An ultimate destination for nature lovers and trekkers - Ooty
Ooty, the Queen of Hill Stations, is located in the Nilgiri Hills in Tamil Nadu. It offers breathtaking landscapes, picturesque meadows, lush green hills, soothing weather and abundant sightseeing places. It’s an ultimate destination for nature lovers, trekkers and wanderers.
I would like to give some snapshots of my recent visit to Ooty (March, 2023). It was a memorable journey of 5 days and 4 nights.
I had booked a taxi online from Royal Travels, Coimbatore. The driver of car was very generous person who was very familiar with Hindi, English and of course Tamil, too.
We had covered 85 Km of distance from Coimbatore Airport to Ooty in about 3 hours. I preferred a hotel from Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC) because of proximity to the Upper bazaar Market. Here, you can do shopping, roam around and hang out in the evening. Various eating points including Adyar Anand Bhavan, North Indian/ South Indian Restaurant was at a walking distance.
Top tourist places of Ooty which I had visited:
So many tourist places are listed in digital media but ideally you can enjoy only few of them. So it’s better to identify and shortlist your favorite places to avoid rushing from one place to other. Detailed itinerary is available at: https://www.singhontrek.in/ooty-how-to-visit-top-tourist-places/.
- Ooty lake,
- Botanical Garden
- Tea Factory & Tea Estate Museum
- Doddabetta Peak
- Wenlock’s down or 09th Mile shooting ground
- Needle view point
- Pykara Waterfall/ Lake
- Mudumalai National Park
Day 1:
Reach Ooty and roam in the Market.
Day 2: Botanical Garden, Dodabetta Peak, Tea Factory & Tea Estate Museum, Ooty lake etc.
Ooty Botanical Garden
It is one of the most popular and fascinating place of Ooty. Here, you can spend about 2 hours because of scenic beauty and landscape. The park is beautifully designed and landscaped, so you can take photographs in every direction. If you have interest in flora, then it will be a paradise for you. This garden is divided into five different sections such as Fern House, Lower Garden, Italian Garden, Conservatory and Nurseries. The flower show is a major attraction in during Ooty Summer festival.
Doddabetta Peak
Doddabetta Peak (2623 meters) is the 2nd highest peak in the Nilgiris after Anai Peak. It is located at the junction of Western and Eastern Ghats which is around 10 km from Ooty. Visit Telescope house to see the mesmerizing landscape of the valley which is very rich in flora and fauna.
Tea Estate View Point
The Nilgiri region is renowned for its tea and most of the areas in Ooty are surrounded with the tea plantation. The tourist can go for a walk in the tea estates and can buy different varieties of tea and also homemade chocolates.
Ooty Lake
It is an artificial lake that was built for fishing purposes but now popular for boating. You can hire boats from Boating house located near the lake. Cycling around the lake is worth experiencing. Purchase some local items from the shops around the lake.
Day 3 in Ooty
Wenlock's down or 09th Mile shooting ground, Needle viewpoint, Pykara Water falls, Pykara Lake, Mudumalai National Park or Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.
Wenlock's down or 09th Mile shooting ground:
It is located at 9 miles away from Ooty city which is one of the best scenic view and most attractive tourist spot. The “Shooting spot” is fully surrounded by green, extensive and dense forest and most of the Indian movies are filmed here due to its natural beauty and scenic view.
Pykara Waterfall:
Pykara village and river is around 20 km away from Ooty. The Pykara River is considered very sacred by the Todas who are settled around it. The river flows over a series of waterfalls but the last two of 55 metres (180 ft) and 61 metres (200 ft) being known as Pykara Falls. There is a forest rest house at Pykara. A boat house on the Pykara reservoir is an added attraction for tourists.
Mudumalai National Park
‘Mudumalai’ means ‘situated on the first hill’. It is surrounded by the tropical evergreen forest, shrub and swamp, moist teak forest, moist mixed deciduous, dry teak forest and secondary grassland. The Mudumalai National Park is a declared Tiger Reserve. It was established in the year 1940 and it covers about 321 kilometers.
You may see tigers, leopards, striped hyenas, dholes, sloth bears, Asian elephants, Golden Jackals and Malabar squirrel. Different species of birds are also found like crested hawk-eagle, the crested serpent eagle, the Malabar Trojan, and the Malabar grey hornbill are some of them.
Day 4:
Coonoor Hill Station is sister hill station of Ooty. It is just 21 Km from Ooty.
Top tourist places of Coonoor:
Ketty's valley view, Dolphin Nose, Sim's Park, Lamb's Rock
Sim’s Park
Sim’s Park was established in the year 1847 which is basically a botanical garden, fully surrounded by the shrubs and creepers. It occupies an area of about 12 hectares. There are numerous temperate plants of India are found in this park along with Queensland Karry Pine, Rudraksha (the bead tree) and Ornamental trees. The Sim’s Park is a significant and favorite destination of botanists and nature lovers. Here, you can spend around 2 hours. There is a play area for kids with swings.
Dolphin's Nose
Due to resemblance or appearance of a rock to the Dolphin’s nose, it is named as Dolphin’s Nose view point. It is the very popular tourist spot in Coonoor near the Tiger hills. From this view point, you can see the St. Catherine falls along with the Coonoor River. The deep forest valleys are covered with greenery attracts very much.
Echo Rock or Lamb's Rock or Coonoor suicide View point:
Lamb’s Rock view point is in a reserve forest. Watch phenomenal stretches of forests. It is on the way to Dolphin’s Nose.
Day 5:
Return to your Home via Coimbatore.
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