Anantapur Experience: Ananthapur is good for tourist destination, having religious and historical tourist spots.
Food, sight-seeing and shopping: Near by Sapthagiri, one restaurant served spicy Andhra food
Nice place for sight seeing
Not gone for shopping
Activities & things to do: Nothing to mention from my side
Travel tips, How to reach, travel warnings etc: If anybody gets down at Tadipatri rail station at Night, difficult to get any car, auto etc to reach Ananthapur.
Anantapur Experience: I visited Ooty - Coonoor - Pykara on my honeymoon. I loved all the 3 places. The weather, the people, the morning fog stays till 11 AM, that was fascinating.
Though this place is commercialized now, you can still feel the chilled climate in this hill station and also enjoy the scenery of tea plantations spread across many acres.
Filmi Chakkar - Ya, its the name of a place. A famous spot for the Indian movie shoots. Its nothing but a long stretch of grassland. Nice view and must be visited. But its a little hilly place so be ready to walk a bit! Coonoor tea estate and tea factory - Again a must visit place. I really liked to see how tea is prepared in a small factory. We could see the entire processing unit. Had a nice time.
Pykara Lake and boating - Beautiful scenery all around the lake. Amazing view and can be visited while on the way to Ooty town from Bangalore.
Other attractions of the city are the Summer Flower Festival held at the Botanical Garden and Tea and Tourism festival. Make sure to add this to your itenarary when you visit.
Food, sight-seeing and shopping: Sight seeing:
Doddabetta Peak:
As already mentioned, Ooty is surrounded by thick Nilgiri forest. To get a better picture of this, you need to go to the highest mountain peak of nilgiri – ‘Dodabetta’ (meaning: Big mountain). This is at an altitude of 8652 feet. When you reach this place, you will be mesmerized by the view of the Nilgiri
hills. It will be great if you happen to be here during sunrise or sunset.
Botanical gardens:
Ooty Botanical Garden was built in 1847 Coimbatore district collector, John Sullivan . This beautiful and well maintained garden has different species of flowers to offer you. You need a lot of energy to go around this 50 acres garden or else you can just relax on the vast green lawn.
We were luck to visit the garden just after the Summer Festivals held in May. We could see a variety of flowers displayed and it was a visual treat to us.
Lake:
The song form Maine Pyar Kiya ‘‘Dil diwana... bin sajna’’ made the artificial ‘Ooty lake’ as the honeymooners favorite spot. Experience this romantic boat ride in amidst cool breezes and a beautiful landscape.
Connor
If you think Ooty is beautiful, then you will have to visit Conoor to experience more. Conoor is about 19 kms from Ooty and this is a place to visit because of its picture perfect scenery.
The best way to enjoy the beauty of the beautiful valley is to travel through the toy train from Ooty to Conoor. You will be spell bound by the view that unfolds during this journey. But remember to book your ticket in advance if you want to avoid standing in a long queue.
Dolphin’s nose
This is a peak that resembles a Dolphins nose, and is another view point in ooty. Thick fog blocked the view for us, so just came back seeing the thick fog covered all over the place.
SIMS Park :
Another park with lovely landscape. A walk around this park holding your partners hand will make this trip a memorable one.
Tea Factory:
Visiting High Field tea factory will give you gyaan of how the green tea leaves turn into the dark brown tea powder. The Step-by-step explanation is worth listening.
South Indian food:
Hungry? Then go for the authentic south Indian food. Try out the tasty South Indian thali at the famous Saravanas. Idli and dosas with tasty samabar and chutney are also available here for you to taste. Also heard a lot about Hotel Nahar’s, you can try out this too.
Tea and coffee:
Ooty is surrounded by tea plantation. For tea lovers you have a variety of flavors like lemon, masala, clove, cinnamon , classic leaf etc. Try out the chocolate and masala tea, they are awesome. (at high field tea estate ).
Chocolates:
Another attraction of ooty is the home made chocolates. You will love the taste…yummie… You get these yummy chocolates in different flavors like Fruit n nut, rum n raisin, cashew. You can buy these from Temptation. If you visit the government tea factory, you have another chocolate store there which is a total scam. The packets don’t contain the chocolates that you asked for!
Oil:
Nilgiri hills is home for many herbal and medicinal trees.
· eucalyptus oil – for cold
· camphor oil – for pain relief
You can shop for these at horticultural shops and government vending points at Botanical gardens.
Woolen clothes: Ooty is a place to visit in all the seasons, but it can get chilly for people not used to the cold weather. If you have not got any warm clothing, no need to worry. You can buy woolen clothing at an affordable price.
You can buy woolen caps and scarves at the lakeside. Its fixed price so no point bargaining.
Activities & things to do: ,
Travel tips, How to reach, travel warnings etc: I would advise to go in colder seasons as it is non-seasonal time for the city and the expenses will be less too. Take a Volvo bus or a train. You will just enjoy it as it is getting darker, the fog covers the entire city and it is fascinating to watch that site.
