Visit the Famous South Indian Hill Station Ooty

Explore Tea Plantations, Forests and Hand Made Chocolates

Feb 17, 2009 Satu Susanna Rommi

Escape the South Indian summer heat to Ooty, like the British who established this hill station in the Nilgiri Mountains in Tamil Nadu.

Apparently the British did not quite manage to pronounce the original name of Udhgamandalam, and so it ended up being called Ooty. These days the hill town of Ooty is one of South India’s most popular holiday destinations. At 2240 m altitude it has a pleasant climate, and is surrounded by beautiful views over tea plantations, forests and the Nilgiri Mountains.

What to See in Ooty

The Botanical Gardens are spread over 22 hectares and include a large rose garden.

The Ooty Lake is popular with locals and there are pedal boats for rent. Unfortunately the lake is very polluted.

There are also several churches in town. The Saint Stephen’s Church was built in the 1820’s and its wooden beams were brought from the palace of Tipu Sultan in Srirangapatnam on the backs of elephants.

Ooty is famous for tea, spices and hand made chocolates. According to locals, the best, if not only, place to buy chocolates is the King Star.

What to See around Ooty

The surroundings of Ooty are more pleasant than the town itself: miles and miles of green tea plantations, pine and eucalyptus forests and of course views of the Nilgiri mountains (also known as the Blue Mountains), the second highest mountain range in India after the Himalayas. There are plenty of walking and trekking possibilities around Ooty, including a walk up to the highest peak in the Nilgiri range, the Dodda Betta (Big Mountain), at 2620 m.

The other two nearby hill stations, Coonoor and Kotagiri, are usually quieter than Ooty. The Mudumalai National Park is close by too, and day-trips to the park from Ooty are popular.

How to Get to Ooty

The most unique way to get to Ooty is the “toy train” ride on a narrow gauge from Mettupalayam via Coonoor. There are express train connections to the toy train from Chennai. From the Karnataka direction, several daily buses bring passengers from Mysore along the Mysore-Ooty road. Buses have to take the longer scenic route up to Ooty, but for cars and motorbikes there is a shortcut with several hairpin curves.

When to Go to Ooty

The high season in Ooty is from April to mid-June, when lower parts of South India become too hot, but the climate in the mountains is very pleasant. As Ooty is one of South India’s most popular tourist destinations, prices rise accordingly in the high season and crowds can become unbearable.

The monsoon starts in June, bringing wet and chilled weather and lower accommodation prices. In the winter months from November to February, temperatures in Ooty can drop below 0 degrees Celsius.

The copyright of the article Visit the Famous South Indian Hill Station Ooty in S Asia/China Travel is owned by Satu Susanna Rommi. Permission to republish Visit the Famous South Indian Hill Station Ooty in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Tea Plantation

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