur-Salem-Dharmapuri-Hosur (Excellent NH-7)

Hope this gives an idea !

My personal suggestion is , After visiting ooty , kodai might not be appealing /interesting (that too within a day or two as both have almost same right from view point,Views,climate,lake etc). If you are planning to drop kodai , then you could drive from Mettupalaiyam to Bangalore via Salem,Hosur and roads are excellent.

I had been to all of these places and hence if you need more info on any of the above, please post !

Family Delight

Thanks Velu. This would really help !!

Family Delight

Thanks machadinha!! I didn't miss on you

It's just that I could comprehend velu's plan easily. I'm not a good manager

machadinha

Oh, y'r most welcome. It's always fun to plan along. Now if only I could be there... <sigh>

PMVelu's plan looks very good yes, I'd go by it any day.

Anyway: Full trip report expected, mind! The good, the bad, & the ugly! (Hint: Tips on travel with kids and how they cope[d] also always very welcome, seriously.)

Family Delight

Sure!!

Thanks All!!

machadinha

Assuming you'll be booking the driver ahead btw, why not copy/print this whole thread, send that their way, and see what their reaction or comments are? Or if booking on the ground once you get there, you could do the same thing. They might be delighted to work on from those suggestions, as it gives them something to go on, and you could work out the finer details together.

Make sure to impress them with the fact you want it to be pleasurable to a family with two small children & don't need to zap around the place not seeing anything. My impression is many Indian agents are adept at just that (hectic tours ticking off as many destinations as possible but not taking anything into account).

Family Delight

Sure !! Would do the same. Thanks once again. One final thing though

Please guide if the following itinerary sounds fine:

Day 1 :-
1) Early Morning start at BNG around 06:00 AM . Bangalore--Shravanabelagola (4 hours..155 Km)

Shravanabelagola :It's quite a Steep walk to get to the top- Around 600 steps - Gomatheswara statue ( 4 Hours overall is enough to cover this place)

2)Drive to Halebeedu (Around 35 kms) followed by belur (around 15 kms)

3)Continue to Hassan (Around 40 kms)for night stay.

Day 2:-
1) Start from Hassan at 09:00 AM - Koramangala Shiva Temple (10Km)

Koramangala-Mysore (115 Kms…3 Hrs.)

2) Mysore local (palace + Chamundi Hills + Brindavan gardens). Night stay.

Day 3:-
Start from Mysore Local at 08:30 AM.
1) Mysore Zoological garden
2) Srirangapatnam
3) Mysore-ooty road passes through Najangud Temple (Very famous Shiva Temple) - 29 kms from Mysore.
4) Continue to Bandipur WLS for Night Stay. Dinner and early to bed.

Day 4:-
Early Morning start at Bandipur (05:30 AM)

1) Morning safari at Bandipur (Timings 6-9 am). If you miss, drive to Mudumalai National Park; try out forest safari here. Mudumalai is just around 15 kms from Bandipur).

2) Continue towards ooty and from a place called Masinagudi there is a Short cut to Ooty (another 60 Kms. Approx. 1.5 hours;Taxi wallah will definitely know this route). This is one of the steepest roads and by this route you will escape the Potholed Main road to Ooty which passes via Gudalur and buses and lorries ply in this route making the route uncomfortable).

3) Ooty local Sight seeing : Doddabetta peak, Rose garden, Ooty lake, children amusement park.

From Ooty ejoy toy train ride to Mettupalaiyam. (Ask the driver to wait at Ooty). Train leaves around 3:00 PM. Stay over night at Mettupalaiyam.


Day 5:-

Early Morning start at Mettupalaiyam.( 05:30 AM).

1) Enjoy Toy train ride from Mettupalaiyam to Ooty. (Train leaves at 7:00 AM).
2) Ooty local sight seeing and enjoy stay at hotel over night.
Can keep a day free here…………………………………….

Day 6:-

Start from Ooty 10:00 AM. Drive to kodaikanal via Palani ( 280 km/7 Hrs) Enroute see the Silver Cascade waterfall and on arrival at Kodaikanal check into hotel. Evening at leisure or some local site seeing.Overnight at the hotel.

Day 7:-

Kodai Sight Seeing: Morning visit Coaker's walk, Green valley view, Upper lake View point, Pillars rock etc. Afternoon boating in Lake. Leave for Bangalore by 2:00 PM. The shorter route is to take Kodai Road to Dindigul. Dindigul to Bangalore via Namakkal, Salem, Dharmapuri , Hosur. Total distance on this route is only 456 kms. Travel time will be roughly 11 hours.

Day 8:-
Reach BNG by wee hours in morning and check in. Rest for the day. Stroll out for local sites in Bangalore in the evening.

Family Delight

Posted same under Itinerary advice also. Just want to finalize ASAP

Mod Note

Please don't.

Against forum rules to post the same thing more than once.

Better to keep to this thread, where people have been following the background, so the other post has been deleted.

Carry on...

Family Delight

Okay!! Sorry

I hopethis would be seen and replied soon.

Mod Note

No problem: all in a day's work

machadinha

Just to let you know I've seen this, Family. I'll let PMV & Ebby or others add their suggestions first, I may have some thoughts of my own later. It looks basically alright though. One thought is you don't need to take that toy train twice I don't think.

My guidebook also suggests that Sravanabelagola + Belur + Halebid in one day is pushing it, but they're talking public transport, could be doable with a private car.

pmvelu

Your itenary sounds good !

Few Pointers which might help you to plan ahead :-


On Day 1 :-
1)"Dholi" service is available in Shravanbelagola (Please see the photo section under my ID to have an idea on how it looks) and you could use this for your kids. If possible Start even early from Bangalore on the first day (Say 4.30 am) ... Shravanabelagola is a Rocky hill which will get heated up even at 10 am(It's a Steep walk with no Shades) and we are not supposed to wear Shoe/ Slipper . Hence Earlier the better!

On Day 3:-

1) Getting Stay @ Bandipur Forest Dept guest house is relatively difficult. Try out and reserve in advance (OR) there are "N" number of resorts near Masinagudi (Very near to Mudumalai NP / Teppakdau Elephant camp). You could reserve one in these resorts for the night !

On Day 5 & 6:-

You want to try out the toy train "both" Ways (Down & UP)??. Not sure whether you know this or not.. Getting from ooty to MTP by toy train and again getting the toy train back to ooty & if you want to visit Kodaikanal from ooty , Again you need to go via Mettupalaiyam ONLY (I am confused on this part whether you meant this way !) This could be avoided. May be, from ooty take the toy train to Mettupalaiyam .MEttupalaiyam is very small town and hence My suggestion will be Drive to Coimbatore for the night stay & Next Day you could start to Kodaikanal from coimbatore itself !


Hope this helps.

machadinha

Ouch, if that's a steep hill to climb (Sravanabelagola, I've not been there -- I've done Girnar Hill in winter though not that there's any winter to speak of there, quite a bit higher I guess, anyway that was very tough, but it also takes the good part of a day) in summer, then the earlier you can do it the better yes. Having the kids carried up there would make every bit of sense, they'd probably love it too.

... Or just skip it altogether. One concern with me with your latest itinerary or even some of the ones we've proposed is will it not be too much on two minus-3-year olds? I just don't know, you know your kids.

And I agree again taking that toy train twice would be really overdoing it and wasting time I think.

pmvelu

Yes, Mach is right on Shravanabelagola part!.

We did this shravanabelagola trip on March 1st this year and the following photo is taken on the way to Hilltop !

Attached Thumbnails

 

Family Delight

Thanks Velu and Mach.
Just wanted to clarify the love for toy train. Somebody suggested that its best to take the uphill train as its morning time. One can see and enjoy a lot. Even we are not interested in both ways (as it's taking much time and one extra night ). However we have planned for catching the downhill train just to ensure that we are there in the morning to catch the uphill train. Please guide if any other option.