Road trip to Ooty

We started our journey at morning 7 o'clock of 13th february 2021 from our home at Thrissur. We have planned to take Thrissur - Vadakkencherry - Walayar - Coimbatore - Mettupalaiyam - Coonoor - Ooty route for the journey. The road upto Coimbatore was not so busy and we had a smooth drive. We reached Coimbatore town limits around 10 a.m. Due to heavy traffic and road blocks for flyover construction it took more than half an hour to get out from the city limits to Mettupalaiyam road. At around 11-30 we reached Mettupalaiyam. From here onwards we get the refreshing feel of Nilgiris. We saw distant views of mountains and the temperature also began to descend.

The drive was becoming more and more enjoyable because of the beautiful views on both sides of the road. We passed Coonoor which was a small town on the way to Ooty. There are many tourist spots to visit around Coonoor which we skipped as because we will be late reaching Ooty. The views of eucalyptus forests and hills on sides of roads were so rejuvenating.

After an hour, at around 4 o'clock we went to visit the famous Ooty lake. Ooty lake is the most visited tourist spot in Ooty and will always be crowded. We parked car nearby and walked to the lake. The lake area was crowded but still lot less than the normal tourist seasons as because covid precautions were still there. We have to take tickets to enter the lake area and there is boating, toy train, 7D theatre and other activities inside which have separate tickets. The lake at hill stations is always a delightful view to the eyes. Ooty lake is so beautiful that we can spent time there without doing much but simply watching the lake.

We then went for the toy train ride which was a nostalgic feeling as we have seen it in lot of movies as well as took that ride before as a child. It is just a 15 minutes ride along the lake side and there were lot of people taking the ride including children and elders.

After spenting about 2 hours in and around lake area, we took a drive to town area. The main town of Ooty was having heavy traffic and there were no place to park the car and so we decided to go back to our hotel. The weather had became very cold then and it became difficult to walk around without a sweater. We had dinner from the hotel restaurant and then went to sleep.

We woke up at morning 7 o'clock and went for a walk to the horticulture garden. It was so cold outside and there were no one visiting gardens at that time as it will be opened to public only at 9 a.m. It was such a refreshing experience to walk inside the garden enjoying the nature and cool weather. We took some photos there and spent around 45 minutes walking almost the entire garden.

After that we had breakfast from the hotel restaurant. It was a normal buffet breakfast with limited items. We checked out from the hotel at around 9-15 a.m.

One thing I miss on my every visit to Ooty is to take a ride on the ever beautiful Nilgiri mountain railways. This time also we couldn't take the ride but instead we visited one of the most beautiful railway station on this route - Lovedale.

We then decided to take the return ride along Ooty - Gudalur - Nilambur - Perinthalmanna - Pattambi - Kunnamkulam - Thrissur route. The Ooty - Gudalur route has many famous tourist spots like Pine forest, Wenlock Downs 9th Mile Shooting Point, Pykara lake, Needle Rock View Point, etc. We only made a quick stop at pine forest and skipped rest of the spots as the drive along this beautiful road is itself a unforgettable experience. The views on both sides of road were astonishing.

We had lunch from hotel Grand view just before reaching Gudalur town. This was a decent restaurant on this route with well maintained wash rooms and dining area. Food was tasty with reasonable price.

After reaching Masinagudi, a small town which is part of Mudumalai tiger reserve on the Mudumalai - Ooty route, we decided to drive back to Gudalur. At around 3 p.m we reached back at Gudalur and continued our journey towards Nilambur route. We reached back home at 8 p.m.

Ooty was refreshing as always and no matter how many times you had visited Ooty, you still finds something mesmerizing on each and every visit. A destination which never gets tired of welcoming same people again and again and again!