Ooty , also called as
Ugadamandalam, the jewel of
Nilgiris , is a very famous tourist attraction in southern India. Ooty, a hill station with a lot of tourists density , is an ideal place to be visited all throughout the year,but people generally prefer the months after the monsoon(i.e., months of Sept-Dec) due to heavy downpour during the monsoon season . But nevertheless , each season shows Ooty in a different attire . Visiting Ooty in any season should be pleasant , as one would see mother nature in a different outlook during each seasons .
Coonoor , another famous tourist place is also located very close to
Ooty.
Ooty is also the largest hill station in the
Nilgiris , followed by
Coonoor.
The Trip :
It was a Thursday and the weekend was about to come soon, and I wasn't interested to spend the whole weekend in Bangalore . Soon enough, just to have a change from the usual city weekend, I decided to visit
Coonoor .
Coonoor was in my TODO list from long back but somehow I thought of visiting this place at least this time.
Coonoor and
Ooty are very close (approx 20kms ) . Even though I had been to
Ooty many times before, I had never been to
Coonoor , I still wanted to visit this place, for the charm it provides .
The plan was all set : We would be leaving Bangalore on Saturday morning . Reaching
Ooty in the afternoon , seeing few places in and around
Ooty . The second day was reserved entirely for
Coonoor . We were supposed to return to Bangalore by Sunday night ! But unfortunately or fortunately, nothing actually happens as per plan . Fate has its own play !
The First Day :
It all started very well . We left Bangalore in the morning around 06:00 a.m. After having breakfast at Kollegala, we managed to reach
Ooty around 01:00 p.m. After having lunch there , it was the time to explore few places in and around
Ooty . We started by visiting
Doddabetta .
Doddabetta is the highest mountain in
Nilgiris region , located around 10 km from
Ooty City .
Doddabetta provides a panoramic view of the entire
Ooty city ! There is a watch tower with a telescope located there, thru which one can see
Ooty City Streets .
Later we headed towards
Ooty Lake . Boating in this lake is so calm and peaceful that one would forget all his worries and get lost in the natures beauty.
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| Ooty Lake |
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| Kamaraja Sagar Dam |
It was already 06:00 p.m in the evening , and we thought to call it off for the day. Since we had our stay booked , we directly headed to our hotel .
The Second Day :
The second day started a bit late for us . We were supposed to wake up early and leave for
Coonoor , but the cold weather was such that , none were ready to get up ! Finally we left for
Coonoor at 11:00 in the morning.
On the way to
Coonoor , one can see some very beautiful landscapes . The scenery is really mind blowing.
On the way to
Coonoor from
Ooty , one can come across
Valley View Point. The view point provides a very beautiful view of terraced Layout, Valley and adjacent mountains. After Valley View we headed towards
Sims Park.
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| View from Valley View Point |
Sims Park is another beautiful place located in
Coonoor . Its a very huge park which is again in terraced layout. Its an ideal place to spend time with your family and kids .
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| Beautiful View on way to Sims Park |
After Sims park, our next destination was
Lambs Rock.
Lambs Rock is a
another view point which provides a spectacular view of the scenic mountains around . But unfortunately , for us , the place was covered by thick
clouds making it difficult to see ! Next we headed to
Dolphin Nose.
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| MISTified Tea Estates |
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| View from Top of Lambs Rock |
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| A small bug @ Lambs Rock |
Dolphin Nose is another famous tourist attraction located in
Coonoor ! The place was named so because the tip of the peak resembles the shape of Dolphins nose. From here ,one can see the Coimbatore plains as well as the mountains of Nilgiris .
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| View from top of Dolphin Nose |
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| View from top of Dolphin Nose |
From Dolphin Nose, one can also see the beautiful
Catherine falls . Though its quite far , the waterfall looks amazingly beautiful from this distance too !
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| Catherine Falls as seen from Dolphin Nose |
Dolphin Nose marked the end of our trip .But the journey was still pending . We headed back to
Ooty to return to
Bangalore . Just for a change , we decided to go through another route , ie., via
Gudalur , crossing
Madhumalai Forest and entering
Karnataka thru
Bandipur Forest . But unfortunately , the time we arrived the Gudalur check post , the gate was already closed. So, we had to stay at Gudalur for that night and left next day early morning . ( Kindly note that the gate closes at 08:30 p.m and opens at 06:00 a.m and do plan your journey accordingly.)
Overall the trip was very good and
Ooty-
Coonoor is a place which everyone must visit . The scenic view that these places provide , are much more worth , and will never be perished .
(Note : Below Image gives various tourist attractions in and around Ooty )
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| Ooty-Coonoor Map & Places |
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