A Short Trip to Ooty

We were eleven members including three kids, so we booked a tempo traveller for our convenient and started our trip from Bangalore. Weather was really good and early morning we could avoid the terrible city traffic. On the way to Ooty, few famous places like Channapatna, Srirangapatna, Mysore, Bandipur National Park and Mudumalai National Park come. Srirangapatna and Mysore are the two popular historical places while Channapatna is famous for toy making. We visited Mysore and Srirangapatna earlier so skipped this places and moved towards our destination Ooty. But if you want, can stay one night at Mysore and next day again start for Ooty.

We told our driver to slow the vehicle while passing through two National Parks. Actually, we wanted to feel the thrill of forest! We were very happy as because we could see many wild animals including elephant, various types of deer, peacock, and many more unknown creatures. After crossing the national parks we could realize altitutde had changed and temperature was less. Yes, we were near to Ooty. We finished our lunch before we check in to our prebooked resort. It took 9 hours to travel the distance of almost 300 Kms. I know you must be saying it’s too long time to travel this short distance. Correct, but we stooped here and there for our convenience.

Once you plan to visit Ooty at peak season, do your hotel booking first, otherwise you might be in trouble. Thankfully, we had no tension about this. Our resort was on hill top and 2 Kms away from the Ooty town. You can also opt for home stay which is quite famous in Southern part of India. We all were tired and thought of staying back at resort and enjoyed hot beverages (tea/coffee) with snacks. And also jotted down our plan of action (I mean schedule) for coming two days.

A deep sleep took away all our tiredness and all geared up to rejoice the beauty of Ooty. As per our plan we reached at Ooty toy train station. Toy train goes through hills and tunnels and reaches to Coonnor in 50 minutes to one hour. We were amazed by the beauty of hills and tea gardens. If you are in Ooty do not miss to ride the toy train journey. Our vehicle already reached to Coonnor and was waiting outside the station. Then, driver (guide) took us to a tea garden to show the whole procedure of tea making. Till date, I used enjoy my cup of morning tea daily but  I was really happy to know the techniques.

Our next sight seeing point was Dolphin Nose and falls. After that, we finished our lunch and started moving towards Pykara lake. Ooty lake is an artificial one but Pykara is a God gifted one. It is true man can create lakes but cannot create it’s scenic beauty. When we reached Pykara it was almost cloudy and the moment our boat took the speed, it started raining. And the best part was, our boat was half covered on top, so you can imagine rest of the story. We couldn’t visit Pykara falls due to bad weather but it is also a must watched place.

Next day was the last day of our short trip. We started our day with beautiful Botanical garden of Ooty. Garden was getting ready for the upcoming flower show. You would love to spend time at this botanical garden. Our last point was Dodabetta peak. Now it’s time to say good bye to Ooty and return to our day-to-day busy life. Next time when I come, hope to spend more time at Queen of Hills.