On the Nilgiris - Ooty

Ooty or Udhagamandalam is a beautiful hill station located in Tamilnadu state of south India. It is well connected by state transportation buses and railway. Nearest Airport is Coimbatore situated about 80KM away. We took a cab from Coimbatore airport to bus station from where we got govt. bus to reach Ooty, it took around 5 hours. 

On the way to Ooty

On our first day at evening, we visited the Ooty lake house and enjoyed boat ride. The lake is beautiful, and the lake house has many fun activities like mirror maze, haunted house, toy train, food stalls, etc. 

Ooty Lake

Just opposite to Lake house there is special garden, called Thread Garden. It is an art museum of beautiful artificial flowers made by silk thread. They also demonstrates the process of making these colorful handcrafted flowers.

Colorful flowers created by silk thread, Thread garden, Ooty

Colorful flowers created by silk thread, Thread garden, Ooty

The second day started with the most amazing and scenic experience of Nilgiri mountain railway - The mini train. The train runs between Ooty and Mettupalayam station, and gives the amazing joyride of Nilgiri mountains and tea gardens in its way. We descended to Coonoor town by the Nilgiri railway in an hour. 

Nilgiri Mountain Railway, Ooty

There are cabs available out side of the station for Coonoor sight seeing. They charge around 500/- to 600/- including guide to show all the famous points of the town. We visited Tea gardens and tasted pure green tea. Then visited Lamb's rock point, Dolphin's nose point, Sleeping lady view point, Coonoor town view, etc. 

Sleeping lady view point, Coonoor

View from Lamb's Rock Point, Coonoor

Tea Gardens, Coonoor

Coonoor town view point

The main attraction of Coonoor town is Sim's park, a well maintained botanical garden, having lots of plant species and tall trees. We visited the park in May, so fortunately we could enjoy the fruit show and a cultural show here. 

Fruit show, Sim's Park, Coonoor

Fruit show, Sim's Park, Coonoor

A century old tree, Sim's Park, Coonoor

Sim's Park, Coonoor

Sim's Park, Coonoor

Our third day we spent visiting scenic mountain peaks and colorful gardens of Ooty. The Doddabetta peak is the highest point of south India and has fabulous multiple view points over here. It's well maintained and photography lover's place.

Telescope house, Doddabetta peak, Ooty

View from Doddabetta peak, Ooty

The Botanical garden of ooty is one of the oldest botanical gardens of India. The climate is so enjoyable in this garden even in the summer. The Garden is so large that it is divided into several sections like Italian garden, upper garden, main garden, nurseries, etc. The garden has around a thousand species of plants and trees. In the centre of the Gardens lie a fossilized tree trunk estimated to be 20 million years old.

Botanical Garden, Ooty

Botanical Garden, Ooty

Botanical Garden, Ooty

The Rose garden of Ooty is the biggest rose garden of India, having more than 20,000 varieties of roses in various sizes and colors. It is maintained by the Tamil Nadu Horticulture Department and is one of the must see places of Ooty.

Sitar of roses, Rose Garden, Ooty

Rose Garden, Ooty

A Pink rose, Rose Garden, Ooty

Rose Garden, Ooty

Rose Garden, Ooty

Rose Garden, Ooty

The Ooty is famous to buy homemade chocolates available in almost all the shops. Also enjoy buying juicy fresh fruits and green tea.

Monsoon at Mahabaleshwar

Mahabaleshwar is a very famous hill station in Maharastra, India. It is situated on Sahyadri mountain range. Mahabaleshwar has beautiful natural surroundings and large number of tourist points. 

Hilly surroundings of Mahabaleshwar

We stayed in Mahabaleshwar for 2 days. There are many hotels available for stay, but it is good to select near the market or bus stand.

For sightseeing, we hired a taxi. The taxies have fix rate cards for different tours here. They show you the card and you need to select the tour accordingly. They have special tours only for monsoons also.

On the first day we visited Panchgani, which is famous for its strawberry gardens and Jam - Chocolate factories. We visited Manama and Mapro companies and their gardens. You can taste and buy the products like jams, syrups, squashes, fruit jelly and pulps, etc.

Strawberry garden, Panchgani

Panchgani is also famous for its Table Land point. The place is called table land because there is 4 KM wide flat area, on the top of the hill. 

Table land point, Panchgani

 Then we visited Parsi point, here you can get an excellent view of river Krishna flowing through the wide range of hills, and also its dam.

View from Parsi point, Panchgani

On the other day, we went for local Mahabaleshwar sightseeing. The main points we visited are:

Echo point - A fabulous point over the hill, the view of river and dam, you can hear echo of your voice if you shout loudly, amazing experience.

Echo point, Mahabaleshwar

Elephant's Head point - You can see an elephant's head and trunk shape in the hill, beautiful sight.

Elephant's Head point, Mahabaleshwar

Lingamala falls - You can totally enjoy this place if you be here in monsoon or after monsoon. There are 3 small waterfalls adjacent to each other, a good family picnic point.

Lingmala falls, Mahabaleshwar

Panchaganga Mandir - An ancient temple is dedicated to five sacred rivers namely Krishna, Savitri, Gayatri, Koyna and Venna. All the five rivers together flow out from the Gaumukh, the holy cow's head.

Mahabaleshwar temple - The very big and famous Shiv temple, the shivlinga is believed to be around 500 years old and Swayambhu (Self Oriented). It is in the shape of Rudraksha and it is honoured by the title ‘Mahalingam’. 

Venna lake - The Lake is surrounded by greenery, is a popular hang out at Mahabaleshwar. Numerous amusement activities like boating, fishing and horse riding are available here. Various food stalls and fruit stalls attract tourists.

Venna Lake, Mahabaleshwar

Connaught Peak - It is the second highest point of Sahyadri Mountain Ranges, from here we can get an amazing view of the whole Mahabaleshwar, the Krishna river and its surrounding mountains, and even the clouds running below you. 

View from Connaught Peak, Mahabaleshwar

Babington point - Here you get an excellent view of Koyna Valley and Chinaman's waterfall. 

View from Babington point, Mahabaleshwar