Best Time to Visit - Ooty, Tamil Nadu

The climate of Ooty is pleasant throughout the year. The best time to visit is between April-June and September-October.

Bus Services

Ooty, being district capital, has the most frequent bus connections from nearby large towns in the district (such as Coonoor, Kotagiri and Gudalur). There are bus connections to most villages in the district via one of three towns. There are also frequent bus connections to the nearest mainline railheads of Mettupalayam and Coimbatore.

Ooty The nearest airport is at Coimbatore (100-Km). Ooty on the narrow gauge railway is connected to Mettupalayam, which is directly connected to Coimbatore and Chennai on the broad gauge. There are regular bus services connecting Ooty to Coimbatore, Trichy, Bangalore, Madurai, Kanyakumari, Mysore, Calicut, Tirupathi etc.

As Ooty is in Tamil Nadu state most direct bus connections are from towns in this state
Medium haul origins Tirupur, Erode, Salem, Sathyamangalam, Karur and Dindigul
Long haul express routes from Chennai, Thiruchirapalli, Madurai, Thanjavur and Kanyakumari

There are several buses from the nearest large main cities of Mysore and Kozhikode (in the two bordering states). Direct buses can be boarded for Ooty from many other parts of Karnataka and Kerala, including local connections to Palghat and Sultans Battery in Kerala, as well as Gundlupet in Karnataka. The capital cities of these two states (Bangalore and Thiruvananthapuram respectively) as well as Union Territory of Pondicherry are also connected via direct bus links.

Train links

Ooty is connected to Chennai (formally Madras) by a nightly connecting train service. Mettupalayam provides the interchange between 'The Nilgiri Passenger' NMR metre gauge service and the Nilgiri Express broad gauge service. The complete journey on these two trains takes 16 hours. This journey can be shortened considerably by avoiding the NMR and taking road transport from Ooty to the broad gauge railhead at Mettupalayam (40Km from Ooty by road), or travelling further to Coimbatore for more rail services. Coimbatore has several rail links to destinations across India. In addition to the 'Nilgiri Express' which also stops in Coimbatore there are more trains from Coimbatore to Chennai

Ooty is situated in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. Many of the forested areas and water bodies are off limits to most visitors in order to protect this fragile ecosystem. Some areas of the Biosphere Reserve have been earmarked for Tourism Development, and steps are being undertaken to open these areas to visitors whilst conserving the area. Generally tourists are encouraged to observe any local signage and not to enter reserved forests and protected areas. Much of Ooty has already been damaged by rampant commercialisation as a result of tourism. Some steps are being introduced to limit the impact of pollution by tourists in the biosphere reserve such as making the area a plastic-free zone. This largely applies to plastic bags.

Trains connect Udhagamandalam indirectly to the rest of the country. One can take a train up to Coimbatore and then the enchanting Nilgiri Mountain Railway, better known as the toy train. It is one of the few remaining diesel engine trains and although it spits up huge dark clouds of pollution, it is a major tourist attraction and a reminder of the Indian railways' glorious beginning. The nearest broad-gauge railway head from Udhagamandalam is in the minor Mettupalayam, which is 46 Km away. Mettupalayam is connected to Udhagamandalam by a four-hour journey on the Mountain Railway.
The major broad-gauge railway junction is Coimbatore. Coimbatore is connected with all major cities.