Affordable and Best Hotels in Ooty

Ooty which is located in the Nilgiris is a famous place of visit during the hot summers in India. People from all over India and also from different parts of the world come here to experience the beautiful cool climate and also the breath taking views that the hill station offers. Ooty with its scenic beauty and pleasant Climate attracts a lot of tourists and this leads to a mad rush for getting a place of stay during the season time.People face a lot of hardship in getting a place to stay even after spending huge amounts. Apart from the hotel there are also other places ( houses) which are rented out to the visitors on a daily rent basis. This is normally cheaper than  the Hotels and many people can stay together. These places also have in-house cooks who cook for the guests and all one needs to do is to provide for the provisions to cook. Apart from Ooty there are 2 more small towns in the Nilgiris which one needs to visit while in Ooty. Coonoor and Kotagiri also part of the Nigiris forms a Triangle with Ooty at an approximate distance of 18 Kilometers each from Ooty. These 2 places have managed to keep away from the maddening crowd that Ooty normally gets and there is still more a pleasant place of stay. There are very Few hotels in Coonoor namely Hotel Blue Hills,Vivek Tourist Home, Hotel Ramachandra. There is also theTaj Garden Retreat for  the elite traveller and the Velan for the not so elite. You can check out some of the Hotels in Ooty that I am listing below though it may not be as cheap as you want it to be.

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A View of the Railway line from the Coonoor to Ooty Highway

Hotel	Location in Ooty
Sarkar Palace, Ooty	Doddabetta Road
The Willow Hill, Ooty	Havelock Road
Vinayaga Inn, Ooty	Garden Road
Charring Cross, Ooty	Garden Road
City Palace, Ooty	Lake Road
Darshan, Ooty	Lake Road
Glanton Manor, Ooty	Coonoor Road
Glyngarth Villa Resorts, Ooty	Club Road
Hill Country Holiday Resorts, Ooty	Grand Duff Road
Khems, Ooty	Ettines Road
Kluney Manor, Ooty	Mount Pleasant.
Lake Residency, Ooty	Lake Road
Lakeview, Ooty	Lake Road
Moti Manour, Ooty	Coonoor Road
Nahars Residency, Ooty	Main Bazaar
Orchid Inn, Ooty	Coonoor Road
Preethi Palace, Ooty	Charring Cross
Race View, Ooty	Ettines Road
Reemas Residency, Ooty	Club Road
Sagar Holiday Resorts, Ooty	Grand Duff Road
Sapphire Grand, Ooty	Charring Cross
Silver Oak, Ooty	Ettines Road
Space Inn Holiday Resort, Ooty	Baikey Road
Sterling Resorts Ooty Elkhill, Ooty	Mutt Road
WelcomHeritage Fernhills Palace, Ooty	Selbourne Road
WelcomHeritage Regency Villas Palace, Ooty	Grand Duff Road

A Baby Elephant at the Mudumalai Reserve

This Baby Elephant is sulking to come out for a walk.It wants to be with its mother. However the Mahout is wanting it to come out and play...

Looks like he has succeeded and look who is trying to get the Baby Elephant to pose. Its Reggie......for those who know him......and for those who don't .......well he is one hell of a nice person......a Nature lover and photographer....Currently Residing in London but never misses a chance to come down to the Nilgiris and go out with my Brother Rajkumar for a Trek and camp in the wild........

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The Reserve forest on the way to The Nilgiris

Traveling from Mysore to Ooty in The Nilgiris one would have to cross the National Reserve's of Bandipur and Mudumalai forests. The portion of forest on the Karnataka side is known as Bandipur and the portion of forest on the Tamil Nadu side is known as Mudumalai forest.  The Reserve has many wild animals and trained ones as well. You will be able to see quite a few tuskers. Also, animals like Wild Boar, Spotted Deer, Langurs Bison are a regular treats. I once remember seeing a wild Tiger while travelling along the Kallatti falls route. The tiger was a majestic one,striped and almost 3 meters in length if you consider the tail. When it rurned and roared I was thankful that I was sitting inside a car that too am Ambassador which has a very strong body compared to the modern day cars. That was in the night around 10 pm and we had sneaked past the check post. Since this route is quite steep and many wild animals cross the road the check post closes at 6.00 pm. If you happen to take this route the travel time can be cut short by around 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours depending on your speed.

Accomadation is available in both Bandipur and Mudumali areas. There are Govt owned guest houses as well private hotels which provide accomadation. You may also consider staying in a LOG HOUSE....a realy wild one with animals peering into the log house at night as you sleep......oh....by the way I forgot to mention the Bears that also frequest these areas...The tribes of this fregion domesticate these bears for various purposes. But if you happen to meet up with a Wild Bear I am sure the Olympic records would be broken......sad thing is there would not be any one to record it.......

Getting upto the Nilgiris where Ooty is located

Reaching the hill station of Ooty situated in The Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu, India is not all that difficult. There are a number of ways but the most prominent of them being the route from Mettupalayam comprising of a road and a railway line going all the way up to Ooty in the Nilgiris. For those of you who are not from south India or are from abroad the best way would be to reach Coimbatore by Train or flight and carry onto Mettupalayam by bus or Taxi. or better still one can take a bus/taxi straight from Coimbatore to the Nilgiris or catch the train to Ooty. Once you enter the ghat section the temperature begins to drop and you will be immersed in the natural beauty of  the hills with the roads winding itself up the steep and sometimes dangerous route going up and up until you touch the clouds. I would also recommend that you take the Blue Mountain Express( Train ) to Ooty. The journey would definitely be one that you would never forget in a lifetime. The train travels really slow and one could jog along with it and you will occasionally see a bridge or a tunnel set in the hills.



When you drive up to Ooty from Gudalur during the monsoon or winter season, you can experience the mystical feeling of being blanketed by thick mist. Please watch the video below

The second best way is from Mysore. This is a Bus route and there is no train facility available. However the route passes through the India's Reserve forest and hence you would be surprised to find Elephants, Deers,  Bisons wild  Boars Peacocks and if you are really lucky you might get to see a tiger or a leopard.The route takes one to Gudalur which is at the foothills of Ooty while Gudalur itself is a semi Hills. After Gudalur it is a steep climb until for about half an hour and then the road flattens out.

Both the routes are breath takingly awesome and would be a treat for any nature lover......

History of the Nilgiris where Ooty is situated

The Nilgiris have a history dating back a good many centuries. The name is derived from the fact that the mountains have a blue smokey look when seen from far. There is also another theory that it is because of the kurunji flower, which blooms every twelve years giving the slopes a bluish tinge. The Nilgiris were originally inhabited by the Todas from Ooty and Kotas from Kotagiri. However the Badagas appeared here much later from the Mysore Plateau, around the 16th century. It is to be noted that Nilgiris has its mention in the great Epic Ramayana of Valmiki.
It was only in the 19th Century the English unsuccessfully considered surveying this area. The first European resident of the hills was John Sullivan, the Collector of Coimbatore, who went up to Ooty the same year and built himself a home. It was during this time that the English came to know the existence of a tableland possessing a European climate. Europeans soon started settling down here or using the valley for summer stays. The Nilgiris became a summer resort.
By the end of the 19th century, the Nilgiri hills were completely accessible with the laying of roads and the railway line.

Ooty Carrots are a big attraction for Tourists

Dodabetta and Mukurthi Peaks of Ooty in the Nilgiris

Mukurthi and Dodabetta are the 2 highest peaks in the Nilgiris located close to Ooty Town. Dodabetta which is closer to Ooty town than Mukurthi Peak was believed to be the highest until few years back when Mukurthi was found to be higher by around a meter. Dodabetta is situated 10 km from Ooty bus stand while Mukurth is set in the deep jungles of the Nilgiris with the Mukurthi lake at its foot. For those nature lovers and trekkers, going to Mukurthi will defenitely be quite an experience. There is no transport facilities and hence one would need to trek it to the peak.

Mukurthy Peak In Nilgiris, India