travel to ooty from bangalore

Ralph

What is the best way to get from bangalore to ooty. Train or bus? Travelling at the end of this october, Also any hints on accomodation and things to do in ooty. We will be there for 3 days. Thanks

vandy

G'Day & Welcome to IM.

Best way to get to Ooty is Hire a car & driver and
go Via Mysore for a quick looksy.

There are Direct Buses from Bangalore but be Prepared for the sardine treatment unless you can get on a Deluxe Bus (Volvo)

As far as the train goes you will have to take train to Coimbatore and then either take a taxi or
take car to Metapalyum by 7:00am and then the Toy
Train to Ooty.

vandy

Indizen

Train No 2677 ERNAKULAM EXP is a good train : it leaves Bangalore SBC early morning at 06.15 and gets you to Coimbatore CBE at 13.05 in AC chair car comfort. From there, take a taxi for Ooty.

bonded

Here are the different ways to reach Ooty from Bangalore.

Direct KSRTC Volvo bus from Bangalore to Ooty.

Train from Bangalore to Coimbatore and then bus Coimbatore or as Indizen suggested taxi to Ooty.

Train from Bangalore to Coimbatore, then bus / taxi to Mettupalayam and then toy train to Ooty. (As suggested by Vandy)

Hire a cab from Bangalore to Ooty (As suggested by Vandy)

In Ooty you can see the Boat Club, Botanical Garden, Doddabetta Peak, Sim's Park (Coonoor), Lamb's rock (Coonoor), Dolphin's Nose (Coonoor).

You can also do a 1 day trip to Mudumalai.

On the Main Bazaar Road there are lot of hotels. I had stayed in Hotel Nahar Residency around 5 years back.

theBuddha

The routes are all here - thanks Vandy, Indizen and Bondy(for the summary).

But what do you mean by best - is it comfort or the landscape? There are basically two routes to Ooty from Bangalore.

ONE is via Mysore, which is only road-connected and shorter than the other. This is picturesque most of the way but as most luxury buses ply during the night, it makes no big difference. There are a few that operate during the day too - please check @ ksrtc.in. There's no rail route this way due to the terrain. This road is best taken if you reach the hills(starts at Gundlupet around 2 hours before you reach Ooty) during twilight.

THE OTHER is via Coimbatore. This is longer and best taken by rail and there's no great landscape to be captured! Yet people like me prefer to take this up for two reasons - the comfort of using train at night and the experience the route offers after Coimbatore(Coimbatore-Mettupalayam-Ooty). Mettupalayam is around a half-an-hours journey from Coimbatore. Take the train('toy' could be a misnomer for the delight it offers) from here to Ooty - you should have to book way well in advance(www.irctc.co.in) and the cost of a first-class ticket is around Rs 145(3 USD!). This is a 4 hour journey and a lifetime's experience. Even if you miss this, a taxi will still you give you nice views to remember.

FOR THE HINTS AT OOTY:

What do you prefer? Sight-seeing or seeing the sights? I mean, are you the type who would want to visit all the places featured on a tourist map or do you just want to while away the time at your own pace?

Tourist-spots: Botanical Garden, Ooty Lake, Pykara Lake, Doddabetta View-point...

Other off-beat spots: walking down from the charring cross commercial centre to the Botanical Garden, stroll to the collector's office, a visit to the local market, evening walks by the ooty residential areas near the lake etc.

Eat & Drink: Sidewalk cafe at Charring cross road(pizzas etc), Nahar Nilgiris next to the cafe(Indian cuisine presented in appealing ambience), Shinkows near police station(offers Chinese food), couple of cafe coffee-days. These are enough to keep you occupied through 3 days.

STAY: Best place to stay is near the Charring cross which is quite accessible to all popular destinations. Budget - Tamil Nadu Hotel(https://www.ttdconline.com/hoteldetails.aspx) High-end - Nahar Nilgiris. We prefer to stay in Hotel Tamil Nadu as this quite rightly priced, well placed in terms of solitude and accessibility. As such, I do not know much about the other options. Be careful if you choose to stay near the Ooty lake as this is far off the commercial centre and would require you to travel for your simpler needs, if you miss any.

brishti

KSRTC volvo from bangalore to ooty... its cheap, its daily [i think 3 buses leave at an interval of half an hour] and its comfortable.
they definitely have an overnighter... ie if you board the bus that departs at 10pm - you're in ooty by 5am [+/-]
they should have a day bus as well - going through bandipur is a real treat.

my all time favourite stay at ooty has always been the YWCA - its got sprawling grounds, kinda like a guest house - got rooms/cottages according to your budget. close to the town centre - but away from the din.

i always ate them local chocolates when i was there
you can visit them toda villages from there - all info about them villages is in the toda info centre located in the botanical gardens.
great walks - thats all i did... eat chocolates and walked!



:brishti