Ooty

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Ooty, short for Ootacamund (an anglicized name for Udhagamandalam), is a popular hill resort in the state of Tamil Nadu in South India.

Udhagamandalam means abode of clouds. Ooty stands at 7,347 feet above sea level in the Nilgiri mountain range. It was founded in the 19th century by the British, and served as the summer headquarters of the Madras Presidency.

	ooty Travel Guide : 1 Understand 2 Get in 2.1 By plane 2.2 By train 2.3 By car 3 Get around 4 See 5 Do 6 Eat 7 Drink 8 Sleep 9 Get out

Understand

Located in the mountainous range called the Nilgiris ("Blue Mountains"), it draws swarms of tourists every year. The weather is quite pleasant at a mean of 15-20 C year round, dropping to lows of 0 C during winter. The landscape is marked by rolling hills covered with dense vegetation, smaller hills and plateaus covered with tea gardens, and eaucalyptus trees. Many portions of the hills are preserved as natural reserve forests, and special permits will be needed to camp in noncamp sites. Ooty is not the destination in itself, as much as it is the focal point of attraction. Auto touring the surrounding country side is certainly a must do. Unfortunately, the hill town suffers from overcrowding and erosion of natural resources. Tourism has placed an enormous strain on the natural resources resulting in pollution, water shortage and bad roads.

The hilly region also houses smaller towns like Coonoor and Kotagiri. These smaller towns are a better choice to visit and spend time in, since they are off the beaten path, yet less than 1 hour away from Ooty. They enjoy the same natural climes and prices are a lot cheaper.

Get in

By plane

The Coimbatore airport is the closest to the hills at 2 hours by road. There are flights into Coimbatore from most parts of India. The Mysore airport is about 5 odd hours away from Ooty by road, and lies to the North of Ooty. The road trip is quite scenic from either airport.

By train

The hills are connected to Madras by a nightly train. The Blue Mountain Express leaves from Madras at night, and reaches Mettupalayam, a small town at the foothills of the Nilgiris early the next morning. The train, a standard diesel powered locomotive continues from Mettupalayam as a small coal powered historic locomotive that is a remnant of Swiss engineered trains imported in the late 1800s. The coal train is much smaller, and can only accommodate a portion of the passengers that disembark at Mettupalayam. A through ticket from Madras to Ooty will ensure a place in the smaller train, although many prefer the faster route of taking a cab or a bus from Mettupalayam.

The coal train takes a very scenic route, and the pace of travel will let you take in the beautiful scenery at leisure. The train uses a rachet and pinion system to haul itself up steep slopes, and also to prevent the train from sliding down when stopping. The train is often pushed from behind as well as pulled from the front by two separate coal engines. There are brakesmen at the rear of every carriage who will apply and release hand powered brakes individually for that carriage. The train often travels only at 5 - 10 Kmph, allowing some adventerous passengers to disembark from the train and walk along the train. This practice is not recommended and can be dangerous, besides there is a good chance that the train will speed up, and you will be unable to get back on board.

Mettupalayam can prove to be a bottle-neck during the peak season of April-June with cabs charging exorbitant rates. The train is often quite regular in this part of the country, and is by far the most comfortable way to get here.

There are other trains from Madras to Coimbatore. The journey can be continued from Coimbatore by road, a 2 hour journey.

By car

The Nilgiris are in Tamil Nadu, but it is quite near the borders of neighboring states Karnataka and Kerala. The hills consequently can be reached from within Tamil Nadu by travelling up a heavily forested winding road (also called a ghat road), with many sharp hair-pin beds. The road trip from any state is quite scenic, although the Coimbatore-Mettupalayam-Coonoor-Ooty road (i.e. the Tamil Nadu route) is the most travelled and well maintained. All roads to the Nilgiri hills are toll roads, although the tolls are quite nominal.

There are buses and shared taxi vans that can be boarded from most parts of India to Ooty. Ooty is 284 km from Bangalore by road.

Get around

See

• Ooty Botanical Gardens
• Doddabetta peak

Do

Most travel agents / hotels conduct guided tour packages that will bundle you into a bus, and tick off the most important and hence crowded "tourist" spots in the area.

• Enjoy the weather
• Go for long walks and hikes
• Visit a tea plantation and if possible a tea factory
• Travel the country side in a 4x4
• Catch a round of golf at the Gymkhana Golf course (membership or introduction required)
• Visit the local Army cantonment - the Madras Regimental Center and the DSSC (Defense Services Staff College)
• Visit terrace farmed cabbage fields around Ooty
• Visit the Mudumalai forest sanctuary (1-2 days minimum)
• Sample the local bakeries (Kingstar bakery near Charing Cross in Ooty sells sinfully delicious chocolate and pistachio fudges)

Eat

There are various restaurants in Ooty, mostly offering South Indian food, but some do offer North Indian stuff.

Drink

Sleep

There is no dearth of accommodations, with many hotels and inns that cater to every budget. Accommodations are no more expensive than most cities in India, and the popular Indian hotel chains have a presence here.

Get out

• Kotagiri Viewpoint
• Bandipur National Park
• Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary

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