Chennai-Bangalore-Mysore-Nagarhole-Ooty-Mudumalai-Munnar-Kochi-Thekkadi-Chennai

SAHM

Background: we live in Chennai. There will be 6, possibly 7 of us, plus driver. 2 are elderly, but travel internationally frequently; 2 are ages 5 & 7 (our kids); one is our foster daughter, Tamil, age 18 (she probably can't go because of missing too much school though). Then my husband and I and one of our drivers.

Don't worry about our budget.

We want to do part of the trip via car (ours) and fly the longer legs, sending the driver ahead of us. (I get very carsick and no one enjoys being in the car very long with young kids.)

We have 10 days, max, in January. Time is our real constraint.

I like to get somewhere and stay there, but mil likes to go, go, go. To compromise I am trying to pick 3-4 of the spots mentioned above (minus Chennai, of course). Which spots would you choose? Mil went zip-lining in the Argentinian jungle last year, and her husband is just as active, despite being 76. I don't think they would like the temple side of things; I think they would like outdoors, wildlife stuff.

Thanks,

SAHM

bijapuri

you could fly from Chennai to Bangalore, although with all the time spent going to airport, security, etc, you don't save much time. The train is easy, comfy, fast, and runs several times a day. The rest of the trip is not available to air flights. I would recommend that if you have no compelling reason to go to Blore, simply book the train through to Mysore, which is thr traditional staging spot for the trip you have in mind. Srirangapatna is a good place, away from the bustle, to stay in Mysore, and it has a wonderful bird park as well.

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madan80

did a very similar route recently-
I would suggest train to mysore ( even though I do think there is a flight) the journey to mysore is lovely. A nice car will take you about 6 hrs. All the journey is on 4-6 laned roads so avg speeds are 100kmph. Take an innova or a travera or any other people carrier. Spend the day in mysore- check out the palace. Move onto Nargarhole. The mysore Ooty route is lovely- cuts through both bandipur and mudulamai (wildlife areas). They do not allow vehicular traffic via this route after sun down- so preferabilly leave mysore early afternoon. This will get you to ooty by about 6:30 - 7pm. Ooty has some lovely places to see and relax. spend a day in ooty - and dont forget to pick up some world class fudge from KingStar bakery. the next day leave to kochi. Its a 4 hour journey that will bring you to the outskirts of coimbatore and then via the highway system to Kerala. When you are near the border - tell the driver to ensure that you DONT get stuck behind the trucks as they have the excise counter there and there is a huge lineup of trucks.
Keep kochi as your base- go to munnar - spend a day there- visit mattupetty dam and the indo-swiss project.
from there thekeddy is close. spend a day there.
if you get time - go down to allepy and take the houseboat. personal experience- its lovely.

the return leg- ideally - fly back because its the longest. Kochi to Chennai has a gazzillion flights.

If its a 10 day thing- the entire trip can be relaxed with 1-2 days in each place. I did the whole -Chennai- coimbatore- kochi- ooty - mysore- bangalore - chennai in 4 driving days but across 10 days.

Nick-H

I'd leave Kochi out, as it is the one place that requires you to go some way west of the mountains, and really makes more sense to cover it as part of a Kerala trip.

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madan80

bump - any updates on this trip SAHM.

@ Nick - i would think Kochi will be able to provide half decent accommodation and stuff to do for the family. But then again - keeping it in an All Kerala itinerary will make sense as well.

dhans

Hi Sahm,

Ours are 5 and 7 too! read about our trip in the south in our journal (link below). For any additional questions post or send a pm!

Have fun,

Hans

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Nick-H

Kochi has plenty of good accomodation, some very nice hotels indeed. I have some very fond memories of watching dolphins in the harbour from my balcony at the absurdly expensive Brunton's Boatyard .

It also offers a good day, at least of sightseeing. It's not bad for shopping, but, unless SAHM has a specific desire for Malayalee-style saris, or, like me, just likes shopping, I don't think it's particularly great for someone who can shop in Chennai any day.

It's just the bit of this itinerary that makes least sense to me

pmvelu

Day 1

Chennai - Mysore (shatabdi) All days except tuesdays Dep: 06.00 hrs Arrival Mysore: 13:00 hrs
Mysore Sightseeing -> 15:00 Hrs - 19 :00 Hrs

- Mysore Palace (1 Hr, Visiting the Main palace is enough and you could skip the Museum behind the palace as nothing much worth)
- Karanchi Nature Park (Next to Zoo) (1.5 hour) - Boating, Scenic place, Butterfly Park
- Chamundi Hills (try after 6 pm)- More than temple , the View of Mysore is awesome

Day 2

Mysore

08:00 Hours

start to Somnathpura (hoysala Architecture temple) - Road is good upto Bannur and from bannur , somnathpura is just 7kms BUT road is pathetic which may take 45 minutes to 1 hour (Such is the road condition) . Mandatorily engage a guide without which we may not be able to appreciate the minor carvings, paintings etc. ( For Indians Guide charge is 50 rs & for Non-indians it's 150 Rs) - 1 1/2 hour is enough

11:00 Hours:

Return to Bannur (Don't ever take the shivsamudra road from there as I took that road and all the 40 + kms is pathetic paethetic and I drove only in 2nd gear and somehow Santro accepted that as a road - You may see a Big "Karnataka tourism Board" Saying Shivsamudra 40 kms ..Just don't see the board and turn back to Bannur)
Take Right from Bannur for Shivsamudra Waterfalls (2 waterfalls , Gaganachukki & Barachukki) , Great views, Scenic - 90 kms(Route :Mysore- Bannur-Malavalli-Shivsamudra)

Mysore -Bannur(state Highway) -> Road is excellent
Bannur village -> Road is pathetic (5 kms)
Bannur - Malavalli(state Highway)-> Road is 60% good and remaining 40% are Ok to Average (27 kms)
Malavalli - Shivsamudra(National highway) -> First 5 kms pathetic followed by excellent road upto Shivsamudra(32 kms)
15:00 Hrs

Proceed from Shivsamudra towards NH-209 (Bangalore- Dindugal National highway) towards Ooty via Kollegala , Gundlupet and stay @ Ooty


Day 3
- Ooty Local Sightseeing

Day 4

- Return to gundlupet via Mudumalai & Bandipur and proceed towards nagarhole ( For Safari & Night stay). Basically Mysore- ooty road runs via Bandipur & Mudumalai and Nagarhole is the best (From My point of view and I visited all the 3 ) . In fact, you have 1 more sanctuary (Muthanga Wildlife sanctuary too) which is in Gundlupet - Sulthan bathery road . Out of all the 4 , Nagarhole is better& enough and hence no need to get into "Safaris" for all the 4 sanctuaries.

Day 5
From Nagarhole , you could drive to Mananthavady (wayanad District) - Around 45 kms

- You could visit thirunelli temple (Scenic temple after travelling thru the dense forests)
- Edakkal Caves ( Hardcore trekking is required & hence this may not be a ideal place for you)
- Lakkidi & vythiri
- Kuruwadeep Islands
- Pookood Lake

Followed by drive to Kalpetta.
You might need a stay here.

Day 6:-

you could merge onto NH 213 @ Kozhikode and continue south towards Kochi via Palakkad. ( Or Get a Flight / Fast train from Kozhikode to Kochi /Cochin - Not sure about the flight timings thou)

And Remaining 4 days or so , you could do the following :
From Kochi , Munnar is 140 km & 1 day stay is advisable in Munnar
Return back to Kochi and try out for Houseboat in Alapuzha Or Kumarakom ! (1 Day stay) (fly Or get a train back to Chennai fromo Kochi / Cochin)


Almost, Bandipur,Mudumalai,Nagarhole,T hekkady are one almost alike ( I mean wild animal sighting in Deep forests & Hence atleast you could skip Thekkady which looks to me as "out of the way" )

Hope this is of some help.

Regards
Velu