Ooty (Udhagamandalam)

Ooty, officially Udhagamandalam, is a hill station at about 2,240 metres in the Nilgiri hills of Tamil Nadu, known as the Queen of Hill Stations. Ooty is surrounded by tea estates, eucalyptus and pine forests and rolling grasslands, and its cool climate has drawn visitors from the plains for two centuries.

The Nilgiris were home to the Toda, Badaga and other hill peoples long before John Sullivan, collector of Coimbatore, built the first European house here in the 1820s and dammed a stream to create Ooty Lake. Ooty became the summer capital of the Madras Presidency, with clubs, churches and gardens, and the Government Botanical Garden was laid out in 1848. The Nilgiri Mountain Railway, opened to Ooty in 1908, climbs from Mettupalayam on a rack and pinion track and is part of the Mountain Railways of India UNESCO World Heritage Site. Doddabetta, at 2,637 metres the highest peak in the Nilgiris, rises just outside the town.

What to see

• The Nilgiri Mountain Railway, especially the steam-hauled climb from Mettupalayam to Coonoor
• The Government Botanical Garden, with its fossilised tree trunk and Italian garden
• Ooty Lake, with boating and a lakeside path
• Doddabetta Peak and its viewpoint over the Nilgiris
• The Rose Garden, tea factories and St. Stephen's Church
• Toda settlements and their barrel-roofed huts on the edges of town

What to wear

Ooty is cool all year, around 15 to 20°C by day and much colder at night, especially from December to February when frost is possible, so bring a warm jacket or sweater. Rain is frequent from June to September; pack a waterproof layer and shoes with grip. Temples ask for shoulders and knees covered and shoes off. The Toda people are known for the puthukuli, a white shawl with red and black embroidery, and the Badaga for their white wraps.

Local food to try

Ooty is known for homemade chocolate, sold in shops along Commercial Road, and for the varkey, a flaky, crisp bread-biscuit from the Nilgiris. Fresh Nilgiri tea and eucalyptus oil make popular souvenirs. Tamil tiffin, such as dosa, idli and pongal with filter coffee, is served across town, and Badaga dishes such as greens with rice are served in some homes and homestays. Hot corn and bajji are sold by the lake in the evening.

Good to know

• Best time: October to June; April to June is the busy Indian summer season
• Town open at all times; gardens and parks roughly 7am to 6:30pm
• Small entry fees at gardens and viewpoints; railway tickets should be booked well in advance
• Allow two nights, with a morning on the mountain railway
• About 85 km from Coimbatore airport and around 125 km from Mysuru via Mudumalai
• Plastic is banned in the Nilgiris district; carry a cloth bag

Nearby places

Ooty is a common stop between the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu plains: Mysore Palace is about three to four hours away through the forests of Bandipur and Mudumalai, and the coffee hills of Coorg are around six hours by road. Kerala's tea country at Munnar is a long day's drive, about seven hours away.