Weekend Trip: Shivasamudra

Distance: About 125kms
Direction: Towards Mysore/Mandya.
Best time to visit: After monsoon (August to March)
What to see: Waterfalls.

Start early in the morning, say 7.00am. Take the mysore road. Stop at Kamath or Adigas for breakfast. After  Maddur, take the left towards Shivasamudra. Roads are in ok condition. There are 2 water falls to be seen. If you plan well and start little early, you can also visit talkadu.
An alternate route is via kanakpura. This road is supposed to be more scenic and better roads, but options to eat are non existent.

Weekend Trip: Pondicherry Trip

Distance: About 320kms
Direction: Towards Chennai.
Best time to visit: After monsoon (August to March)
What to see: Beaches, French Colony, Arubindo Ashram, Aruville, Pichavaram Forests.
You need atleast 3 days to do this trip.
Start from here on Day 0, in the late afternoon. Do a night halt at Tiruvanamalai. This should take about 3.5 hrs to do. Visit the tiruvanamalai temple in the morning and reach Pondi by 10am on Day 1. Tiruvanamalai to Pondi is about 3 hrs.
Visit Arubindo ashram, Aruville and french colony until evening 5. Then go on to the Promenade beach for the evening.
Day 2 morning go to Paradise beach. Start early to avoid day time traffic. Afternoons and evenings spend in shopping or roaming around in the french colony area.
Day 3: Start really early morning. Pack breakfast and go to Pichavaram forests. It is about 60 kms from Pondi towards chitambram. Take a boat ride to the beach and the mangrove forest.

Return via Pondi or Chitambram. If you take chitambram route and if time permits, do visit some temples there as well.

Weekend Trip: Coorg Revisited

Distance: 250kms
Direction: Beyond Mysore.
Best time to visit: After monsoon (August to March)
What to see: Water falls(Abbey falls), Raja's seat, coffee estates, talcauvery, Tibetan settlement.
We started from Bangalore at 2pm on a Friday evening. You need to take right on the Mysore ring road. Tibetan settlement is near kushalnagar. Since, we started late in the day, we directly went to Madikeri. Coorg is famous for homestays, so always try to stay in a homestay. For food, East End hotel is very famous.

Golden Temple - Kushal Nagar

Abbey Falls

Homestay

Talcauvery

Weekend Trip: Kolli Malai

Distance: 300kms
Direction: NH7 near Salem
Best time to visit: During and after monsoon (June to March)
What to see: Water falls. Misty hills
Start from bangalore at 6. Break for breakfast at A2B, just before krishnagiri. Roads upto Salem are 4 lane toll roads. After that even the state highwat 79 & SH95 are also in great shape. Last 38 kms is ghat section with 70 awesome hair pin bends.
Go prepared for a bath under the falls. To reach falls you need to climb down 1200 steps. Very tiring, but totally worth it.

Weekend Trip: Hogenakkal Waterfalls

Distance: 170kms
Best time to visit: Just after monsoon (July to Feb)
Directions: NH7 towards Salem
What to see: Falls..what else. Do take a coracle ride.
Start from bangalore by 6. Stop at A2B for breakfast. Its midway between hosur and krishnagiri.

Weekend Trip: Mysore

Distance: 125kms
Best Time to visit: Though out the year. Start early to beat the crowd
Directions: Take mysore highway.
Whats there to see? Srirangapatna, St. Philomena's Church, Zoo (pretty huge and well maintained actually), Palace, Chamundi hills, Brindavan Gardens (reach there not before 5pm)

Special mention: do stop for breakfast at Kamat Lokaruchi which is just after Ramnagaram while going. While returning do take a tea break at Maddur tiffany's and have there Maddur vada.

Weekend Trip: Nandi Hills

Distance: 60kms
Best Time to visit: Though out the year. Early mornings. Plan to reach there by 7am
Directions: NH7. about 25-30 kms from Bangalore airport.
Whats there to see? A small hill, with one fort. Its quite cool during early morning hrs. During rainy season, there is lot of mist all around.