Travel to Ooty

A bungalow which is called Kal Bangla is one of the landmarks of Ooty and is now part of the Government Arts College. Several English cottages like the Stone House with pretty gardens, and large bungalows were built by the British.

The atmosphere of the Raj has not faded from Ooty- the Club where snooker was first invented, the Nilgiri Library with its rare and valuable collection of books on Ooty and St.Stephen's Church, which was first church in Ooty. Nearby is the cemetery, which has the oldest British tombstones in the town. The Botanical Gardens has a very wide variety of plants that include different types of roses, imported shrubs, rare flowering plants, eucalyptus trees, and even a fossilised tree trunk that is 20 million years old. A beautiful Italian floral garden adds to the charming milieu.

The "Summer Festivals" are held each year in May in The Botanical Gardens is a perennial attraction for tourists and the Flower Show is the pride of the festival.

Cultural programmes of dance and music are organised and also trekking, to form part of the festival. The artificial lake has facilities for boating. Among the outstanding viewpoints is Elk Hill, Green Valley View and Snowden Peak but the most prominent is the Dodabetta Peak at a height of 2623m. On a clear day one can see the plains of Coimbatore and the Mysore plateau. The sprawling 20,000 acres of Wenlock Downs was once the scene of the famous Ooty Hunt and contains the Gymkhana Club, the Government Sheep Farm and the Golf Course.

Places to visit in Ooty:

Mini Garden Art Gallery - Lalithkala Academy - It is situated about 2 kms., from Ooty and has a collection of contemporary paintings and sculptures of all over India.

Rose Garden - It lies on 10 acres of land with an amazing variety of roses.

Kotagiri - Nearby Ooty is Kotagiri where the climate is very salubrious. Kotagiri is shielded by the Doddabetta ranges, which receives much of its rain from northwest monsoon.

The Government Museum - It has items of tribal objects, the district's ecological details and representative sculptural arts and crafts of Tamil Nadu. Kodanadu 16 kms. from Kotagiri on the eastern edges of the Nilgiris is Kodanadu with panoramic views of the tea estates and the river Moyar.

St. Catherine Water Falls- The magnificent view of St. Catherine water falls which is about 250 feet height and can be reached from Kotagiri at a distance of 8 kms.

Gudalur - It is the Gateway to Nilgiris from Kerala and Karnataka. Udhagamandalam Coonoor and Kotagiri lie in the upper plateau of Nilgiris and Gudalur lies in the lower plateau.

Frog hill - It is 14 kms. From Gudalur From here one can see a gigantic Frog shape hill view.

Needle point rock view - It is 12 kms. on the way to Udhagamandalam. From here one can enjoy panoramic view of Mudumalai wildlife sanctuary. Numbalkottah 8 kms. from Gudalur this is a shrine of Battarayaswamy (Lord of the Hunts) with sub-shrine built in Kerala style . The Wynad sanctuary is visible from here.

Nellakotta - It is 15 kms. from Gudalur and a dilapidated fort is there.

Nelliyalayam - 20 kms. from Gudalur has a few ruins of historical interest.

Cherambadi - 35 kms. from Gudalur. It's extreme western corner has plantations and mica mines.

Hanging Bridges - Located on the way to Mudumalai wildlife Sanctuary, it is 14 kms. from Gudalur. The other tourist places are Siva Temple at Barowood valley, Maravakandy Dam at Masinagudi and Moyar Water falls.