Ooty is known as the Queen of hills. And for good reason. It cozily nests on the Blue Mountains of South India, the Nilgiris, at a height of about 2240 m, and is surrounded with bountiful greenery.
Ooty, also known as Udhagamandalam/Ootacamund, is one of the most visited hill stations in South India.

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Travel tips
Best time to visit: October-June is the most crowded time. But all through the year Ooty has visitors because of its year-round pleasant weather.
How to get there: Buses ply from all major cities in South India to Ooty. Mettupalayam is the closest railway station.
Mettupalayam to Ooty Toy Train is a fun way to ride if you have a lot of time. The toy train takes about 5 hours to travel the 52 kms and reach Ooty. But the beautiful scenery you get to see along the way is worth the time. It has 5 stops including a halt at Coonoor.
Things to do: Doddabetta Peak, Botanical Garden, Boat House/Lake, Tea Factory.
If you are on a long trip, do not miss visiting the awesome Mudumalai National Park (43 kms from Ooty) and, Mukurthi National Park (32 kms from Ooty). Coonoor and Kotagiri are also close to Ooty and have various attractions.
Though I like to enjoy places without too many people around, I could not visit Ooty when it is relatively empty.
I found that this charming hill station is always full of tourists, except for the months of July and August.
My Ooty experience
We had only a day to visit Ooty, so we hired a taxi and started very early in the day for the visit.
As we traveled up the ghat road to Ooty, we saw lovely little stucco houses lining the valley and were amazed to see cars and bikes parked on the rooftops of the houses. Our guide said that it was done to prevent the vehicles from sliding into the valley.
As we visited Ooty in the Christmas and New Year holiday season, the tourist crowd was enormous. There were cars constantly going up and down the ghat road.

Doddabeta Peak
The first place we planned to visit in Ooty was the famous Doddabetta Peak.
After getting stuck for about 20 minutes in traffic on the road towards the peak, we finally climbed towards the destination only to be stopped again by the traffic police.
They informed us that we will have to wait for half an hour and then drive towards the peak. This was done to avoid overcrowding at the peak.
We saw that there were about 30 cars in front us waiting, and joined the queue. Thankfully, within 15 minutes we were allowed to go.
We followed the other cars into the Doddabetta peak’s view-point’s parking lot. The view-point offered spectacular views of Ooty and its surroundings. The peak is the highest in Eastern Ghats.
We had an unremarkable lunch (I wonder why many popular tourist places do not offer tasty food) and then went to visit the boat house.
Though we waited for about 40 minutes to get the tickets and then get on a boat, it was worth the wait. We enjoyed going around the peaceful lake in a 8-seater boat and had our fill of the blissful scenery around.
Also read: Kodaikanal, the best kept secret of South India
Tea Factory Museum
I am a tea lover through and through.
The next stop was at the Ooty Tea Factory and Museum. We learnt the history of tea in the museum. Then we saw a live demo of tea making. We saw the journey the tea leaves make till they become high-grade tea dust.
We enjoyed the sample cups of tasty tea given at the end of the factory tour. After buying tea powder packs there, we visited the chocolate-making store next to the tea factory and got homemade chocolate too.
The last stop was at the Botanical Gardens. It was very neatly maintained with lush green grass and well-kept trees. We had a great time in the park.
It got very chilly in the evening, and we started back our descent from Ooty at 6 P.M.

Wild animals
While coming back we took the Kotagiri route (the traffic was less in this route) and had the good fortune of spotting a herd of wild buffaloes and a few spotted deer.
We bought very tasty ‘Varki’ (A type of rusk) on the way. We wrapped up our Ooty trip by stopping at the Mettupalayam viewpoint. The night scene below was like looking at a sea of lights in the ink black night.
If you have at least 3 days on your hands, try to cover as many places as you can. I am planning to visit this Nilgiris hill again soon and enjoy the places we missed on this trip. Plan a trip when the schools are in session and have a great time!
For more wonderful getaways around Bangalore, check out my post, Top Weekend Getaways around Bangalore.

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Sounds like a lovely trip, I’m wondering if we go to south India from Sri Lanka in May?
Just check beforehand, some places can be downright scorching in May. I love Kodaikanal in May though 🙂
This is very insightful. I definitely want to check out the Tea Museum as I am a massive tea lover!
Cool..have a great trip!
I have been dreaming of India, and this post is inspiring! Beautiful photos. You mentioned there were a lot of tourists. I’m curious, are these most local/Indian tourists, international tourists, or both? I admit, I have not done extensive research into destinations around India, but I had never heard of Ooty before!
Hi Rachael, Ooty tourists are mostly local. International tourists are few in number.
Ooty is a famous honeymoon destination in South India. It is also a great summer getaway for locals:)
How lovely and green everything is! India is not on my travel wish list, but I love reading about places I’ll likely never get to visit!
Have a great trip 🙂
Beautiful photos! I’ve never been to India and didn’t expect to see such a lush landscape. The tea museum sounds really interesting as well.
Yes, South India is very green especially in monsoon 🙂
Wow the green colour in your pictures is beautiful! Which types of tea did you try?
Thank you 🙂 I loved the ginger tea served at a road-side stall there. What is your favorite?
I had never heard of Ooty before I read this post! Looks like you did some many things in just one day – great that you got to experience both the tea factory and the chocolate making store! Do you recommend Ooty over other hill stations?
Hi Michelle, Ooty is definitely a great summer getaway in India. Was popular as a honeymoon destination too. But with rising crowds from the past few years, I feel its best to avoid in peak seasons. I love visiting Kodaikanal (an awesome hill station in South India, my post is at http://glorioussunrise.com/top-reasons-why-you-should-not-miss-visiting-kodaikanal/), as it is less crowded 🙂
That green is almost too good to be true! I love the picture of the tea leaves too – I bet it’s amazingly fresh there!
Yup, it is 🙂
Omg the tea factory museum sounds incredible!! I wanna go now. I’m obsessed with tea!
Cool, me too 🙂
Sounds like a great weekend trip. I would love to visit the tea factory. I love seeing how food is produced. We can be so far removed from the process of something that we consume every day!
Yeah, hope you enjoy the visit 🙂
Sounds like a great place to visit! It’s so green and fresh! Never heard of this place before! Thanks for sharing!
Welcome 🙂
Wow! Absolutely beautiful. There’s another for the travel list! 🙂
Thanks!
Nice post. Keep posting more on ooty.
Nice Job.South India is really cool.