About Ooty: Ooty also known as Udhagamandalam is the Queen of hill stations. It is the capital of Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu and one of the most popular tourist resorts in India. Nilgiris means Blue Mountains. It is a land of picturesque picnic spots which used to be popular summer and weekend getaway for the Britishers during the colonial days. It is situated at an altitude of 2,240 meters above sea level. An added attraction for the tourists to Udhagamandalam is the mountain train journey on a ratchet and pinion track which commences from Kallar, near Mettupalayam and wends its way through many hair-raising curves and fearful tunnels and chugs along beside deep ravines full of verdant vegetation, gurgling streams and tea gardens.

Duration of the Trip: This was a 3 days and 4 night’s trip from Bangalore. We started on Thursday night and return back to Monday early morning. It you want you can make this a normal weekend i.e. 2 days and 3 nights’ trip as well.

Transportation: There are direct buses available from Bangalore to Ooty but very less in count. The other way to go is go by bus till Coonoor or Coimbatore and take a bus/ cab from there. If you wish to go by train you have to go till Coimbatore and from there you have to take a bus/ cab.
We booked our ticket for going from RedBus till Coimbatore Gandhinagar bus stop which costs near about Rs. 500/- per person. We started at 10:00PM and reached by morning 7:00 AM.
For coming back to Bangalore we booked our ticket from Coonoor to Bangalore from kpntravels which costs Rs. 550/- per person. It started at 9:30 PM and reached Bangalore at 4:30 AM next day.

Details of the Trip:
Day 1: After reaching to Coimbatore, he hired a cab to reach Coonoor which costs us Rs. 900/-. The view on the way is beautiful. It took near about 2:30 hours to reach Coonoor. On the way we had our breakfast in one local South Indian restaurant. That was not much big or something but the taste was really great. After reaching Coonoor, we booked a hotel called Venkateswara Lodge which is opposite to Coonoor railway station. It costs Rs. 450/- per day. This is the best budget hotel in Coonoor we saw.

Venkateswara Lodge

After getting fresh we had our lunch in the vegetarian restaurant called Venky’s Café just below our hotel. We didn’t find any good non-vegetarian restaurant in Coonoor neither we found any good travel agency.
Then we went to Ooty by the train of Nilgiri Mountain Railways. There are two classes available in the train, First Class costs Rs. 78/- and Second Class costs Rs. 3/- (yes it is Three only). Though there is not much difference between the two classes but to avoid rush I will suggest you to book the first class ticket. It takes exactly 1 hr. to reach Ooty from Coonoor. There are five stations in between these two stations. They are Wellington, Aravankadu, Ketti, Lovedel and at last Udagamandalam (Ooty). Trains are not available always. There are particular timings for trains to Ooty from Coonoor.

Time tables of the trains for Coonoor to Ooty

Our blue colored train was running through the hill’s way. The hills were covered by carpet of green tea gardens and at the down of the hills there were small villages. The journey was awesome. I can’t describe it in words you just have to go and experience it.

In front of Train

Coonoor Railway Station from our Hotel

Train taking a sharp turn

picture taken from train

 You can go to Ooty from Coonoor by bus as well. But we never tried bus so can’t tell you the details.
After reaching to Ooty, we booked local site seeing package for next day from one of the Travel Agency, Royal Travels outside the station. There are several types of tour packages available. We booked for Ooty – Coonoor local sightseeing tour. Which cost us Rs 150/- per head.
As we don’t have much time to go anywhere that day, we preferred to go for some shopping. We hired an Auto from the railway station and went to local market. Homemade Chocolates, Eucalyptus oil, Cloves, Cinnamon, Bay Leaves, Nilgiri Tea are the main shopping attraction of Ooty. You can buy woolen goods also from there, they are good and cheap. We bought plenty of chocolates. I will suggest you not to buy the oils from market as there is a better place where you will get them best which I will tell you later. After doing some shopping again we return back to railway station and caught a train to return back to Coonoor.

Day 2: We started from Coonoor by 7:00 AM train and reached Ooty at 8:00 AM. We had our breakfast in a hotel near station and reached to Royal Travel office. They had arranged a Swaraj Mazda for 10 people group. The timing of the tour is 9:00 PM to 6:00 PM. During the day we have visited the famous places of Ooty and Coonoor.
Dodabetta Peak, which is the highest point in the district at a height of 2623m. One can see as far as the plains of Coimbatore and the Mysore plateau if the climate is clear. But it was our bad luck that the day was fully foggy hence we were not able to see.
The Botanical Garden is maintained by the Horticulture Department of the Government of Tamil Nadu and has a very wide variety of plants that include different types of roses, imported shrubs, rare flowering plants, eucalyptus trees, several old trees and even a fossilized tree trunk that is 20 million years old. There is also a beautiful Italian floral garden and for those who simply want to relax, there's always the green carpet of the well-maintained lawns.

Botanical Garden

Lawn of garden

The biggest attraction of Ooty is Boat House. An artificially created lake is being used for the permission of boating and fishing. For fishing you need have prior permission from Department of Fisheries. For boating you don’t need any permission. There are three types of boats available in Boat House i.e, Paddle Boat, Rowing Boat and Motor Boat.





Other than boating you will find toy train, different rides, shops and snacks bars. In package tour only 30 mins time is allotted to visit this place. But if you have time you can spend half a day in this park.


Mini Garden is garden near to boat house and a special attraction for kids.
Thread Garden is newest addition in Ooty. In the garden the flowers, trees, leaves, rocks, bridge, river and whatever are there, are made of thread. This is an outcome of 12 years dedicated work of more than 50 ladies using 6 crore meter of embroidery thread. No needles or machineries has been used for this purpose. This is the only garden which is made of thread across the globe. This effort nominated at Gunnies Book of World Record.



If you want you can bring souvenir of this garden. We bought one sample thread plant from there .
Valley View Point is a view point on the way to Coonoor from where you can get a full view of the local valley. This is just splendid. There are 21 villages in that valley. This is the only point from where you can get this complete view. Hindi Movie lovers, you can see the place where Sajan movie has been shoot from this view point.

Another interesting thing on the way to coonoor is, Cantonment of Wellington. Thought it is not allowed for the travel agency vehicle to stop here or taking photographs of the places inside this cantonment but you will be able to see some famous places while passing. One of them is Second World War Memorial Pillar which was built in memory of Second World War.
Wellington Golf Course is another popular place in Cantonment of Wellington. In the midst of the exotic landscape, the touch of normalcy surrounded with the unusual location makes golfing at Wellington's an attractive possibility for many people. This golf course is especially popular with film crews who film in the area. During the filming of a movie, the relaxing motion necessary for golf can counteract the stress that occurs in the filmmaking process. No wonder Wellington's Golf Course is a popular place to visit. Few songs of the movie Raja Hindustani has been shoot in this place.
After crossing this cantonment the first place which will come is Lamb's rock, an excellent picnic spot near Coonoor. It was named after the man Captain Lamb who tried in earnest to open a path to that particular point. With such a view, no wonder this man put forth such a valiant effort to reach the point. The rock is a jagged cliff that drops down several hundred feet to the lush jungle below. On the right hand is the Hulical ravine. It is possible to see the Coonoor stream some 5000 feet below. This vantage point also provides you with an excellent view of the Coimbatore plains.
Lady Canning's Seat is 8kms from Coonoor, alongside the road to Lamb’s Rock; it is the best point in the heart of the woods. It has a panoramic view of tea estates, Lamb’s Rock and even Mettupalayam is visible at a distance. Named after Lady Canning, as she liked this place.But as I already told it was a foggy day, we were not able to take any snap for these places.
Catherine Falls, also known as ‘St. Catherine's Falls’, is located in the area that surrounds Coonoor. This beautiful waterfall falls from an impressive 250 feet. It can clearly been seen from the top of Dolphin's Nose if seeing the entire waterfall as one total impression is what you are looking for.

Catherine Falls

Dolphin's Nose is an enormous rock formation that is entirely unique. The protruding rock formation looks exactly like what it is named after, a dolphin's nose. There are gigantic ravines found both to the left and right of Dolphin's Nose. In one of the ravine's you can clearly see the awe inspiring Catherine Falls with its continuing stream several thousand meters below. In the other ravine, you can spot where the Coonoor stream meets the Kotagiri stream. Both streams that are contained within these two ravines ultimately feed the Bhavani River which is located a relatively short distance away opposite of the Dolphin's Nose.

One side view from Dolphin's Nose

View of the tribal village from Dolphin's Nose

Dolphin's Nose

Catherine Falls from Dolphin's Nose

For me the most attractive place is Coonoor Tea Estate. The famous Nilgiri tea plantation is done mostly in this area.

Way to Coonoor Tea Estate

Mayur Tea Estate

Mayur Tea Estate

 In the pictures of the tea garden you see some trees in between the garden called Silever Hawk which helps to hold the rain water and soil.
Other than tea, this area is famous for eucalyptus oil, Citridora Oil, Almond Oil, Lemon Grass oil, Olive Oil, Heena Oil and Nilgiri spices. Our travel guide took us to Mayur Tea Estate which belongs to Mayur Malwani, husband of famous actress Mumtaz. More than 25,000 acres of the tea estate belongs to him. There is a shop in is tea estate where we tasted chocolate tea which I just loved.


From this shop you can buy tea, oils spices and other Nilgiri special stuffs.
Sim’s Park is constructed and named after J. D. Sim, the secretary of the Madras Club in 1874.It is spread over an area of about 12-hectare and this garden is built following the Japanese style. It has a huge collection of about 1,000 plant species. It is mainly noted for its annual fruit and vegetable show held in May.

Entrance of Sim's Park

Inside Sim's Park

Inside Sim's Park

Waiting room Inside Sim's Park

Flower made of plants.This is view of 1 petal

 This was the last place in our trip of the day and we started for Ooty again. As we were staying in Coonoor, we get down on the way and came back to our hotel.

Day 3 : In the morning again we came to Ooty. We booked an indica from outside the station for the trip to Pykara which costs us Rs. 800/-.This trip is also called ‘Filmi Chakkar’ as many of the films has been shoot in this places.
On the way we have seen the typical house and there temple of Todas, the local tribal of Nilgiris.

White one is house of Thodas

The brown structure in far is temple of Thodas

 There are other two types of tribal also Irodus and Kurumbus.
Other things on the way are Gimkhana club, Golf course which were not open to normal visitor. One outside view is available of these places.
Pykara is the largest river in the Nilgiris District. It is located about 20 kms from Ooty on the Ooty-Mysore road, and is considered very sacred by the Todas.
It gets down majestically in a series of cascades and the last two falls of 55 meters and 61 meters are known as Pykara Falls.

Paykara Falls

Pykara Falls

Pykara Falls

 Apart from this the state tourism department runs a boat house called Pykara Boat House from where you can hire boats for a ride.

Pykara Boat House

Pykara Boat House from boat

 There is a dam called Pykara Dam” which is the major source of electricity of state. But it is not allowed to go inside the dam or take any photographs of the dam.
One more dam in the in the way called Kamraj Sagar Dam, this is the place where the some part of the movie Roja has been shoot.

Kamraj Sagar Bridge

 Another attraction of this trip is the Pine Forest. It is a semi dense forest of pine tree. A part of the forest is opened for the visitors. You will get fresh honey being sold outside the forest. Famous Hindi movie Raaz (2001) was shooting in this forest.

Pine Forest

Pine Forest

River in Pine Fores

Fresh Honey

 Another famous place of this trip is Pei mund (commonly known as ninth mile) situated in the way to pykara. This is nothing but a vast expanse of grassy meadow. This is also an ideal location for picnics. Some songs of the movie Sajan had been shooting here.

Pei Mund

Pei Mund

And this was the last spot for our trip. We came back to Ooty and had our lunch and started for Coonoor. We had our bus at night 9:30 PM from Coonoor.

Note: Few things I would like to share with the readers of this blog to make theme not suffered the problem we have faced during the trip:
1. We didn’t get any hotels in Ooty as that was a national holiday in Friday and it was a long weekend, it was too much rush over there. So I would suggest you to book any hotel priory to avoid going and coming Ooty from Coonoor every day.
2. If you are traveling by bus, better go by KPN buses than redbus ones. As service of KPN is much better. Red bus will give u time at 9:30PM and will start by 11:00 PM.

Disclaimer: We went for this trip on Sept'2010. There are chances of the price and timings getting changed. Please check with hotel,bus services and  travel agent about current timings and rates.
I have tried to provide as much as details is possible for the trip. For any further clarification please feel free to contact me @ dutshilpi@gmail.com. You can also refer to Ooty official website:
http://www.ooty.com/

About Visakhapatnam: Visakhapatnam or the place of Visakha, is named after the deity of valor, the second son of Lord Shiva. The other story is that the beauty of the place was compared to the beauty of Sakhi Visakha. The legend is that Radha and Visakha were born on the same day and were equally beautiful. The local people believe that an Andhra king, impressed by the beauty, built a temple to pay obeisance to his family deity, Visakha.
Visakhapatnam (Vizag) is second largest city in Andhra Pradesh with an area of 550 km². It is primarily an industrial city, apart from being a port city. It is also home to the Eastern Naval Command. Visakhapatnam has seen rapid development in the past decade. Apart from this one of the most upcoming tourist places in India with number of attraction for the tourist.

Duration of the Trip: It is a 4 days and 5 night’s trip from Bangalore. We started at 8:10 PM on Wednesday and return back to Bangalore on 7:30 AM on Monday.

Transportation: For this trip we had to have train, bus and package tour. We started from Bangalore by Yeswantpur-Howrah Express (2864) which we had board from KR Puram station at 8:10 PM on Wednesday and reached Visakhapatnam at 4:00 PM next that i.e. on Thursday.
For returning back to Bangalore we had board the same train i.e. Howrah-Yeswantpur Express (2863), at 10:40 AM from Vishakapatnam and reached KR Puram at 05:58 AM.
Ticket cost Rs 367 for Sleeper classes, Rs 977 for 3 tiers AC and Rs 1332 for 2 tiers AC for each.

Details of The Trip:
Day 1:
After reaching Vishakapatnam station, we booked an auto and went to hotel. There are two Haritha Hotels which are undertaken by APTDC. These hotels are very good. These hotels have bar, restaurant and ample parking facility.
1) Haritha Hotel, Vizag
Opp. Appughar Site,
Beach road, M.V.P Colony,
Visakhapatnam
Tel: +91 891 2562333, 2788824
Cel: +91 9848813582
Room Type                          Tariff per day
A/C Suites                               2000/-
A/C Room                               1300/-
A/C 4 Bedded Room               1750/-
Non A/C Room                        900/-

2) Bhimili Road, Risikonda,
Visakhapatnam
Tel: +91 891 2788826, 2793973

Room Type                           Tariff per day
A/C Suites                               2750/-
Delux A/C Room                     2200/-
Standard A/C Room                1600/-
New Suit Room                       2750/-
New Executive Room              2000/-

There are other private hotels also throughout the city which are also very good. The best place to take accommodation is the hotels near R K Beach.
After getting into the rooms, we preferred to take some rest. We went to sea beach in late evening.

Day 2:
We went for Bora Caves and Araku Valley on the second day. We had board the train VSKP-KRDL-PASS ( 58501) from Vishakapatnam station at 6:50 AM and reached Araku station at 10:50 AM. Ticket cost Rs. 80/- for Sleeper classes. The way to Araku from Visakhapatnam is full of natural beauty. There are 18 tunnels in the way. If you love nature's own beauty there is lots of things for you.

View of the way to Araku from train

We hired a cab from outside of station for the local sightseeing in Araku which cost us Rs. 600/-.
First we went to the Botanical Garden @ Araku Valley. This is a nice place with lots of tree, sculpture.

Entrance of Botanical Garden

Sculpture @ Botanical Garden

Sculpture @ Botanical Garden

Here we got to see a Tree House which I really liked a lot. This tree house can be taken for rent to stay also.

Tree House

 One most interesting kind of tree which I liked is Fish Tail Palm. The leaves of this tree are like the tail of fish. For kid’s one nice play ground is available there.

Fish Tail Palm

From Botanical Garden we went to Urban Museum. It is a very good collection for the things used and made by the urban people of that area. Inside the museum photography is prohibited so I can’t share the images of that place.

Entrance of Urban Museum

Then we started for Bora Cave, on the way there was a beautiful view point. From where you can have a beautiful view of Araku.

On the way to Bora Cave from Araku

View of Araku

Bora Cave is one of the most wonderful caves in India. Inside the cave there are lots of sculptures which are made naturally by the rain water. In the entrance of cave we hired guide who is trained by APTDC. It is must to have a guide with you to visit this cave. Otherwise you may miss the rain made sculptures due to darkness.

Bora Caves

Bora Caves

Bora Caves

Bora Caves

Before entering into the cave you can see “Gostani River” which is treated as very Holy River among the local tribal

Goshtani River

From Bora Caves our cab driver drop us to some bus stand from there we got a bus for Visakhapatnam. We reached Visakhapatnam by 7:30 PM.

We didn’t book any package for this tour. But if you want any tour packages, you can have any of the following two from APTDC:

1. ARAKU RAIL CUM ROAD TOUR
Dep. 6.00 am Arr. 9.00 pm
Daily (one day tour) Araku Via Borra Caves, Rail cum road
FARE : Adult Rs. 650/- Child : Rs. 550/-
Including Transport by Train & Bus, Breakfast, Lunch, Tea, Snacks

2. ARAKU RAIL CUM ROAD TOUR
Dep. 6.00 am Arr. 9.00 pm (Next day)
Daily (Two days tour) Araku Via Borra Caves, Rail cum road
FARE : With A/c suite Adult Rs. 2200/- Child : Rs. 1760/-
FARE : With Non A/c Room Adult Rs. 1900/- Child : Rs. 1500/-
FARE : With Deluxe Room Adult Rs. 1500/- Child : Rs. 1200/-
Including One day accommodation at Araku, Breakfast, Lunch, Tea, Snacks & Train Fare

Day 3:
We went for Visakhapatnam local sightseeing in the third day. We booked the “Heritage Tour” package from APTDC. This cost us Rs 300/- per person (for child Rs. 250/-). We took our break-fast and board the bus from Visakhapatnam bus stop and started for the rich heritage tour of Visakhapatnam. Main attractions are:
Simhachalam Temple is a temple of Lord Narasimha which was built in 11th century. This temple is situated at top of a hill. There are plenty of artworks which have elements of similarity with that of Konark. Elephants, flowers and plants are portrayed in plenty.

Simhachalam Temple

Kailasa giri is located on a hilltop and is a must visiting place for all people visiting Vishakhapatnam. There is a Shiva Parvati Murty located in Kailash giri which is the main attraction of this place. There are other attraction of kailash giri are Cyclone Centre, Titanic View Point, Floral Clock, Rope Way and Children Park.

Entrance of Kailash Giri

View of city from Kailash Giri

Cyclone Center

Children Park

View of City from Rope Way

View of City from Rope Way

Floral Clock

Titanic View Point

Shiva Parvati Murty

Thotlakonda is a Buddhist Complex which was active between the year 200 BC and 200 AD. The complex has number of Stupas, chaityas and viharas. There are many rocks cut troughs available. Telugu name Thotlakonda is derived from the Thotti (tub) and Konda (hills). There are 12 tubs around this complex which are used for stroing the rain water for drinking purpose. Out of the 12 tubs four are available within the complex and others were little outside.

Stupa

Vihara

Tub to store rain water

Rishi Konda Beach is ideal beach for swimmers, water skiers, and wind surfers. It is a golden, un spoilt beach, washed by the sun-warmed sea .Tourists can enjoy a holiday in picturesque settings.

Rishi Konda Beach

We took our lunch in the “Haritha Hotel” nearby Rishi Konda beach.

Visaka Museum has some of the best and finest artistic items put on display. Portraits, some of them even at life-size depicting the members of the Royal family of the Vizianagaram and Bobbili, Two Armour suits, two stands of spears and muzzleloading guns, several ancient weapons such as steel bows, handguns that date back to the British-rule times are some of the things one should not miss. The Visakha Museum also showcases some of the artifacts collected from other institutions. These include the 250-lb bomb that was dropped by the Japanese during the World War II. The shell bomb did not however explode. The shell bomb is now put on display at the Museum.
The Submarine Museum - Kurusura being set up at the Rama Krishna Beach in Visakhapatnam has a specialty which is the first one of its kind in this subcontinent. INS Kusura is a Russian built submarine. It was built on Dec 18th 1969 and began its journey on Feb 20, 1970 via the Baltic Sea and reached Visakhapatnam on the 11th of May, 1970. Since then INS Kusura was being used by the Indian Defense. The Navy developed it as a War-Memorial with a project cost of Rs.5.5 crores. The length of Submarine is 91.3 miters while the breadth is 8.00 miters. This is the first of its kind in Asia and second in the world.

Submarine Museum

The Rama Krishna Beach, or RK Beach as it is commonly called, is one of the best tourist spot in Vizag. The beaches of Vizag enthrall the tourists and the clean beaches attract tourists in great numbers. It is Vizag's favorite evening sojourn. An aquarium, the Kali temple, Visakha Museum, Roadside restaurants offering seafood is the other attractions at this beautiful beach.

Rama Krishna Beach

Rama Krishna Beach

Fishing Harbor: There is a nice fishing harbor situated in Visakhapatnam. Boating facility is available in this harbor to go inside the sea and see how the fishermen bring fishes from there.

Fishermen making their net

Fishing Boat

Fish Market

Dolphin’s Nose is a strange but popular tourist attraction, Dolphin's Nose is a huge rocky headland 174 meters high and 358 meters above the sea level, jutting out into the sea, resembling the shape of dolphin. The rock juts out into the sea, forming a headland on which is the lighthouse. The nation's powerful beam of the lighthouse directs ships.
Day 4:
If you already haven’t forgotten, it was a ‘4 days and 5 nights’ trip among which 3 days and 4 nights are passed just like that. So it is time to come back home. We board our train from Visakhapatnam station at 10:40 AM and reached Bangalore next day 6:00AM.

Disclaimer: We went for this trip in July’2009. So the rates and timing might have changed by the time. Please check with hotel, travel agent and Indian Railway about current timings and rates.
I tried to provide as much as details is possible for the trip. For any further clarification please feel free to contact me @ dutshilpi@gmail.com. You can also refer to APTDC official website:
http://www.aptdc.in/