Toy train and the tea road
Ooty · 6 hrs · Cab included · Pickup from your stay
From ₹4500 for the whole vehicle, up to 4 people. The price is per car, not per person.
Vehicles
- Swift Dzire: Sedan. Best for a couple or a small family. ₹4500 for the vehicle.
The one thing in the Nilgiris that is not a viewpoint
The Nilgiri Mountain Railway has been climbing these hills since 1908, on a rack and pinion track that is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Ooty to Coonoor leg is the one worth riding: about an hour of tea slopes and tunnels, taken at roughly the speed of a brisk walk.
The catch is that it is a train, not a tour. It runs one way, it leaves from a station, and it puts you down in a different town from your hotel. Most visitors either skip it or lose half a day working out how to get back.
This day solves the return. Your car drops you at Ooty station, drives down to meet the train at Coonoor, and brings you back up the tea road with a factory visit, the Tribal Museum and the market on the way. If the train is sold out on the day, and it does sell out, your driver runs the same descent by road and nothing else about the day changes.
Why the car makes the train work
A one-way ride needs a way back
The train ends in Coonoor. Your car is waiting there, which turns an hour on the railway into a comfortable day rather than a logistics problem.
The road back is not a transfer
The Ooty to Coonoor road runs through the tea. The factory, the museum and the market are on it, so the return leg is half the day rather than dead time.
A plan B that is not a refund
The railway sells out and occasionally cancels. If it does, your driver runs the same descent by road and you still get the whole day.
Where you'll go
1. Ooty railway station
The head of a line built in 1908 and still running on the rack and pinion the British laid. Tickets go on sale at the counter and this is where the day begins.
The train ticket, bought at the counter on the day
2. The descent to Coonoor
About an hour of tea slopes, tunnels and a gradient the train takes at walking pace. Your car leaves when you do and meets you at the far end, so this is a one-way ride rather than a return.
3. A working tea factory
On the road back up, a factory floor that shows you withering, rolling and grading in the order they happen, followed by a tasting counter. The museum next door explains what the Nilgiris did with the leaf.
Factory entry, and any tea you take home
4. The Tribal Museum
The Toda, Kota and Badaga communities of these hills, told through their own houses and objects. It is small, it is nearly empty, and it puts the rest of your Ooty trip in order.
5. The Ooty market
Hill vegetables, eucalyptus oil, spices and the tea you just watched being made. The last half hour, on the way back to your stay.
How you get there
Train one way, car the other, both arranged
Your car takes you to Ooty station, runs down to Coonoor while you ride, and brings you back up through the tea. The vehicle, driver, fuel, tolls and parking are one flat price. The train ticket is not included: the railway sells it at the counter on the day and we cannot pre-book it for you.
- Pickup: Your stay in Ooty town at 8:30 am
- Vehicle: Swift Dzire, up to 4 people, with driver
- Train: Ooty to Coonoor, one way, ticket bought at the station counter
- Drive: About 40 km, mostly the tea road back up
- Drop: Back at your stay by about 2:30 pm
The day
8:30 am: Pickup and the station
To Ooty station in time for the counter and the morning departure.
Morning: The descent to Coonoor
About an hour on the mountain railway. Your car leaves at the same time.
+1:00: Met at Coonoor station
Your driver is on the platform side. No waiting, no auto haggling.
+1:30: Tea factory and museum
The factory floor, then the tasting counter. About an hour.
+3:00: Tribal Museum
The Toda, Kota and Badaga collections. About 45 minutes.
+4:30: The Ooty market and drop
Half an hour in the market, then back at your stay.
In your price
- Private car with driver for the day, including the run down to meet the train
- Pickup and drop at your stay in Ooty
- Fuel, tolls, driver allowance and parking
- A road descent instead, at no extra cost, if the train is full or cancelled
- GoExplorer support number for the day
Not included
- The train ticket
- Tea factory entry and anything you buy
- Meals
- Anything personal
What you pay on the day
- The Nilgiri Mountain Railway ticket, bought at the station counter on the day
- Tea factory entry, and any tea you take home
- Lunch and anything personal
Who this suits
Families, first-time visitors and anyone who likes a railway. The train has no reserved seating in the general class and the carriages fill up, so it suits people who do not mind a busy hour. The car seats four at one flat price; message us first if there are more of you.
What to bring
A layer for the train, the windows stay open. Cash for the ticket counter, which does not always take cards, and your booking reference.
The railway makes its own calls
The Nilgiri Mountain Railway suspends services for landslips and heavy rain, sometimes at short notice, and neither we nor the operator get advance warning. When that happens your driver runs the descent by road on the same day, or you can take a full refund instead.
Cancellation
- More than 24 hrs before: Full refund
- Within 24 hrs: 50% refund, or reschedule free once
- No show: No refund
Safety and the operator
Run by a licensed local ground operator, one driver per vehicle, commercially registered and insured. The train is operated by Indian Railways under its own rules; keep children away from the doors on the descent and stay seated in the tunnels.
Questions
Is the train ticket included?
No, and we will not pretend otherwise. The railway sells it at the station counter on the day and does not release it to operators. It is inexpensive, and your driver will take you to the counter.
What if the train is full?
It happens, especially in season. Your driver runs the same descent by road and the rest of the day is unchanged. Nothing extra is charged.
Is the price per person?
No. ₹4,500 is for the car and driver for the day. The train ticket is the only per person cost and you pay the railway directly.
Can we do the Coonoor viewpoints on the same day?
Not properly. Dolphin's Nose and Lamb's Rock are a day of their own from Coonoor, and squeezing them in here would mean rushing both.