Ooty
Hotels
 Udhagamandalam
(Ooty), the capital of Nilgiri district, is popularly
known as the "Queen of hill stations' among the
tourist circuits. It is situated at a distance of 105
km away from Coimbatore. The height of the hills in
the Nilgiri range varies between 2280 and 2290 metres,
the highest peak being Doddabetta at a height of 2623
metres.
History of this Beautiful Hill Resort
It is believed that the name Nila, has been in use for
over 800 years since, the King of the Hoysalas Vishnu
Vardhana, who ruled from 1104 to 1141 AD seized the
Nilgiris Plateau. His general Ponisia recorded this
fact in 1117 AD with mention of Todas. The name
Nilgiri was due to the blue haze, which envelops the
range with most distant hills of considerable size.
This Nilgiri territory came into possession of the
East India Company as part of the ceded lands, held by
Tipu Sultan, by the treaty of Srirangapatnam in 1799.
Rev. Jacome Forico, a priest was the first European
who visited Nilgiris in 1603 and released his notes
about the place and people of Nilgiris. In 1812
surveyor William Keys and Macmohan visited the top of
the plateau.
In 1818, Wishand Kindersley, Assistant and Second
Assistant to Collector of Coimbatore visited this spot
and submitted their experience report to the Collector
of Coimbatore Mr. John Sullivan. Settlement in
Udhagamandalam began in 1822 with the construction of
the Stone House by John Sullivan, the then Collector
of Coimbatore. The bungalow, which is locally called
"Kal Bangla", is one of the landmarks of
Udhagamandalam and is now the Chamber of the Principal
of the Government Arts College.
HOW
TO GET THERE?
Air: The nearest airport Coimbatore (89 kms) is
connected by Indian Airlines' flights with Bombay,
Calicut, Chennai and Madurai.
Rail:
Ooty is connected by narrow guage train services with
Mettupalayam which in turn connected through Chennai
& Coimbatore to major cities in India.
Road:
Good motorable roads connect Ooty to Bombay- 1320 kms,
Bangalore- 290 kms, Calicut- 178 kms, Coimbatore- 89
kms, Coonoor- 19 kms, Kotagiri- 29 kms, Madumalai- 64
kms, Chennai- 535 kms, Mysore- 160 kms, Trivandrum-
498 kms, Tiruchirapally- 302 kms.
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