Ooty
Hill Station Of The Nilgiris; The Nilgiri Mountain Railway Is Part Of The UNESCO Mountain Railways Of India (2005) · Udhagamandalam, Tamil Nadu
The best-known hill station of south India, officially Udhagamandalam, in the Nilgiri hills of Tamil Nadu at over two thousand metres, developed by the British in the nineteenth century as the summer headquarters of the Madras Presidency. It keeps the colonial layout: a botanical garden laid out in 1848, a lake, churches, old club buildings and tea estates rolling over the hills around. The journey up is a highlight: the Nilgiri Mountain Railway, a rack railway that climbs from Mettupalayam through tunnels and forest, part of the Mountain Railways of India World Heritage Site. Doddabetta, the highest peak in the Nilgiris, gives the view, and the Toda people's barrel-roofed homes are a reminder of who lived here first. Ooty is hugely popular with families and honeymooners from across the south, which makes it very crowded in the summer holidays and around the flower show in May; the state has introduced an e-pass system for vehicles in peak season. The Mudumalai tiger reserve lies below the hills, and Coonoor is a quieter town nearby.
Commercial Road, Ooty, Udhagamandalam, Tamil Nadu, 643001, India
NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The typical pattern: the Botanical Garden and rose park open daily from about 7 in the morning to about 6:30 in the evening; the lake boat house runs from about 9 to 6. The toy train leaves Mettupalayam once each morning, around 7, and takes close to 5 hours uphill, with a separate return train. Doddabetta and tea factories keep daytime hours. In peak season, e-pass checks apply to vehicles and traffic into town can add hours. Confirm times and e-pass rules before travelling.