Please advice Ooty, Kodaikanal and Munnar

sk_rizwan

Hello everybody,

My name is Rizwan, I live in Hyderabad. I love travelling alot. Can anybody suggest me which place (hillstation) is better to visit from hyderabad. I have visited Ooty before. Please advice me which one is better in these three "Ooty, Kodaikanal, Munnar. I think i can visit any two places. My total trip should be of 7 days. Please guide me. I want to visit in December first week. please advice and help. Didn't planned anything yet but sure to visit any hillstation insha-allah.

Thank your,
Rizwan.

sriram_world

Go For Munnar.. This is the best... Kodaikannal is also charming but may be a lot colder than Munnar.

Munnar is the best and least polluted,commercialized among the three.

sk_rizwan

thank you sriram for the advice. Need to visit two places; so munnar and kodaikanal is better ? or munnar and ooty ?

n kumar

Ooty is crowded, kodai has less crowd and its cold, Munnar has more of tea estates and places to visit. Now the choice is yours,
with regards,
n kumar

sk_rizwan

Dear Kumar,

Thanks for the advice, I dont bother about crowd; I need to see good view; need to enjoy sight seeing. So please advice based on sight seeing. I dont have any idea about kodai and munnar; are they really worth watching ? please advice as iam confused regarding kodai and munnar.

n kumar

Hi riz,
I wear in your shoes i will go to kodai because munnar is to plain to me more of tea estates and very little sight seeing places. Kodai is very sceneric, good hotels and good sight seeing places,
with regards,
n kumar

sk_rizwan

Thanks kumar for the reply. I am prefering for the sight seeing. Is december good season to visit kodai and ooty? I know it will be cold but will fog will be there? Last time my cousins went kodaikanal in september and they couldn't see any sight seeing becoz of fog. How will be the weather in december?

Also advice, its better to go ooty first or kodai first? Itinerary suggest please; if possible. I live in Hyderabad.

kanimohan

Kodaikanal has lot of viewpoints and can be covered in a day or two.In Ooty you can spent a week and has lot of places to visit walk.Kodaikanal is a small town and have no satelite city.
If you are interested in siteseeing and chillness select Ooty/Coonur/Kothagiry/Mudumalai etc.

dhans

If those are the choices, I would opt foor Munnar!

hans

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snonymous

If it were my choice, I would do Munnar and Kodai or Munnar and Ooty but not necessarily Ooty and Kodai. There is a lot to see in Munnar[region not town] and the views in my opinion, are stunning, especially on the Marayur - Chinnar route. There are also prehistoric dolmens at Kovilkadavu and ancient rock paintings at Chinnar if you are interested in these things. Kodai also has a lot to offer, off the beaten track as does the Ooty region. Ideally if you spend the seven days at any one place, there is so much to see and explore away from the tourist circuit, especially if you like nature.

I have posted online about some of these places, if you are interested, skim through them for ideas. My problem is that I forget which pseudonym I use where and then am left with no option but to create another!

Ooty and Nilgiris
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog...re/1/tpod.html
http://www.independenttraveler.com/t...ts.cfm?ID=1515

Munnar etc
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog...re/4/tpod.html

Kodaikanal
http://oktatabyebye.com/travelogues/...-paradise.html

santos_g15

Hi Synonymous,
i went through your threads and found it useful.I am planning to travel to ooty or kodaikanal this summer.Can you recommend some places which offer good views and how did stay at avalanche? any permissions required?please suggest places to visit and how many days it would take.
Thanks,
Santhosh

snonymous

Santos
Firstly, in summer, Ooty and Kodai will be packed so try and schedule your visit in a relatively "off season" if possible.

Nonetheless, if you must go in "season", in both places it is still possible to be in solitude if you go about 1km beyond the regular tourist spots and cut through the forests. For example, in Ooty on the Pykara road just beyond the regular 9th mile meadows, you will get a vast expanse of meadows all to yourself, with fantastic views, barely 1 km away towards Pykara by simply leaving the road and walking through the light plantation forest. Likewise at the Kamaraj Sagar lake for which the popular entry point is at the unimaginatively described "Pine Forest". Proceed further beyond Thalaikundha junction and cut through the mixed forest woods to the lake shore. You might at best enjoy the company of some monkeys! Ditto on the road going beyond Pykara Lake towards Gudalur. The area around Pykara falls is also nice especially if you walk along the river downstream through the light plantation forests. Not many venture beyond the falls.

There are also several patches of relatively lighter shola forest in this area which you can enter and explore, rarely do tourists enter these. Watch out for the leeches who will certainly be out in full force in summer.

You can also visit Parsons Valley from beyond Pykara Lake, or via Emerald on the other side. Emerald lake visits do not require a permit but you will require permission from the Forest Dept or TNEB to go past the checkpost at Avalanche. In this area there is no dearth of untouched places to explore, one could easily spend a year here and still discover something new after that. There is a Forest Rest House and Trekking Shed which you have to book through the DFO at Ooty; do so well in advance as in summer it may be difficult to get as it will be trekking season, and bookings through govt. officials usually fill the place up. There are two resorts near Emerald, Destiny Farm and Red Hills, you can google for websites, rates etc. You could also come here as a full day trip, in summer there is so much more daylight so it would be well worth it. It is just 30km away from Ooty, hire a jeep at the market place or take a bus to Emerald and hire a jeep from there which will be more economical.



You could also go to the less frequented and very scenic U. Bhavani area via Manjur, this route does not require any permit - and explore any of the forested areas off the road. There is a rough path going to Kolaribetta peak from the Lakkidi road, about 2 1/2hrs easy walk, for this your require permission. You can contact the Nilgiris Wildlife Association at Ooty for help

In Kodaikanal, it is ever so much easier as distances are much shorter. Once again, there are several quiet, unfrequented places to explore barely 500m to 1km away from the main tourist points such as Guna Caves, Pillar Rocks, Dolphins Nose, Bombay Shola etc. The Mannavanur road via Observatory has umpteen off road pathways to explore, Gundar reservoir is also a great place to visit. You can hire a bicycle or just walk everywhere. If you visit kodaikanal.org there are several suggestions for short and long walks off the beaten track. We found it quite useful.

All these places can best be enjoyed if you stay there at least a week. As I said earlier, for a summer visit, you may have to book in advance if you want good accommodation at a reasonable price.