3 days trip to Ooty and Coonoor

Ooty was planned in a day. We booked MapsCabs services (top in google search) for our travel and booked a beautiful chalet, a little faraway from the main town through Booking.com. We started our journey from Bangalore at 7.00 am in the morning (we had planned to leave by 6 to avoid the traffic but somehow got late). On our way, we stopped for having some famous Thatte Idlis (these large idlis always hold a special place in the heart of every traveler in Mysore Road) and resumed our journey. We reached Bandipur around 11.30 am. Spotting animals in a hot summer afternoon was a rare sight, but we were lucky enough to have gotten glimpse of many deers playing around, tiny elephant drinking water and many monkeys limping on and off the road. Soon after crossing Bandipur, we reached the first hair pin bend (there are 36 of them) of Ooty.

Our resort ( Bower’s chalet) was a newly constructed property and was discovered in Booking.com. The resort was located in an isolated hill. We had to take a turn before crossing the 7th hair pin bend. Travelling amidst the tea plantation, vegetable plantation and what not, we followed google maps and finally reached our destination. Surrounded by greenery on all sides, this place was located faraway from the hustle and bustle of the city and it surely gave us a good feel to start our vacation with. The place was serene and peaceful and on reaching the caretaker at our chalet provided us a homely meal. What more could we have asked for.

After having our meal and freshening up a bit, we went on Ooty exploration mission. As it was 3 in the afternoon already, we could only cover Dodabetta peak and Tea museum on the first day. Dodabetta was jam packed with tourists ( as it was one of the peak seasons when we visited Ooty). The view from there is indeed breathtaking. We enjoyed a hot lemon tea served by a local tea seller, enjoying the beautiful view. After this we headed for the Tea museum. It was a good experience taking the museum tour for 10 bucks. They even served us sample tea and we were bound to buy the tea packets as the tea was amazing (now that is some good marketing strategy). They also sold some amazing Ooty chocolates ( prices are high but definitely worth it). Soon after this we headed back to our resort and relaxed in our cosy homely chalets.

When you are in Ooty, you definitely cannot afford to miss Coonoor. So we decided to do Coonoor on the second day. It was hot as hell. The beautiful green tea gardens, parks, scenic viewpoints and beautiful journey add to the itinerary of Coonoor. As usual all the sights were jam packed with tourists. We wanted to return to Ooty in the famous toy train but could not do so as the timings of the train did not match ours. On our way back to Ooty, we visited the Botanical garden and the Rose garden.

After a sumptuous breakfast at our resort, we headed back to Bangalore. As it was a peak season and also there was a flower show happening, the usual route was made one way and so we had to take a longer route while coming back from Ooty. We explored the famous pine forests shooting point ( remember Bipasha Basu in Raaz in the woods ?) and a few more on our way back.

Ooty in short was a small weekend getaway with family and this small trip will always remain close to our heart.