Karnataka Travelogue, blended with Photologue-Travelogue-Infologue: A Visit to the Ooty Gardens

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

A Visit to the Ooty Gardens

A Visit to the Ooty Gardens:

Started my day from Mettupalyam at 7.30am and missed the mountain train which was at 7.15am, i just caught a bus to Ooty, the views are breathtaking even in bus drive too.

As the bus started to ride over the Nilgiri hills i could sense the temperature dropping quickly. There are a number of hairpin bends on the way, so better don't have food before starting the drive.

In the early drive you could see lots of trees on the mountains, and once u spot tea estates it means u r nearing to Coonoor, further 11km up the hills is Ooty.

Got down at Charring cross(Ooty town) at 9.30am and couldn't find many good veg hotels around so had to settle for Durga veg. Food is average but no better choice.

Green Lawns at Botanical Garden

Just a km away is the Government Botanical Garden, in fact it is the best place in Ooty town. It is said that it is the largest Botanical garden in India. It is really worth visiting it and one of the best maintained gardens i ever seen. Spent almost 5 hours taking pictures of landscape, birds, flowers and architecture. In between it rained almost for an hour. After the rain stopped the sun came up almost within few mins and there was lot of mist coming from the woods. I could manage to do some shopping around the garden and just walked from the Tibetan market.

St.Stephens Church

Left from the garden at 3pm and reached Charring cross again for lunch, just 1km from there is the St.Stephens Church, although i was the lonely dweller, it was a quite peaceful place away from the town. There are decent views of the city from there.

A Birds eye view of the Rose Garden

The Church closed at 4.30pm and i left to Rose Garden which is aound 2km from the church. It is said that it is the largest Rose garden in India. Not a great place for tourism, but a decent place for getting the views of the town on the slopes and definitely a picnic spot and rose lovers will really love it, the garden itself is on the slopes of Elk hill. Spent the rest of my day taking pictures and left at 6.30pm.

Walked down the hill about half a km is the commercial road where u can find lots of hotels and had my dinner and left at 7.30pm to charring cross for some shopping, I could find lots of shops for shopping home made chocolates, but suggest u to go to NCC super market for shopping home made chocolates and Nilgiri tea, one can find lot of varities over there. One can check out Cafe Coffee day at Charring cross.

It was around 8pm when i left the place and caught a local bus from there and reached Main bus stand. Finally had to wait for an hour to get my bus Airavat back to Bangalore. And as usual KSRTC service rocks, had a pleasant travel with all those good memories.

Although this was my 2nd visit to ooty, pretty much covered the ooty town only in the 2nd visit. Had been to most of the places in ooty in my 1st visit in 2009 including Nilgiri Mountain Railway(Toy Train), Pykara falls, Pine forest, 6th mile-9th mile(shooting medu/spot), Ooty Lake/Boating house, Doddabetta peak, Kamaraj Sagar Dam(Sandynalla reservoir).

On my 2nd visit I wanted to explore the town and mainly for the purpose of Photography, covered the Government Botanical Gardens, Government Rose Garden, and St. Stephen's Church.

There are few more on my checklist Avalanche, Mukurthi National Park, Emerald Lake, Dolphin's Nose/Catherine Falls in Coonoor.

Top 5 Places to visit in Ooty town:

1.Government Botanical Garden(3 Km, 7 am to 6.30 pm), just opposite the entrance to the Botanical Gardens u can find Tibetan Market.(opens only after lunch)

2.Government Rose Garden(2km, 8am to 6.30pm)

3.St Stephens Church(0.8km from charring cross, 10 am - 1 pm & 3 pm - 5 pm)

4.Ooty Lake and Boat house(1 Km, 9 am to 5.30 pm), just opposite to the entrance of Ooty Lake u can find Thread Garden(open till 6 pm), also there is a Deer park around 1km from Ooty Lake located on the other side of the lake

5.Government Museum & Art Gallery (1.5km, 10 am to 1 pm and 2 am to 5 pm) only if u interested in museum's and art.

Note :

-Timings are tentative. Distances are from Main bus stand unless specified.

-Shop at Charring cross for some homemade chocolates, Nilgiri Tea and Eucalyptus oil.

Top 10 Places to visit around Ooty (in order):

1.Doddabetta Peak (10km, 7.00 am to 6.00 pm)-there are buses from bus stand every 30mins.

2.Avalanche

3.Mukurthi National Park

4.Emerald Lake

5.Dolphin's Nose/Catherine Falls in Coonoor

6.Shooting medu/spot 6th mile and 9th mile, it means 6miles/9miles from ooty town

7.Pykara Lake and Pykara Falls, can visit Pine forest on the way to pykara falls

8.Kamraj Sagar Dam

9.Tiger Hill

10.kodanadu view point

Mode of Transport:

1.There are daily sight seeing trips from TN Govt buses running from Main bus stand.

2.Also u find buses to almost all the places from the Main bus stand.

3.There are private day sight seeing trips organised from private travels, u can find them around Charring cross.

4.These is a private taxi stand at Charring cross, and charge somewhere around 800 for day sight seeing, else can hire a cab for some fixed prices.

5.If u want to do sight seeing only inside the town then u can make best use of the town buses(green mini buses) which charge only 5rs inside the town, else u can avail autos which charge anywhere between 40Rs-100Rs for 1km-4km distance.

Other Useful travel information:

Mountain Train from Mettupalyam to Ooty : MTP UAM PASSR dep Mettupalyam 7.10am -> arr ooty 12pm.

Photo Gallery: