My Ooty-Conoor trip. Review on Ooty

My parents and I decided to head to Ooty for 4 days in April(14th - 17th) to beat the Summer heat. I read many MS reviews on Ooty to know what to expect. I wanted to have a night journey whereas my parents wanted to travel during the day to have a nice view on the way. Finally I gave in and booked tickets for Bangalore-Ooty Volvo starting at 9.30 AM. We also booked the Rajahamsa return tickets since Volvo was full for Sunday night/evening.

Journey: On April 14th, we all went to Majestic with lunch and breakfast packed in our bags. The bus started on time. The bus stopped thrice- for breakfast, lunch and tea. All the canteens were horrible n unhygenic as expected. So its better to carry your own food or snacks. A kannada and then a hindi movie(Dil Se) was played in the bus and I was amused to see two foreigners in the bus staring at TV:) Once we reached Bandipur, the journey got exciting. Everyone in the bus was up to spot animals. We spotted many deers, few elephants & some species of monkeys. After crossing Bandipur, we passed by many scenic places. A mild waft of Eucalyptus smell filled the air even though we were inside Volvo and we could feel the temperature dropping outside. The bus reached Ooty at 5.30 PM.

Accomodation: We had got accomodation booked at JSS College guest house. This guest house is open only for JSS Collegians' families, but since my father knew someone there he booked it for us. The guest house is very decent, spacious and clean. There was a tv with few channels, a double bed, 2 chairs, a table, mirror stand with table, cupboard, spacious bathroom and a balcony with massive windows. It costed us only Rs. 750/day. Had we booked an accomodation with similar facilities elsewhere in Ooty, it would have costed us a minimum Rs. 1500/day. We also had breakfast and dinner on all the 3 days & 3 nights we stayed there. Food was simple and tasty. For breakfast it was dosa/idli/poha and tea/coffe. For dinner it was roti, curry, rice, rasam & butter milk. They charged Rs. 50/meal/person, but it was well worth it considering food qualtiy and cost in Ooty.

Sightseeing:

1) On the first day we opted for Ooty-Conoor package by Impala Travels for Rs.125 each. It covered the following:

Ketty Valley Veiw point: Here we can have a nice view of the valley beneath. We can also see through Telescope the church where Saajan movie climax was shot. They charge Rs. 5 for the Telescopic view.

Singara Tea estate: The most beautiful of all the places in Ooty-Conoor. It's a huge Tea estate owned by old actress Mumtaz and her husband(lucky Fardeen:). We can take photos there in the tea-plucker's attire for Rs. 40. We can also taste Masala Tea and chocolate Tea and buy tea powder.

Doddabetta Peak: This is the highest peak in south India. By the time we reached there, it was drizzling and the view was completely blocked by the cloud. It was beautiful to be amidst clouds and cool breeze.

Ooty Lake: It looked very beautiful with the backdrop of massive trees, but it was stinking. So we didn't bother boating. My suggestion- Just enjoy it's beauty from a distance.

Botanical Garden: Beautiful and crowded garden. It looks similar to our Bangalore's Lal Bagh.

2) On the second day we opted for Filmi Chakkar package by the same Travels because they have a pick up from our guest house. It costed Rs.125 each and covered Film-shooting spots like the following:

Pine Forest: Tall Pine trees make for beautiful viewing.

9th Mile: It has a decent view to offer once we climb up the grass slopes. The grass has turned yellow and dried up now.

Pykara Lake: It's dried up a bit and has boating facilities.

Rose Garden: Entry ticket costs Rs.20. It did not have many roses so we did not enter.

The bus also passed through spots where "Roja" was shot and golf club.

In the evening we went to Charing Cross and shopped for some homemade chocolates. Now I had high expectations from these chocs and they did not live up to it. I bought a box each from 2 bakeries and both tasted average, much like a choc barfee! We strolled some more and had a pizza in Domino's and returned to guest house.

Food: The only good food you can get in Ooty is at Hotel Nahar's 3 restaurants. I had schezwan mushroom noodles and my parents took meals and the bill was Rs. 320 and it was worth it. It is located on Charing cross road. There are many restaurants on this road but a safe bet would be to eat only at Domino's, Saravanas or one of Hotel Nahar's 3 restaurants

Since we had one more day on hand, we decided to try Ooty-Conoor Toy Train but we got up late and we were not able to get tickets:) So we decided to go to Doddabetta Peak again since we could not see anything on the first day. It was a clear, sunny day and we spent a few hours at the peak and went back to our guest house. It was time to pack and leave for our 6 PM bus. It was tiime to say Goodbye:( Time to get back to our busy, city lives. The return journey was horrible coz we had got the last row seats and I felt like puking the first few hours. I guess last row seats in Ooty have a thing for my family! Also, there were some unruly school/college guys in the bus who were creating a ruckus and disturbing everyone in the bus. The bus reached Bangalore at 3 AM .

Note: Please avoid Impala Travels.

1. They made us sit in the last row seats and reserved middle seats for Tamilians. They did not allow us to sit there even after arguing. They repeated this on the second day too, but we didn't budge this time.

   
   




2. They came late on the first day and dropped two spots viz, Catherine Falls view and Sim's Park due to lack of time and hurried us at other spots(within 10-20 mins).

   
   




3. They stopped at "Mahalakshmi" for lunch which was bad and crowded because many Travels stop here for lunch. A better option would be to grab a quick bite at Cafe Coffee Day in the vicinity.

   
   

All in all, I would recommend everyone to visit Ooty and Conoor once for the natural beauty, weather and fresh air. It's worth seeing only once because there are many more beautiful places in India to be explored. 3 days are good enough to cover all places. My parents had visited Ooty around 10 years ago and they felt it has become highly commercialised what with houses and lodges coming up everywhere by cutting trees all over the city. If you have the luxury of money and time, hire a car and visit all the places. This way you can stay at those places and enjoy for as long as you want.