Trip members: Karthik and family
Trip date: 10 and 11 Mar 2018
Trip Plan : Chennai - Mysore - Nagarhole - Mysore - Srirangapatna - Mysore - Chennai
A weekend trip to around Mysore and around with family.
Day-1
We reached Mysore around 7 AM by Kauvery express and checked to Hotel Aishwarya Suites; booked through makemytrip. Hotel Aishwarya Suites is near the Highway circle in Mysore and is one the best budget hotels. We did a early check-in and paid Rs.500 for the early check-in. The rooms are very spacious, clean and perfect all ways. The bathroom, towels, mattress - no complaints. During check-in, we also booked a cab to go to Nagarhole and Irupu falls.
We refreshed and went to have breakfast at hotel Kamat - 100m walkable from the hotel. Hotel Kamat is in the premises of Hotel Nalapad Residency. The food is quite average and not really that good as usual Kamat. We had idlies, Karabaath, dosas and vadai. Vadai was usual good. We then left to Nagarhole around 11 AM from the rooms. Nagarhole is around 95 kms from Mysore. The route is Mysore - Bilikere - Hunsur - Take left at Hunsur into the Nagarhole road. The straight one takes you to Kushal Nagar - Madikeri. In 60 kms, one would reach the Nagarhole forest check post. There is a wilderness safari counter here and one can do wild safari here. Our driver drove us all the way through the wild Nagarhole sanctuary - 35 kms in length for a hour to the other side of the sanctuary. We cited lot of deer, monitor lizards and listened to varieties of birds chirping.
The drive was very good and memorable. Monsoon drives would be much memorable. We bought some snacks and lot of water in Hunsur enroute. We reached the other side of the sanctuary around 1 PM. Safari timings are 6 AM to 8 AM and 2:30 PM to 4 PM. One gets to go in this for a price of Rs.350 per adult, Rs.175 per child and Rs.200/400 for a camera. The worst part is Nagarhole sanctuary has only one safari vehicle and can accommodate only 25-30 people. This means, the safari drive is around 40-60 minutes only and it makes only 2 trips in the morning and 2 trips in the evening. I was standing 4th in the queue and was confident of getting the tickets for the first trip. However, some black tickets were sold and I could not make to the first set. This means I need to wait for another couple of hours and missing out going to Irupu falls. There were few fighting with the officials for lack of information about seats per ride and number of rides per day. There were close to 100 people in all and it means only 20 more can do the ride and rest travelling from several parts of India were totally dejected. We then decided not to buy tickets for 4 PM ride and started towards Irupu falls.
1 km from Nagarhole is Kutta; border of Kerala and Karnataka. This is were Wayanad starts on the Kerala side. We stopped here for lunch in Kutta - hotel Sapthagiri. Thank God, we got some food at 3 PM. The food - chapathis, parotas, kalai curry and dosas. They were ok.
Irupu falls is around 13 kms. There is ample parking space. Entrance ticket for adult is Rs.50 and no fee for camera and children. The falls is around 800m from the parking area and the route is well laid with some steep steps to climb in three sets. One can climb up 2 sets of steps and stop at a viewing place near waterfalls. There is also a hanging bridge and nice points to take photographs. When we went, the water was very less in summer (month of March). The best time to visit this waterfalls is October to December. I also heard that during monsoons, the waterfalls would be heavily loaded and public shall be not allowed during that time.
It was almost 4:30 when we returned back to parking. The driver was optimistic that we can sight animals way back through Nagarhole. The driver cooperated so well that we drove slow to maximize animal sighting probability, The checkpost allows vehicles until 6 PM in the evening; one needs to mind the time and plan accordingly. Also, there is a time limit specified by which one should reach the other side of the sanctuary. Enroute, we sighted lots of spotted deer, Nilgai, wild cocks, giant malabar squirrel, lion tailed macaque and peacock. The most expected - big cat and giant mammal were elusive though.
We reached back to Mysore around 8 PM and the driver was kind enough to help us with gastronomical delight and took us to Hotel Nalpak. We had Benne dosa (drenched in butter), Mangalore chilli-aloo bhajji, jeera rice with gravy. Each of them were extremely gastronomical pleasure. We ended the dinner with cool butter milk. A must to eat place in Mysore.
Day-2
We started the day exactly by 7 AM - visit to Chamundi hills and temple. The temple opens for dharshan by 07:30 AM. The temple is one of the 18 Sakthi Peetams. One has to go through the hills for 8 kms to reach the Chamundeswari temple. There are lot of parking slots near the temple. The day was Rama Navami and some appreciable crowd was expected. There are paid and free dharshans - paid are for Rs.30 and Rs.100. Free dharshan was obviously very crowded and estimated to take more than 1 hour time for dharshan. We opted for Rs.30 dharshan and were able to have a very good dharshan.
We then visited the newly opened Sand sculpture museum. This is open from 8 AM and demand an entry fee of Rs.40 per adult, Rs.20 for children and fee for camera. Sand art is done with so much artistic and creativity. The place is just on the way to Chamundi temple on the plains. The visit was worth spending time to appreciate the creative mind.
The driver did not stop to surprise us for food - now breakfast. He took us to Hotel GTR - Gayatri Tiffen Room. This is located in Chamundipuram. This small renowned well known locally restaurant is a self service tiffin room serving few varieties of Dosas, idlies, sheera, kara baath, vada, some rice varieties including bissibela, lemon rice and few more. The place is quite crowded always and all food are so yummy, fresh and mouth watering. The coconut chutney is excellent, so, as the filter coffee. We enjoyed the breakfast though it took time to get our order in the self service counter. We then checked out and proceeded to Srirangapatna.
Srirangapatna is a river island on river Cauvery, around 20 kms from Mysore - a drive of around 30 minutes. There are several places to see in Srirangapatna worth more than half a day to spend.
Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple - is one of the popular tourist spots similar to Srirangam in Tamilnadu across the river of Cauvery. Being Sunday, the temple was crowded with tourists and locals. The temple is quite big hosting Lord Venkatramana. The temple hosts beautiful Hoysala architecture based pillars in the main prakaram of the temple. It took almost an hour for us to complete the dharshan and go around the temple. It was a quite hot day and tender coconuts helped us.
Captain Bailey's Dungeon - we next visited the dungeon built by Tipu Sultan and named after Colonel Bailey. This is situated just beside the temple. This is were Tipu Sultan arrested and put the British off for some time. This is a small spot and would take close to 15 minutes to pay visit. This is below ground level. One can also see 2 views in a single hole on the parapet walls - architectural binocular. One can spot a small pit like structure at the far end of the dungeon, where rain water gets drained into Cauvery river.
Enroute from the road one can watch the Ruins of Lal Mahal palace - the main palace of Tipu Sultan - which was burnt, blasted, tore down after Tipu's death - ruined in totality. Nearby is the Tipu's Death Place - where is body was found. Just opposite and behind the main palace, once can see Jama Masjid - even active today.
Dariya Daulat Palace - This is the summer palace of Tipu Sultan. Entrance ticket is Rs.15 per person and free for children. It is open 9 AM to 5 PM. This is an architectural palace with respect to well painted walls and roofs. Photography is banned inside the palace. The place has a beautiful well laid lawn - cool breeze even on a hot day. The palace inside is so artistic depicting the various events and wars between Tipu Sultan and the British. It also hosts the costumes, vessels, armoury, utensils, furnitures used during the period. We spent close to an hour here, along with relaxing in the lawn around.
Gumbaz Burial Chamber - This mausoleum hosts tombs of Tipu Sultan, Hyder Ali and Tipu's mother.
We then had lunch at Hotel Annapoorna - just outside Dariya Daulat Palace. The food was ok.
Then, one of my favorite places, Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary. Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary is the biggest bird Sanctuary in Karnataka. It is 3 kms before entering the island of Srirangapatna when travelling from Mysore to Srirangapatna. There is entrance fee of Rs.70 per person to enter the sanctuary area, Rs.10 for a child and Rs.50 for a car. There is ample car parking available, an information centre, toilets and a canteen. The whole sanctuary is under great shades of rich green cover. Once we enter the place, the feel is entirely different - ecozone and the chirping of too many varieties of birds is just great to listen. There is boating facility to traverse and see the birds and crocodiles - Rs.70 per adult, Rs.30 per child for boating. We decided to roam around for couple of hours and enjoy the views by walking. There are couple of watch towers as well.
We left Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary around 4 PM and reached Mysore palace. Mysore palace is open for visitors from 10 AM to 5 PM. Entrance tickets are Rs.50 per adult and Rs.30 for child. We entered the palace and enjoyed every grandeur it had to offer. We spent close to an hour and came out around 5:30 PM. We sat around to wait and watch the palace lighting - which happens on Sundays and festival/public holidays at 7 PM.
We then reached railway station by 8 PM after having dinner at A2B just outside the railway station.
Trip date: 10 and 11 Mar 2018
Trip Plan : Chennai - Mysore - Nagarhole - Mysore - Srirangapatna - Mysore - Chennai
A weekend trip to around Mysore and around with family.
Day-1
We reached Mysore around 7 AM by Kauvery express and checked to Hotel Aishwarya Suites; booked through makemytrip. Hotel Aishwarya Suites is near the Highway circle in Mysore and is one the best budget hotels. We did a early check-in and paid Rs.500 for the early check-in. The rooms are very spacious, clean and perfect all ways. The bathroom, towels, mattress - no complaints. During check-in, we also booked a cab to go to Nagarhole and Irupu falls.
We refreshed and went to have breakfast at hotel Kamat - 100m walkable from the hotel. Hotel Kamat is in the premises of Hotel Nalapad Residency. The food is quite average and not really that good as usual Kamat. We had idlies, Karabaath, dosas and vadai. Vadai was usual good. We then left to Nagarhole around 11 AM from the rooms. Nagarhole is around 95 kms from Mysore. The route is Mysore - Bilikere - Hunsur - Take left at Hunsur into the Nagarhole road. The straight one takes you to Kushal Nagar - Madikeri. In 60 kms, one would reach the Nagarhole forest check post. There is a wilderness safari counter here and one can do wild safari here. Our driver drove us all the way through the wild Nagarhole sanctuary - 35 kms in length for a hour to the other side of the sanctuary. We cited lot of deer, monitor lizards and listened to varieties of birds chirping.
The drive was very good and memorable. Monsoon drives would be much memorable. We bought some snacks and lot of water in Hunsur enroute. We reached the other side of the sanctuary around 1 PM. Safari timings are 6 AM to 8 AM and 2:30 PM to 4 PM. One gets to go in this for a price of Rs.350 per adult, Rs.175 per child and Rs.200/400 for a camera. The worst part is Nagarhole sanctuary has only one safari vehicle and can accommodate only 25-30 people. This means, the safari drive is around 40-60 minutes only and it makes only 2 trips in the morning and 2 trips in the evening. I was standing 4th in the queue and was confident of getting the tickets for the first trip. However, some black tickets were sold and I could not make to the first set. This means I need to wait for another couple of hours and missing out going to Irupu falls. There were few fighting with the officials for lack of information about seats per ride and number of rides per day. There were close to 100 people in all and it means only 20 more can do the ride and rest travelling from several parts of India were totally dejected. We then decided not to buy tickets for 4 PM ride and started towards Irupu falls.
1 km from Nagarhole is Kutta; border of Kerala and Karnataka. This is were Wayanad starts on the Kerala side. We stopped here for lunch in Kutta - hotel Sapthagiri. Thank God, we got some food at 3 PM. The food - chapathis, parotas, kalai curry and dosas. They were ok.
Irupu falls is around 13 kms. There is ample parking space. Entrance ticket for adult is Rs.50 and no fee for camera and children. The falls is around 800m from the parking area and the route is well laid with some steep steps to climb in three sets. One can climb up 2 sets of steps and stop at a viewing place near waterfalls. There is also a hanging bridge and nice points to take photographs. When we went, the water was very less in summer (month of March). The best time to visit this waterfalls is October to December. I also heard that during monsoons, the waterfalls would be heavily loaded and public shall be not allowed during that time.
It was almost 4:30 when we returned back to parking. The driver was optimistic that we can sight animals way back through Nagarhole. The driver cooperated so well that we drove slow to maximize animal sighting probability, The checkpost allows vehicles until 6 PM in the evening; one needs to mind the time and plan accordingly. Also, there is a time limit specified by which one should reach the other side of the sanctuary. Enroute, we sighted lots of spotted deer, Nilgai, wild cocks, giant malabar squirrel, lion tailed macaque and peacock. The most expected - big cat and giant mammal were elusive though.
We reached back to Mysore around 8 PM and the driver was kind enough to help us with gastronomical delight and took us to Hotel Nalpak. We had Benne dosa (drenched in butter), Mangalore chilli-aloo bhajji, jeera rice with gravy. Each of them were extremely gastronomical pleasure. We ended the dinner with cool butter milk. A must to eat place in Mysore.
Day-2
We started the day exactly by 7 AM - visit to Chamundi hills and temple. The temple opens for dharshan by 07:30 AM. The temple is one of the 18 Sakthi Peetams. One has to go through the hills for 8 kms to reach the Chamundeswari temple. There are lot of parking slots near the temple. The day was Rama Navami and some appreciable crowd was expected. There are paid and free dharshans - paid are for Rs.30 and Rs.100. Free dharshan was obviously very crowded and estimated to take more than 1 hour time for dharshan. We opted for Rs.30 dharshan and were able to have a very good dharshan.
We then visited the newly opened Sand sculpture museum. This is open from 8 AM and demand an entry fee of Rs.40 per adult, Rs.20 for children and fee for camera. Sand art is done with so much artistic and creativity. The place is just on the way to Chamundi temple on the plains. The visit was worth spending time to appreciate the creative mind.
The driver did not stop to surprise us for food - now breakfast. He took us to Hotel GTR - Gayatri Tiffen Room. This is located in Chamundipuram. This small renowned well known locally restaurant is a self service tiffin room serving few varieties of Dosas, idlies, sheera, kara baath, vada, some rice varieties including bissibela, lemon rice and few more. The place is quite crowded always and all food are so yummy, fresh and mouth watering. The coconut chutney is excellent, so, as the filter coffee. We enjoyed the breakfast though it took time to get our order in the self service counter. We then checked out and proceeded to Srirangapatna.
Srirangapatna is a river island on river Cauvery, around 20 kms from Mysore - a drive of around 30 minutes. There are several places to see in Srirangapatna worth more than half a day to spend.
- Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple
- Dariya Daulat Palace
- Gumbaz Burial Chamber
- Ruins of Lal Mahal palace
- Tipu's Death Place
- Jama Masjid
- Captain Bailey's Dungeon
- Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary
Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple - is one of the popular tourist spots similar to Srirangam in Tamilnadu across the river of Cauvery. Being Sunday, the temple was crowded with tourists and locals. The temple is quite big hosting Lord Venkatramana. The temple hosts beautiful Hoysala architecture based pillars in the main prakaram of the temple. It took almost an hour for us to complete the dharshan and go around the temple. It was a quite hot day and tender coconuts helped us.
Captain Bailey's Dungeon - we next visited the dungeon built by Tipu Sultan and named after Colonel Bailey. This is situated just beside the temple. This is were Tipu Sultan arrested and put the British off for some time. This is a small spot and would take close to 15 minutes to pay visit. This is below ground level. One can also see 2 views in a single hole on the parapet walls - architectural binocular. One can spot a small pit like structure at the far end of the dungeon, where rain water gets drained into Cauvery river.
Enroute from the road one can watch the Ruins of Lal Mahal palace - the main palace of Tipu Sultan - which was burnt, blasted, tore down after Tipu's death - ruined in totality. Nearby is the Tipu's Death Place - where is body was found. Just opposite and behind the main palace, once can see Jama Masjid - even active today.
Dariya Daulat Palace - This is the summer palace of Tipu Sultan. Entrance ticket is Rs.15 per person and free for children. It is open 9 AM to 5 PM. This is an architectural palace with respect to well painted walls and roofs. Photography is banned inside the palace. The place has a beautiful well laid lawn - cool breeze even on a hot day. The palace inside is so artistic depicting the various events and wars between Tipu Sultan and the British. It also hosts the costumes, vessels, armoury, utensils, furnitures used during the period. We spent close to an hour here, along with relaxing in the lawn around.
Gumbaz Burial Chamber - This mausoleum hosts tombs of Tipu Sultan, Hyder Ali and Tipu's mother.
We then had lunch at Hotel Annapoorna - just outside Dariya Daulat Palace. The food was ok.
Then, one of my favorite places, Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary. Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary is the biggest bird Sanctuary in Karnataka. It is 3 kms before entering the island of Srirangapatna when travelling from Mysore to Srirangapatna. There is entrance fee of Rs.70 per person to enter the sanctuary area, Rs.10 for a child and Rs.50 for a car. There is ample car parking available, an information centre, toilets and a canteen. The whole sanctuary is under great shades of rich green cover. Once we enter the place, the feel is entirely different - ecozone and the chirping of too many varieties of birds is just great to listen. There is boating facility to traverse and see the birds and crocodiles - Rs.70 per adult, Rs.30 per child for boating. We decided to roam around for couple of hours and enjoy the views by walking. There are couple of watch towers as well.
We left Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary around 4 PM and reached Mysore palace. Mysore palace is open for visitors from 10 AM to 5 PM. Entrance tickets are Rs.50 per adult and Rs.30 for child. We entered the palace and enjoyed every grandeur it had to offer. We spent close to an hour and came out around 5:30 PM. We sat around to wait and watch the palace lighting - which happens on Sundays and festival/public holidays at 7 PM.
We then reached railway station by 8 PM after having dinner at A2B just outside the railway station.
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