Romancing Ooty in the monsoons

You might be wondering, why to a hill station like ooty during the monsoons month in India? We normally tend to head to hill stations in winters to enjoy the cold or summers to get a respite from the heat. Initially, this trip to Ooty just happened for me in the monsoons. Since, it was a sudden plan. When we decided to pack our bags and head to Ooty over the next weekend in August, 2010, almost on a spree. Since, this happened to be a long weekend (off on Friday) and we wanted to make the most of it.

Table of Contents

Reaching Ooty

We took an overnight bus to Ooty from Bangalore. And , we actually reached Ooty early next morning, as early as 4am itself. The story is a bit funny. Although most of the buses put a travel time of around 8 hours between Bangalore and Ooty, mostly they drive like crazy at night and the trip ends earlier than expected. Since we were not aware of this fact. So, we were happily sleeping when our bus came to a halt and the conductor started shouting for the tourists to get down. Actually, even after waking up, it took us some moments to sync in that we had already reached Ooty. It was still totally dark outside while we had expected to reach by 6am or later.

Nevertheless, we got down the bus. Then we called our resort, Sagar resort ooty booked via agoda. in the wee hours at 4am in the morning to see if they could send us a vehicle for pickup. And, our resort was courteous enough to not just send the vehicle but also allow an early checkin. We had to wait for a little while for our cab. Once it arrived, we started for the resort and reached there by 5:30am in the morning.

First Impression

We were anticipating we would freshen up , have breakfast and then fall asleep due to the overnight travel exertion. But to our surprise the freshness in the air and the beauty of the surroundings stole away all our tiredness! We were all ready to explore the place by 10 AM and we headed for a full day site seeing. Upon reaching the resort, we first got fresh and rested for a while. Today, we ordered room service for breakfast. After a simple breakfast, we decided to head out and explore the queen of the hill stations.

We were mesmerized by the beauty of the hill station. There was a fresh layer of green everywhere. The flora and fauna of the land were flourishing in all shades of green after the kiss of rains. Vast stretches of tea and coffee plantations were on their bloom. Wild flowers had blossomed on every nook and corner. The whole place was washed into freshness.

beautiful resort garden

The endeavor with clouds

Since this was monsoon season, there were clouds everywhere. The beauty is that clouds lie very low on the hill stations. So much so that the clouds hung over the tree branches and into the valleys below us. And we experienced the whole process of the cloud formation. Soft flakes of white would come from nowhere and start surrounding us. It felt like they were gliding right through us. And, we tirelessly watched and felt the clouds all through our 2 days stay here.

cloud cloud everywhere

clouds hung over tea estates

Also, while we were boating into the Ooty lake, it started drizzling for a while! But look at the picture below, it was so beautiful all around. The mystic atmosphere, the soft drizzles is something I really loved. We held an umbrella while we went on boating into the lake. And, it did feel more romantic than general.

boat ride in ooty lake

Site seeing

We had hired a cab from our resort (Hotel Sagar Resort) and we went to various sites on our two days site seeing in Ooty. The reception of the locals, the tea offered at the roadside shack and the aroma of the spices and the fresh vegetation filled us with warmth and happiness where ever we went. In short, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay and 2 day roaming around in Ooty during the peak monsoons in August.

It did rain a little here and there as we went through the sites. Like the boating above. And when we went to visit the botanical garden, we had to take shelter in a glass house for a little while when it rained. But the good thing is that it never rained more than half an hour at a stretch and more than once or twice a day. And as soon as it stopped raining, we went on exploring the place. And it seemed to get more beautiful with each rain.

The trip back

Third day when we started our volvo journey back from Ooty to Bangalore, the journey was as fulfilling and exciting as the destination had been. Half of the day long journey was through the winding hills. The scenes were simply mesmerizing. We saw bunch of clouds hung on tree branches in the valleys below, green stretches of mountains, livestocks in the pasture lands of the valleys, birds perching on the trees and what not!! At places there were patches of mountains covered in shades of pink and red and yellow flowers amidst the green blanket. Sites to behold forever….

A misty morning

So, in conclusion, we will like to say, do romance the queen of hills in the monsoons and live the experience once..you will be compelled to do it again and again 🙂 Since you will meet fresh green hill stations, covered in layers of greenery, beautiful clouds and fresh warm tea to have right in the middle of the tea station.

General tips on visiting Ooty

Ooty is well connected via road to all the major surrounding towns including Bangalore, Mysore and Coimbatore. It’s a pleasure to drive here.
You can as well take an overnight bus from one of these places to Ooty. The AC bus journey is quiet comfortable. You can book online from KSRTC website or also from other websites (for private buses)
Carry one jacket or sweater. One warm cloth should be enough most of the time except for extreme winter months.
You can easily do a tour of most of the sites worth seeing here in one day.
Do book a resort or homestay a little farther to the main town if you want a relaxing holiday. After seeing the town, you can spend some time even in your resort. Like we did in hotel sagar resort.
You should try some locally made chocolates in Ooty, they are really delicious.
If you have time, you can as well visit nearby places like some waterfalls, 6th mile and 9th mile.

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