Ooty, The Most Beautiful Hill Station of India

Ooty, also called Queen of Hills, is one of the most beautiful hill stations of India. It is located in Nilgris district of Tamil Nadu, India at the junction point of Eastern and Western Ghats. Ootacamund, Uthagamandalam, Nilgiris and Uthagai are some other names of this beautiful hill station. Its elevation is about 2,286 m above sea level and total area is about 36 sq Km . It's proudly standing as one of the highest hill stations of India. It attracts thousands of tourists from both domestic and foreign countries each year. Cloud dwelling highest peaks, chill weather throughout the year accompanied with bracing wind, endless green carpet like tea estates, thick evergreen tropical forests, magnificient lake surrounded by different species of green woods, picturesque natural scenaries would make any one love this place.

Ooty was developed during the end of 18th century by the British people as they want a neat place provided with chill climate on summer days. Once this place had been the summer capital for the Madras presidency. It's deepest green valleys and highest mountains boasting dense forests were liked by the Britishers and made them call it as 'Queen of Hills'

Weather of Ooty

During summer days Ooty has maximum day temperature of 25 degree celsius and minimum temperature of 10 degree celsius whereas in winter season the night temperature goes down zero and day temperature lies between 15 to 20 degree celsius. Both North-East and South-West monsoons bring copious rains to Ooty. The average annual rainfall is 120 cm. The better time to visit this place is 15th April to the end of May.

Ooty boasts many worthy places to enjoy. It can be told as the paradise for the people who want to enjoy ultimate beauty of nature. Ooty Lake, Botanical Garden, Doddabetta Peak, River Pykara, Coonoor are some of the places of attraction in and around Ooty.

Ooty Lake

This is an artificial lake constructed by John Sullivan, British officer, in the year 1825. It's located at the heart of the town and spreads over 4 sq. Km. This has been surrounded by different species of woods including eucalyptus and pine. Pedal boats are available for hiring and it will render unforgettable nice experience as we can enjoy the beautiful scenaries of Ooty while riding on boat. There is an amusement park for children nearby the lake.

Botanical Gardens

This 22 acre garden can be told as the most attractive place in Ooty. The garden has been beautifully constructed and maintained and it's lying at the central place of the town. We can enjoy seeing almost all the species of plants, trees and flowers and beautiful green dawn here. We can see here rare variety of roses in different colors. The garden is also provided with rare variety of trees like cork, paper bark, monkey buzzle and so on. There is a glass house at the center of the park containing rare variety of plants and flowers which we have never seen before in our life. This garden is now under the maagement of Horticulture department of Tamil Nadu.

Doddabetta Peak

Doddabetta is the highest point of Ooty area from where we can get bird eye view of Ooty and surrounded areas. It is located at about 15 Km away from Ooty with an elevation of 2,637 m above msl. There is a telescope house from where we can get close look of different parts of Ooty. We should not miss this peaceful and the most beautiful point of Ooty.

River Pykara

This is an important river flowing in the Nilgris district. We need to trsavel about 20 Km from Ooty to reach the river. During South-West monsoon season flow of water will be more in the river due to frequent heavy rainfall. We can see the dam and power plant here and enjoy peacful and wonderful atmosphere. The forest rest house is additional attraction. We can get boats for hiring at the dam area to get thrilling experience.

Coonoor

Coonoor is the second largest town in the Nilgris district located at an altitude of 1840 m above mean sea level. We will come across this place while we traveling to Ooty from Mettupalayam. This is also containing many interesting sites attracting large number of tourists. Sims park is the popular one and worthy place to visit here.

Traveling to Ooty by Train

This will be really an amazing experience if we get a chance of traveling to Ooty by train. It is run by Nilgiri Mountain Railway. The train connects Ooty with Metupalayam a town located at the foot hills of Ooty. We can enjoy heart winning natural scenaries of Nilgiris while traveling by this train which will run trough hundreds of bridges, thick forests, green plantations and about 18 number of caves.

Satellite Views of Ooty Boat House Lake and Botanical Garden

Clicking the following links you will get the satellite views of Ooty Boat House Lake as well as Boatnical Garden. By dragging and zooming the Google maps that you can get from the links you can enjoy each and every part of Ooty and surrounded areas.

Satellite view of Botanical Gardens, Ooty

Satellite view of Ooty Lake 

Accommodations at Ooty

There are hundreds of luxurious hotels to stay and enjoy this popular hill station. Some of them are The Willow Hill Ooty, Blue Valley Resort Ooty, Sagar Holiday Resort Ooty, Nagar Residency Hotel Ooty, Hotel Khems Ooty which are located desirably at the central part of the hill station so that we can peacefully enjoy prime attractions of Ooty like Botanical Gardens and Ooty Boat House Lake.

If you want to get pleasant stay with reasonable tariff, you can visit Hotel TamilNadu located at Charing Cross Road, Ooty.
phone: (0) 423 - 244 43 71 to 78
e-mail: ttdc@md3.vsnl.net.in

Getting there

This wonderful hill station is well connected by road and rail from other parts of the state and country. The nearest airports are Coimbatore, Mysore and Chennai.