Things To Do In Ooty – 5 Day Itinerary

If you’re tired of the heat and want a quick 3-5 day, getaway to a hill station, Ooty is for you. It’s cold, affordable, and a fun place for a small vacation to escape the summer.

Ooty – 5 Day Itinerary

It’s also very easy to get to because it’s close to Coimbatore airport.

In this post, I’ll give you a full itinerary for your trip so you can make the most of your time there.

Day 1: Arrive at Coimbatore Airport and Head to Ooty

Try to get a flight that lands you in the morning before 10 am because we have a 3 hour journey to Ooty after this. You can get a cab from the airport itself and the rates are reasonable.

Check in to your hotel and be ready to head out by 2 pm. There’s no need to book a very expensive hotel because we’re just going to use it as a place to sleep.

Walk around the city and find a nice place to get some lunch.

There’s not much sightseeing to do today because it’s already evening but if you want, you can check out the botanical gardens in the city.

You can take a taxi but my recommendation is – walk to it. You get a feel for the vibe of a place when you walk on its streets. Sitting in a cab and getting there takes out the journey.

No hill station tour is complete if you do not get to explore the city and its markets and today is the day to do that. Spend the night roaming the city and exploring the area.

Day 2: Day Tour of The City

If you have walked around the city, you’ve come across dozens of tourist taxi stops with printed rates.

Just stand there for a minute and a bunch of drivers should show up and approach you. If they don’t, just ring the number on the board and you will have a taxi in a few minutes.

They will show you various package tours that all take about 5-6 hours to complete.

Pick the one that has Doddabetta Peak because that’s one of the main attractions of the city.

Everything else like the tea factory and gardens is just a bonus.

If you start around 10 am, you’ll be back from your tour by 3 pm. Get some lunch and sleep if you need it.

There’s not much to do after except to relax and explore the city more. There are a ton of local cafes so try them out.

Day 3 First Half: Pykara

I would suggest getting up early on this day and heading out by 8 am.

Start with the Pykara tour (see tour 2 in the images above). Once again you need to go to the tourist taxi stands or just call up your driver from the previous day and get a rate.

The main stuff worth seeing is the pine forest where you can ride horses, the Pykara Lake, and the Pykara Waterfalls.

At the lake, there’s usually a bit of a crowd right near the gate but if you walk a little further you will find many secluded spots where you can sit and meditate. Vacations are a good way to take some time off and rest your brain.

You should be done with Pykara and be back to Ooty in 4-6 hours depending on how long you spend at each location. If you took my advice and started early at 8 am, you should be back by 2 pm maximum.

Get some lunch and be ready for something even better.

Day 3 Second Half: Mudumalai Tiger Reserve

We’re going to Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. It’s about an hour and a half away from Ooty and the route is very pretty.

At the tiger reserve, you have two options – you can either book a private safari or you can take the safari by bus. I recommend the latter because the private safari jeeps are not allowed in some parts of the forest so you miss out on a few things.

You will enjoy the safari a LOT because you will see so many wild animals. Deer, cattle, peacocks, elephants, and if you’re lucky, you might even see a tiger.

The forest reserve is beautiful so get something to eat here after you’re done. There are places to eat right under trees with bright red tops.

Get back to Ooty and get some rest. We have another safari tomorrow.

Day 4 First Half: Avalanche Jungle Safari

Get a cab and head over to Avalanche Lake. Start early in the morning to avoid the heat because this place is on a much lower elevation than Ooty.

There’s a counter from where you can book a jeep safari. You might need to wait about half an hour for enough people to arrive to fill a safari.

The place is beautiful even though there aren’t nearly as many animals to see here as Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.

If you keep your eyes open you will see some interesting ones though.

When you’re done with the Safari, get back to Ooty because we’ve saved one of the best things in the tour for last.

Day 4 Second Half: Ooty to Coonoor Toy Train and back to Coimbatore

There’s a toy train that goes from Ooty to Coonoor and we’re going to catch that.

Heads up – you need to book this in advance from the IRCTC website.

The toy train will take you through very scenic routes and is one of the highlights of the tour. It also gets sold out fast so book it in advance.

The entire ride is about an hour and a half long.

Once you reach Coonoor, get a cab back to Coimbatore.

Make sure to walk a bit away from the station itself if you don’t want to be fleeced by the cab drivers. The rates went from 3500 Rupees just outside the station to 2500 Rupees 50 meters away from the entrance.

You can also catch a bus for around 100 Rupees if you want to save some cash.

At Coimbatore, you can stay the night or if you booked a flight on the same day, head over to the airport and fly back home on day 5.

Overall the trip is fairly inexpensive because flights and hotels are cheap. I found it to be a good mini-vacation to escape the summer and you will enjoy it as well.

Hope that helps.

About the Author

My name is Harsh Strongman and I am the author of Life Math Money – The #1 Self-Improvement Website for Men on the Internet. I am a Chartered Accountant and a Computer Scientist by education. I own multiple SaaS companies, a tax and law consulting firm, and an affiliate marketing business.

On my website, I cover all the lessons I learned from my life so that you can have an unfair advantage in life and don’t have to figure everything out the hard way. To describe it in one line, you learn what the schools won’t teach you: health, personal finance, internet business, social skills, dating skills, and more.

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