The Gateway Hotel Reviews, Coonoor

The Gateway Hotel provides a great holiday experience. Right from the very well maintained heritage hotel (150+ years old) to great food & other services. Titus from travel desk arranged for a day trip to Ooty, where a car picked us up in the morning & dropped us at the Coonoor railway station to take the mountain railway to Ooty, where the same car picked us up. We were taken to the Taj Savoy in Ooty where we had breakfast from our package as the two hotels have this arrangement. Returned to Coonoor after a day long siteseeing trip in Ooty. Gateway hotel has great recreation facilities for kids too - TV room, foos ball table, TT table, carrom, cricket & badminton. Ayurvedic massage & fitness center facilities are also great! Swati - the training manager keeps a close eye on things in every department from the kitchen to housekeeping. Ramalingam - the chef dished out very tasty active food & Ravi played great melodies on the piano in the evenings.

Very nice location and a lovely property. But very poor room service.

Coonoor is not the Queen of Nilgiris - but The Gateway Hotel at Coonoor is the Queen of Coonoor. It's built in colonial style. The building is about 150 years old. The architecture belies the building's age - the maintenance does not. The drive from Bangalore to Coonoor (take the 36 hair pin bend route from Thepakaddu (near Gudulur ie Mysore - Gundulpet- Gudulur - 36 hair pin bend route from Theppakadu via Masinagudi) to enhance the pleasure of your vacation. Once you get to the hotel the location will just accentuate the pleasure of your vacation. Set on an elevated area - it has a soothing view of Coonoor. On reaching, the first good news that we got was that we were upgraded from the regular room to the Executive room - perhaps it was because some rooms were under renovation (you can, perhaps, look forward to refurbished rooms over the next few weeks). Checking in was quick but unhurried (which is what you want on a vacation). The team at Gateway was friendly - you can get friendly when you are not stressed - and caring. Rooms with wooden flooring (from a bygone era) and Samsung flat TV's of year 2010. Don't get enamoured by the TV - perhaps you won't in any case as there is so much to do in the few days that you may get to stay there. There is a trek to Tiger Trail which is a 5-6 km walk via the green, tea plantations - some parts of it is complete wilderness and you may feel lost. However, just take help from the hotel staff. They will give you the low down on trekking. Projected TV for watching the IPL - if you make it there before the IPL ends or just gymnasium and table tennis. The room sit outs are heavenly - the new bird species that you may spot are not chargeable extra. I read Jeffery Archer's "A Quiver full of Arrows" at the sitout. The books seemed more engrossing in that environment. I had the choice of staying in Ooty and making a day trip to Coonoor - only 17 kms away - but, I am glad we stayed in Coonoor at the Gateway Hotel. We enjoyed every bit of this quiet and relaxed stay. PS: - There is all over Wi-Fi internet connectivity at the hotel. What a please answering the mails sitting in the open at 6 am and being done with office work by 6.30 am. - Room service is, by far, the quickest that I have experienced in remote hotels like these. You'll need it if you go on the treks. - The hotel will suggest a trek to Doog.17 kms by car and a 3 km or so walk from there. Try it. I couldn't - Do also take the Toy Train to Ooty from Coonoor and back (The heritage Nilgiris Mountain Railway). The first class one way ticket is Rs.101/-. A regular ticket is Rs.3/- one way (yes its Rs. 101/- vs. Rs.3/-). Return tickets are not issued. You have to disembark in Ooty and get the return ticket. You have 30 minutes for this - before the train takes the trip back to Coonoor. - Don't take the 36 hair pin bend route (it's a one way route - the return route is much longer) if you have not done the hills before. If unsure of your driving skills - take the longer route.