Summer-staying away from the metro &crowds in pandalur tea estate sounds divine. During may-June kind of hot but every now and then rains. so pleasent weather. If it is your first time, then you can go up and down OOTY-Coonoor toy train for fun.I drive all the way to Coonoor from Hyderabad ( 3 people 2 Tier a/c nowadays is not cheap+taxi +all luggage for extended travel). having vehilcle in the hills is nice. (driving not that easy)I take Hyd-Bangalore-salem-Coimbatore-Coonoor while going and come back via Coonoor-Ooty-Mysore-bangalore-Hyderabad.Ooty Mysore road goes via Gudalur .if you are a young man and single, book your motorcycle(should be relatively new) by chennai-mettupalayam express and drive it from mettupalayam to coonoor-ooty-gudalur. will be quite an adventureIf you have only post paid, take a couple of prepaid sims of airtel/docomo etc or best buy prepaid sim in Ooty/Gudalur itself after checking with the local shop. (Easy if you have a TN state proof of address otherwise a bit more tedious)