Ooty : Queen of South India

 Ooty is also known as UDHAGAMANDALAM.

The name Ooty is changed by the government while India was the slave nation of East India company.

 Best time to visit here during the summer season.

   

            


Popular summer retreat during British colonial rule & the stone house in the east is a Raj-era bungalow that now forms part of governance ent arts college.

Famous cuisines of Ooty 

.As Ooty is one of the major tourist destinations in India, there are lots of well-known places for eating out. For tourists, there are so many restaurants in and near Ooty to offer their fabulous services by providing South Indian cuisine and few of them also offer North Indian cuisine.

Those who are fond of cakes, fruit and nut chocolates, popular buns of Ooty and also something very tasty like Chinese or Indo-Chinese food, then they will find themselves at the right place if they visit any of these famous restaurants like Shinkow’s Chinese Restaurant, Wang’s Kitchen, etc. Make a sure visit to Charing Cross for western food like delicious loaves of bread, pizza, snacks and baked products. Also, The Sidewalk Cafe is a famous restaurant of Ooty for its fast food especially American-style burgers and Italian Pizzas. If you find all these restaurants, not as per your pocket allowance, then no worries at all, there are many other reasonable restaurants to overcome your money problem and they are buffet lunch at the Sullivan Court Hotel at Selbourne Road but this service is only available on Sunday. Other than this, myriads of vegetarian eateries are there for you in Ooty for wonderful meals at very low rates. Tandoori Mahal, Savoy Hotel and Hotel Dasaprakash are also very famous hotels in Ooty.

"Kingstar confectionery Ooty biscuit locally called VARKEY."

Places to visit in Ooty are :

Ooty lake 

 Ooty Lake Entry Fee
Rs. 10 per person for Indians
Rs.  560 per person For Foreigners
Rs.  30 for Still Camera
Rs. 125 for Video Camera
Rs. 200 for 4 seater pedal boat for 30 minutes
Rs. 160 for 2 seater pedal boat for 30 minutes
Rs. 180 for 2 seater rowboat for 30 minutes

Rs.  450 for 8 seater motorboat for 20 minutes

Ooty Lake is an artificially constructed lake with picturesque natural surroundings. Originally constructed for the purpose of fishing, the lake has become all but an important tourist landmark in Ooty. An evening cycling around the lake (cycles are available for rent), or a quiet morning with your beloved by your side and the lake in front is enough to bring calm to yourself. Originally extending a much larger area, Ooty Lake has shrunk in size over the years giving way to other structures like the racecourse.




Over the years, the lake has been plagued by a lot of problems like the unchecked growth of weeds and the growing pollution due to people dumping the waste in the lake. Though the government "seems" to be taking active steps, all of them fall short of being successful. To conclude, Ooty Lake is one place which you cannot miss while you are there in Ooty.

Botanical gardens 

Spread over an area of 55 acres the Government Botanical Gardens are undoubtedly one of the most sorts after tourist attractions in Ooty. No tourist will leave Ooty without a visit to the well organized, well maintained botanical gardens. Maintained by the Horticultural Department of Tamil Nadu, the present-day Botanical Gardens is divided into 5 sections.



    



They are the Lower Garden, which has the fern house which harbors one hundred and twenty seven species of ferns, the Lower Garden, which contains the rose garden, a lot of natural floral carpets and natural ponds, the Italian Garden, laid down by Italian Prisoners of War from the First World War, the Conservatory, which has lots of groups of flowering plants and the Nurseries, which contains a series of glasshouses which contains innumerable varieties of exotic plants. The Flower show held as a part of the Summer Festival in Ooty is a must-see if you happen to visit Ooty during that time.


Another main attraction in the Botanical Gardens is the Fossil Tree trunk which is twenty million years old and the Toda mund or the Toda hill. On any day you will find the innumerable number of families just chilling and enjoying the warm sun and children playing around in the gardens. You are filled with a sense of inner peace when the cool summer breeze caresses your body bringing an unknown vigour within yourself. It is not an exaggeration if at that very moment if you feel you are in heaven.

Rose garden 

The pride of Ooty lies in the Rose Garden, which belongs to an elite club of 35 rose gardens around the world which have won the Garden of Excellence Award for South Asia from the World Federation of Rose Societies. Containing more than twenty thousand variety of roses the Rose Garden is one of the most beautiful and well-maintained gardens you find the country, or perhaps, the world. The climate of Ooty is ideal for the plants to have a long blooming season.

 Ooty Rose Garden Entry Fee

Rs.  20 per person
Rs. 30 for Still Camera
 Rs. 75 for Video Camera

Boathouse 

Ooty boathouse also called as Ooty lake, 1 km distance from Ooty bus stand, opened by the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation. Boating is the prime attraction at the lake. You can find other Beautiful Lakes in Ooty

The boathouse offers boating facilities with Paddle boats, Rowboats, and Motorboats. It also features a garden, a mini train and an amusement park. Ooty lake is an artificial lake constructed by John Sullivan, in 1824.

      

The water flowing down mountain streams in the Ooty valley was dammed to form the lake. The lake was originally intended to be used for fishing with ferries being used to travel across the lake. It gradually shrunk from its original size giving place to the current bus stand race course he lake park.

The Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation on behalf of the Tourism Department took the possession of the lake in 1973, for providing boating facilities as a tourist attraction. The lake is surrounded by groves of Eucalyptus trees with a railway line running along one shore. During the summer season in May, boat races and boat pageantry are organized for two days.

Ooty Honeymoon Boat House Entry Fee

 Rs. 30 per Adult

 Rs. 170 2 Seater Pedal Boat*

 Rs. 260 4 Seater Pedal Boat*

 Rs. 520 8 Seater Motor Boat#

 Rs.  640 10 Seater Motor Boat#

 Rs. 950 15 Seater Motor Boat#

 Rs. 205 3+1 Seater Row Boat*#

 Rs. 245 5+1 Seater Row Boat*#

Doddabetta peak lookout 

Doddabetta is the highest mountain in the Nilgiri Mountains at 2,637 meters (8,650 feet). There is a reserved forest area around the peak. It is 9 km from Ooty, on the Ooty-Kotagiri Road in the Nilgiris District of Tamil Nadu, India. It is a popular tourist attraction with road access to the summit. It is the fourth highest peak in South India next to Anamudi, Mannamalai and Meesapulimala. The peaks Hecuba (2375 m), Kattadadu (2418 m) and Kulkudi (2439 m) are the three closely linked summits in the west of the Doddabetta range near to Udagamandalam.

                 

Pine forest 

The Pine Forest spans between the locales of Ooty and Thalakunda adding a scenic canvas to the valleys and the vast landscapes of the Nilgiris. A weekend excursion from Ooty to Thalakunda is one of the leisure activities to indulge in as the en-route experience is sure to leave you to bouto bounded law-dropping sights.

The Pine Forest spans over a small downhill region and is arranged in a natural orderly fashion that is indeed spectacular to look at. Buses are available from the Ooty Bus Stand to Thalakunda or alternatively, you can get into a bus that travels to Mysore but does let the Bus Conductor know that you need to get down next to the Pine Forest area that falls en route to Mysore.

The Pine Forest features evergreen and resinous collection of trees that grow between 3 to 80 meters tall while a majority of the tower between 15 and 45 meters tall. Of the many species of Pine Trees, the smallest ones are the Siberian Dwarf Pine and Potosi Pinyon whereas the tallest one is an 81.79-meter towering Pine trees species named Ponderosa Pine mostly found around the Rogue River in Southern Oregon amidst the Siskiyou National Forest.

As you enter the Pine Forest near Ooty, you will notice these towering poles of Pine Trees dressed with thick and scaly features while a few are thin and feature flaking barks. The branches imitate a fake swirl that produces a very tight spiral twist with a tapered effect that looks like a ring of branches arising from one point. This spiral twist of growing branches, cone scales and needles shaped leaves are arranged in typical ratios of the Fibonacci number system, strange but true whereas the infant spring shoots, referred to as ‘candles’ are seen covered in off white and brownish bud scales. Initially, these bud scales point upward but later transform into green leaves and spread outward from the bark of the Pine Trees. These Candle-like spring shoots assist foresters to evaluate the soil fertility and well-being of the Pine Forest trees.

The Pine Forest is long-lived with almost all trees arriving at hundred to even a thousand years old while a few even cross the thousand mark reaching the age of 4,000 as well.

How to reach Ooty? 

By air: 
Approximately 85 km away, Coimbatore Airport is the aerodrome closest to Ooty that connects this hill station with the rest of the country via an extensive network of flights. Carriers like Air India, Indigo and Spice Jet have regular flights from New Delhi, Mumbai, Kozhikode, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmadabad. International travellers can book their tickets till Bangalore (around 310 km away) as Bangalore airport, popularly known as Kempegowda International Airport, is connected with major cities across the globe. Taxis and buses are easily available from both the airports for Ooty. 

By road: 
An amazing way of reaching Ooty is by the well-maintained state and national highways. Tamil Nadu State Road Transport Corporation (TNSTC) buses along with some private buses connect Ooty with major neighbouring cities like Bangalore, Chennai and Mysore. NH 209 and NH 275 connect Bangalore with Ooty, and a number of luxury buses operate from Bangalore, which takes around 7 to 8 hours. 

By train: 

Mettupalyam, 40 km from Ooty, is the nearest railhead serving this hill station. Several trains are available from nearby cities like Chennai, Coimbatore, Mysore and Bangalore for Mettupalyam. Once you reach the railway station, you can hire private cabs or avail bus services to reach Ooty. Another exciting way of getting to Ooty is by boarding the heritage Nilgiri mountain toy train, which takes you uphill, moving through thick forests, down the valleys via dark tunnels. Though this journey is extremely slow and time-consuming, it is a once in a lifetime experience.