Garden
Government Botanical Garden
Terraced lawns, glasshouses and the annual Summer Flower Show.
Highlights
- Twenty-two hectares of terraced lawns, ferneries and glasshouses laid out in 1848
- The Summer Flower Show each May, the garden's biggest event of the year
- A fossilised tree trunk thought to be around 20 million years old
- Italian-, fern- and conservatory-style sections that reward a slow, full loop
Laid out in the mid-19th century on the slopes below Doddabetta, the Government Botanical Garden is the green heart of Ooty and still maintained by the state horticulture department.
The terraces hold a deep collection of temperate and exotic plants — monkey puzzle trees, cork, paperbark and a celebrated fossil trunk among them.
The May Flower Show, timed to the summer season, turns the lawns into a mass of staged blooms and draws visitors from across South India.
On the map
Good to know
- Getting there
- About 3 km from Ooty's centre on the Doddabetta road; an easy taxi or auto ride.
- Access
- Ticketed entry; mostly walkable paths with some steep terraces
- Best time
- April–June for blooms and the May Flower Show; mornings are quietest
Plan your visit