Things to do in The Western Ghats
-
A
Doddabetta Lookout
This is it: the highest point (2633m) of the Nilgiris and one of the best viewpoints around, assuming, as usual, the day is clear. It’s about 10km out of town; go early for better chances of a mist-free view. Any Kotagiri buses will drop you here.
reviewed
-
B
Thread Garden
Your appreciation of the Thread Garden rests on your love of irony and kitsch. If that threshold is low, you’ll be disappointed. If it’s decent, you may, if you’re in a good mood, enjoy the ‘miracle’ (official description and just slight hyperbole) that is 150 species of ‘plants’ from around the world meticulously re-created using ‘hand-wound’ thread. The technique was perfected by Keralan artist Anthony Joseph and the work took 50 craftspeople 12 years to complete, which is either very impressive or kinda sad.
reviewed
-
C
Sidewalk Café
A cross between an American diner and an Italian cafe is something you’d expect to find in Mumbai rather than the mountains, but it’s a welcome change of scene. The fluorescent interior is oddly out of place in Ooty and the food is a bit overpriced, but if you’re craving something Western this is as good as it gets.
reviewed
-
D
Shinkow’s Chinese Restaurant
Shinkow’s is an Ooty institution and the simple menu of chicken, pork, beef, fish, noodles and rice dishes is usually pretty good, if kind of uninspired.
reviewed
-
E
Green Shop
The Keystone Foundation runs the Green Shop, which sells honey and organic produce harvested by local and indigenous farmers.
reviewed
-
F
King's Cliff Restaurant
An atmospheric restaurant with quality multicuisine food. There's no alcohol permit, but you can BYO.
reviewed
-
Royal Tibet
If you’re missing Tibetan food, come here for the chewy but tasty momos (dumplings).
reviewed
-
G
Chandan Restaurant
At Hotel Nahar, Chandan serves up delicious veg dishes in elegant surroundings. Thalis are served at lunchtime or choose from a range of biryanis and Chinese dishes.
reviewed
-
H
Tribal Research Centre Museum
It’s hard to say why you should love this museum more: for its decently executed exhibits on Nilgiri and Andaman tribal groups, or the decomposing corpses of badly stuffed local wildlife, including a rotting mongoose that just arrived from hell’s deepest pit and a ‘python’ apparently made from several socks, a blanket and those googly eyes you buy at the local crafts store. OK: seriously, the artefacts are fantastic – you may never get the chance to hold a Stone Age bow in your life again – and descriptions of the tribes are good, if written by anthropologists with no filter from academia to normal English. The guides are either researchers who can give you an enthusias…
reviewed
-
I
St Stephen’s Church
Perched above the town centre, the immaculate St Stephen’s Church, built in 1829, is the oldest church in the Nilgiris. Throughout its history, St Stephens has racially shifted from hosting an exclusively British congregation to an Anglo-Indian orphanage to falling under the auspices of the Church of South India. Look out for lovely stained glass, huge wooden beams hauled by elephant from the palace of Tipu Sultan some 120km away, and the sometimes kitschy, sometimes touching, slabs and plaques donated by colonial-era churchgoers. In the quiet, overgrown cemetery you’ll find headstones commemorating many an Ooty Brit, including the wife and daughter of John Sullivan, th…
reviewed
Advertisement
-
Coaker’s Walk
Assuming it’s not cloaked in opaque mist, the valley views along paved Coaker’s Walk are superb. There’s no plastic allowed on the pathway, a rule flagrantly flaunted by locals, and a small observatory with telescope at the southern end. Start near Greenlands Youth Hostel or Villa Retreat – where stained glass in the nearby Church of South India (CSI) is stunning in the morning light – and the stroll takes all of five minutes. The 5km lake circuit is pleasant in the early morning when you can count the kingfishers before the tourist traffic starts.
reviewed
-
Queen of the Hills Tourist Guides Association
The senior guides of the long-standing Queen of the Hills Tourist Guides Association - Seniappan, Sheriff and Mohan - are knowledgeable, affable and good English-language speakers. You'll usually find them around the bus station, or phone and someone will come to find you. Day walks meander through tea plantations, hills, Toda villages and forest, and you'll usually catch a local bus back at the end of the day. Overnight treks staying in a local village can also be arranged.
reviewed
-
Mudumalai Day Trip
The tourist office in the town centre can put you in touch with agencies that run day trips to Mudumalai National Park via the Pykhara Dam (minimum 15 people) starting at 09:30 and returning at 19:00, with just a quick spin through the park. Trips to Coonoor and surrounds are also possible.
A better alternative is to hire a taxi for the day and go as you please. The rates are set at around Rs450 for a four-hour trip around Ooty, or around Rs1100 for a full day.
reviewed
-
Isha Yoga Center
This ashram, in Poondi, 30km west of Coimbatore, is also a yoga retreat and place of pilgrimage. The centrepiece is a multi-religious temple housing the Dhyanalingam, said to be unique in that it embodies all seven chakras of spiritual energy. Visitors are welcome to the temple to meditate, or to take part in one- to two-week Isha yoga courses, for which you should register in advance.
reviewed
-
Ashram
This ashram, in Poondi, 30km west of Coimbatore, is also a yoga retreat and place of pilgrimage. The centrepiece is a multi-religious temple housing the Dhyanalingam, said to be unique in that it embodies all seven chakras of spiritual energy. Visitors are welcome to the temple to meditate, or to take part in one- to two-week Isha yoga courses, for which you should register in advance.
reviewed
-
J
Commercial Rd
Ooty can be a fun place to shop, but don't expect anything out of the ordinary. The main places to shop are along Commercial Rd where you'll find Kashmiri shops as well as government outlets for Kairali and Khadi Gramodyog Bhavan.
There's no need to lug warm clothes up to Ooty - you can pick up jackets from Rs100 and hats and gloves from Rs10 at shops along Commercial Rd near the bus stand.
reviewed
-
K
Horse Riding
Alone or with a guide, you can hire horses outside the boathouse on the north side of the lake; the rides mostly consist of a short amble along bitumen. Prices are set, from Rs 50 for a short ride to Rs150for an hour, which takes you partway around the lake. The horses at the boathouse looked a lot better cared for than the mangy ponies hanging around the bus stand.
reviewed
-
L
Racecourse
Ooty's Racecourse dominates the lower part of the hill station between Charing Cross and the lake. The horse-racing season runs from mid-April to June and on race days the town is a hive of activity; it's an event impossible to miss if you're in town. Outside the season, the 2.4km racecourse is little more than an overgrown paddock.
reviewed
-
Park
In the foothills of the Nilgiris, this 321-sq-km park is like a classical Indian landscape painting given life sans trash: thin, spindly trees and light-slotted leaves concealing spotted chital deer and slow herds of gaur (Indian bison). Somewhere in the hills are tigers, although you’re very lucky if you spot one.
reviewed
-
M
Kabob Corner
Aaargh – let your inner carnivore scream in vicious exultation after enduring the non-stop veg of South India. Here you can tear apart perfectly grilled and spiced chunks of lamb, chicken and if you like, paneer (wussy). Sop up the juices with pillowy triangles of naan and revel in your messy return to the meat-eating fold.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
Selvan Saloon
This isn’t a restaurant; it’s a stall. But it’s a stall that serves the best street food we had in South India: an incredibly rich and spicy mushroom curry that would shame some of the pricier dishes around. Look for the long lines, and get ready for bliss.
reviewed
-
Cottage Crafts
Run by the voluntary organisation Coordinating Council for Social Concerns in Kodai (Corsock), here you’ll find goods crafted by disadvantaged groups, with about 80% of the purchase price returns to the craftspeople. There’s also a second branch on PT Rd.
reviewed
-
N
Botanical Gardens
Established in 1848, these lovely gardens are a living gallery of the natural fauna of the Nilgiris. Look out for a fossilised tree trunk believed to be around 20 million years old, and on busy days, roughly 20 million Indian tourists.
reviewed
-
O
Jolly World
Jolly World is an amusement park between the lake and the bus stand with stalls, sideshows, rides and all the good stuff to keep kids occupied. For grown-up kids there's a go-kart track. It's busy on weekends when families invade Ooty.
reviewed
-
Sim’s Park
In Upper Coonoor, the 12-hectare Sim’s Park is a peaceful oasis of manicured lawns and more than 1000 plant species, including magnolia, tree ferns and camellia. Buses heading to Kotagiri can drop you here.
reviewed
