Day 1
I was travelling along with my friend from Hyderabad. We had booked an AC semi-sleeper bus named Bharathi Travels. Our boarding point was Pillar number 23, just opposite the Chennai Shopping Mall at Mehdipatnam. The boarding time was 10 P.M. I would not recommend the bus as it was almost running 2 hours late throughout, starting from the pickup. It took around 12 hours to reach our destination in Bengaluru the next day.
Day 2
We didn’t explore Bengaluru much as we had just planned to meet up with our friends and cousins. However, if you are staying in the HSR Layout area, I would strongly recommend one to try the Tandoori Chai cafe. Also, we had ordered from the Belgian Waffle Factory through Swiggy, which was too yummy!
Day 3
On the 13th night, at 11:30 P.M., we boarded an AC sleeper bus named SRS Travels from Silk Board in Bengaluru to go to Ooty. If you manage to wake up early in the morning, you can enjoy the picturesque view of Coonoor’s hilly roads and the sunrise during the bus ride itself. We reached Ooty at around 7 in the morning.
Day 4
We booked our stay at Fortune Retreats, Belmont Terrace, around 7 km from the Main Ooty Bus Stand. The location of the hotel is excellent. It has really hospitable staff. On the first day, we booked a cab from our hotel and visited Pykara Lake, Pykara waterfalls, Pine Forest Shooting Point, Kamaraj Sagar Dam and Wenlock Downs. It took around 5 hours to cover the entire thing and cost us Rs 1900. Most locations on the first day included shooting points and are worth visiting. The view from the top of the Wenlock Downs is picturesque, to say the least.
Day 5
On the second day, we took the local sightseeing package of Rs 1700, which covered the Ooty boathouse, Rose garden, Botanical garden, Tea factory, Tea garden, Chocolate factory and Dodabetta peak. It took around 5-6 hours to cover the entire thing. Seeing how tea and chocolates are prepared from scratch was really exciting. The best part of the trip was walking through the tea garden. The view from Dodabetta Peak was breathtaking. On the 15th night itself, we boarded our bus, SRS Travels, again to get back to Bengaluru.
Day 6
We reached Bengaluru before time at 4 in the morning. After resting for some time at our friend’s place, we boarded our flight Air Asia at 1:25 P.M. to get back to Hyderabad. The entire cost of the trip per person was app. Rs 11000. It included everything starting from travel(both local & otherwise), food to lodging. Overall, it was a great trip. Our Villa was around 8 K.M. from the main Ooty bus stand. The hotel arranges for pickup and drop off with extra charges. Although I am not a mountain person, Ooty was a treat for the eyes, especially compared to the busy streets of Nainital.