Trip to the South

Skandha

Hi,

We are planning a trip to the South in Dec 08(late Dec).

We would like to visit the following places:

Mysore
Coorg
Nagarahole
Bandipur
Ooty
Madhumalai
Wyanad wildlife park
And if time permits some places in Kerala.

We will be starting our trip from Mumbai around the 26th of Dec and have about 15 days in hand.

Could anyone suggest the itinerary, any good hotels in any of the places any contact numbers would be a great help.

Thnx

machadinha

That's 8 destinations in 15 days, and then your ninth destination is an entire state.

I'm sure people here can help you, but try to present it a little more organized. Try this thread for starters: How to get the most out of the Itinerary section., then maybe rephrase your question.

You also seem to be taking in an awful lot of wildparks. On a short trip, I'm sure you could narrow this down, they won't be essentially all that different.

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Skandha

Thank you so much for your advice.

I am new to India and new member in Indiamike as well.

While browsing, I found people who have made similar trips (to about 6-7) destinations in 15-20 days and I am flexible to that.

The destinations mentioned were the ones that appealed to me. Not necessary that we need to visit all of them. We are a family of three (son 10 yr old). Any more advice??

machadinha

Yes, I see. Thing is, if I were a paid agent I'd just sell you one of my pre-arranged tours. You could hire me as a freelancer but it could work out costly, I don't live anywhere near there for starters.

I'm afraid you'll have to do just a little more research and planning ahead of your own, then a board like this can surely help to fine-tune the details.

ps Kidding aside, I'm sure people do tours like the one you're proposing. I really think an established agent would be the way to go for such an itinerary and in a limited time.

pmvelu

Welcome to IM

From Mysore, all the places you have mentioned can be visited comfortably by Cab Or by even bus if you could rough out a bit !.

From the places you have mentioned I assume you are interested in Scenic Surroundings And Wildlife !.

General Hints :

1)Cab is best to cover Nagarhole and wayanad and if you would like to just visit Bandipur,Mudumalai & ooty ,you could do the same in Bus too .For all the places you have mentioned Mysore is the best base to start with . You could get a train from Mumbai to Mysore OR get a Train to bangalore followed by bus Or train to Mysore
2) All the places you have mentioned I have already visited and to be honest , Out of all Wild Life Sanctuaries ( Mudumalai,Bandipur, Wayanad WLS,Muthanga WLS,tholpetty WLS & Nagarahole, Nagarhole is the BEST one for animal sightings).
3)Wayanad has more than Wildlife and hence you could visit the tourist places in Wayanad (Like Soochipara Falls, Chembra Peak, Tea Gardens,Vythirir, Lakkidi View Point etc )
4)Do a search in our forum with "Nagarahole" and you will get complete info on the same.
5) Safari timings in all the sanctuaries is 6- 9 am and 3 - 6 pm and in Bandipur, Mudumalai, Nagarahole , Forest dept Jeep ,Van is available for the safari and for Muthanga and Tholpetty you need to hire a Jeep on your own OR if you have 4 WD (Sumo, Qualis) kind of you could do the safari on ur own and ofcourse forest guard will accompany you during the trip
6)Nagarahole & Irupu falls are in coorg district only and Madikeri is the district headquarters, and if you want to visit that also you could do the same from nagarahole itself
7)Approximate Kms:
Mysore- Nagarahole 100 kms
Nagarahole- Kutta(KA-KL border town) 10 kms
Nagarahole - Irupu Falls (17 kms) via Kutta
Nagarahole - Madikeri (Mercara) - 84 kms
Kutta - Tholpetty WLS - 5 kms
Tholpetty - Thirunelli temple - 17 kms
Thirunelly temple - Kalpetta - 50 kms
Kalpetta - ooty - 100kms
Mudumalai - Masinagudi - 3 kms
Bandipur WLS - Mysore - 70 kms

Sample Itenary I could think of (From Mysore):-

1)On Day 1, Get a Cab and drive to Nagarhole NP and could do a Safari and could stay in any of the homestays in Kutta Or Iruppu Falls OR you could stay in JLR (Very high end but worth) near Karapura (Kabini) (Just in the fringes of Nagarhole NP)
2)On Day 2, you could drive Via Tholpetty WLS ( Wayanad District , Kerala) and hardly 15 kms from Nagarhole NP and continue in the same road to visit Thirunelli temple followed by drive upto Kalpetta (Head Quarters of wayanad district) and stay for the night
3)On Day 3, You could visit all the places Which I mentioned in Point (3) Above and could stay for that night in Kalpetta itself
4)On Day 4, you could drive to Ooty Via Gudalur (100 kms and very very scenic road)and stay that night in ooty
5)On Day 5, Visit coonoor tourist spots and you could stay in Coonoor Or ooty
6)On Day 6, you could continue visiting the tourist places around Ooty
7)On Day 7, you could start from ooty, drive towards Mudumalai and if you are interested , you could do a Forest Safari in mudumalai OR continue for another 15 kms in the same ooty -Mysore road and you will reach Bandipur NP and do the safari there
8)If you are interested to have a Scenic Stay , you could book any resort/ Homestay near Masinagudi Or Teppakadu and it's worth the stay (You could see Nilgiri Mountain ranges from this place and invariably all the resorts in this region offer short/ long treeking onto the Nilgiris (From 1/2 an hour to 5 hours)
9)From here, you could drive to Mysore.

Hope this helps & If you have any questions, Please Post.

Skandha

Thank you so much for your reply. It has been a great help. At least now I know where to start.

pmvelu

Nice to know our posts helped. If you need any clarification / Have Queries, Feel free to post !

Happy Travelling !