Ooty and Coonoor are located ~20kms apart in the state of Tamil Nadu, less than an hour by road. To reach Coonoor from Bengaluru, one has to pass by Ooty, though there is an alternate circuitous route.
Ooty is located at an altitude of ~2240m while Coonoor is at ~1850 m. Coonoor is little under 300 kms from Bengaluru, while Ooty is ~280kms away. Both are good locations to visit if you have a break of 3-4 days or more. Two days would need to be set apart for driving.
One visit or multiple visits?
Should you cover both Ooty and Coonoor in one visit? If you are only looking to see the ‘sights’, one visit is more than adequate. But if you are looking to spend a ‘relaxing’ time with friends/family and enjoying the mountains, visit separately and multiple times over the years. After all, there are only limited number of good destinations within driving distance of Bengaluru and repeat visits will become necessary after a few years.
Best time to visit
The best time to visit would be the winter months-say from November to February or early March. Ooty will be much cooler than Coonoor. During the summer(Mid March onwards), it can get quite warm, though evenings would be comparatively pleasant. Again Ooty will be comparatively cooler. The monsoon season of July to September witnesses good rainfall and can be a good time, depending on your inclinations.
Both Ooty and Coonoor are year long destinations. Summer is the peak, with more crowds and is relatively more expensive.
Road journey from Bengaluru is very enjoyable
The best part of driving to Ooty/Coonoor is the journey itself. Variety of restaurants on the Bengaluru-Mysore highway and in Mysore itself. About 75-90 minutes after Mysore, you enter into the lush green forests of Bandipur. I have always thoroughly enjoyed driving through Bandipur forest, and have always spotted deer, elephants and bisons.
Deer in Bandipur, Karnataka Elephants in Bandipur, Karnataka
The forest adjoining Bandipur in the state of Tamil Nadu is called Madumalai. There are gates announcing the change of states but apart from the sign boards, nothing changes on ground. The drive through the forest area lasts over an hour, and this is the only time I actually drive as slow as I can! And with windows rolled down.
There are couple of designated halts inside the forest area. I have only had hot beverages in the restaurants here, no food. Otherwise, halting is not permitted inside the forest area but every time, I see several vehicles breaching this rule.
Deviations before exiting Madaumalai
At Theppakadu, just before exiting Madumalai forest, the road branches into two – the left one leading to Masinagudi and the right one to Gudalur(NH 181). If you want to spend some more time driving through the forest and perhaps visit the Pykara waterfalls, take the Gudalur route. It will take you ~ 2.5 hours to reach Ooty whereas the route via Masinagudi takes ~1.5 hours.
Time required
The entire drive from Bengaluru to Coonoor through Mysore and Masinagudi can take 7 hours or more. But don’t be in a rush, enjoy the drive, stop as many times as you wish to-except in the forest area. I know this is difficult for many of us-somehow, we are always in a hurry to reach the destination!
The condition of road is by and large good.
The alternate route, that is about 400kms(NH 44 and 544) through Hosur, Salem, Erode, Tiruppur, Mettupalyam and Coonoor is not that scenic and takes over 8 hours. Slight variant is Hosur-Mettur-Mettupalyam and Coonoor.
Places to see – Ooty
There is lot more to see and do in Ooty than Coonoor. Boating is almost mandatory for every tourist visiting Ooty lake. The massive botanical gardens, rose garden, tea museum and visit to a tea plantation, St. Stephens Church, Pine forest, wax museum, thread museum etc. are the other places of interest.
There are lakes nearby including Avalanche lake and Emerald lake. Doddabetta peak is the highest peak in the Nilgiris at ~2600m and is located about 10kms from Ooty.
There are a few camping and trekking options as well.
For book lovers, Higginbothams is a great place to browse books. When I was in middle school, I would love to browse through encyclopaedia’s and the like, books that I could not otherwise afford. There is also Willy’s Coffee Pub with a collection of books to read while snacking.
Ooty lake, Tamil Nadu Ooty, Tamil Nadu Ooty, Tamil Nadu Ooty, Tamil Nadu Ooty, Tamil Nadu
Places to see – Coonoor
Coonoor too has its parks and view points. But no lake in the center though Wellington has a small lake. Sims park is the most famous landmark and contains over 1000 species of trees, plants and flowers. Other attractions include Dolphins nose which offers a view of the Catherine falls and tea estates(say High Field Tea Estate). The cantonment area in Wellington, as is the case elsewhere also, is vey neatly maintained.
Tea plantation, Coonoor, Tamil Nadu Tea plantation, Coonoor, Tamil Nadu
Try the toy train especially if you have young kids
The toy train is an enjoyable journey and takes ~75 minutes between Coonoor and Ooty. It takes less than an hour by road.
Toy train, Ooty-Coonoor, Tamil Nadu Toy train, Ooty-Coonoor, Tamil Nadu
Accommodation and Food
Variety of accommodation is available. The rates keep fluctuating through the year. Savoy in Ooty and Gateway in Coonoor would be top of the list and most expensive. An average of INR 8k or more per night. The best part of having a vehicle at your disposal is that you can even stay a bit away from town center. Maybe homestays, maybe tea estates. Ooty obviously has greater choices.
Food is also not a problem, few good restaurants around. In Tamil Nadu, the government owned TASMAC has monopoly over liquor sales. The only thing that surprised me, when I went to buy liquor at a TASMAC shop, was non availability of known brands. Ooty has some very nice pubs/bars.
For coffee lovers, Ooty coffee house is a must visit.
Shopping –buy homemade chocolates and local tea packets
I normally avoid shopping when travelling in India but Ooty and Coonoor are among the exceptions. Typical stuff I buy are the following:
–homemade chocolates.
– local varieties of tea. Best to taste first before buying.
– honey.
– spices.
– aromatic oil(say Eucalyptus, Lavendar etc).
– jewellery, local designs only. My spouse has the knack of identifying what is not available elsewhere.
– handicrafts
King Star in Ooty for chocolates and Green Shop in Coonoor are often recommended as the go to shops but I am not very particular. Head to the main market if you are not too finicky. Look out for shops when you visit tea gardens, certain hotels, museums etc. We typically ignore such shops on the premise that they will be more expensive. The thumb rule is – don’t pay more than what you would back in Bengaluru.
Homestay is a convenient option
When I travelled to Coonoor the last time, I decided to book a full bungalow through Airbnb as I needed 3 rooms.
Homestay in Coonoor was as advertised
The bungalow was certainly very nice, had an old world charm, well furnished, had a big living room on the ground floor, close to Sims park and just like the pictures posted. I had been warned that the pictures always look much better than reality but thankfully, that was not the case. The caretaker too turned out to be a good cook and we had some very good meals meals at the homestay. Wi-fi was available and so was the ubiquitous television with satellite channels in the living room.
I paid over 10k including service charges and GST per night for a 3 bedroom bungalow. While we faced one major issue(no power for little more than a day), the stay was otherwise very comfortable.
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