Ooty & Coonoor — Four Nights in the Nilgiris from Two Bases

You are met at Coimbatore airport and driven up the ghat road into the Nilgiris, the air cooling with each bend as plains give way to forest and then tea. Ooty is the end of the climb. The transfer is the day’s only fixed plan, and the evening is free once you have checked in.

Ooty’s sightseeing day looks outward. Doddabetta is the highest summit in the Nilgiris, and on a clear morning the view from the top takes in ridge after ridge of the hills. The Ketti Valley viewpoint gives a different picture: a broad, settled valley of fields and villages far below the road. The rest of the day is yours in town.

A brief move rather than a travel day. The car takes you down from Ooty to Coonoor, which sits lower on the same range among tea estates. No sightseeing is scheduled, so there is no need to hurry out in the morning, and the afternoon is free to settle into the second hotel.

The Coonoor day follows the road out through tea country to Dolphin’s Nose, a spur of rock with drops on both sides and a wide view down to the plains. Catherine Falls is seen from here, spilling down the far side of the gorge. On the ghat road below town, Law’s Falls completes the outing.

After breakfast and check-out the car heads down the ghat to Coimbatore airport, where the trip ends. As this is a hill road, we agree a departure time from the hotel that suits your flight with room to spare. Nothing else is planned for the final morning.