‘Ooty or Coonoor‘ and ‘Ooty vs Coonoor’ seem to be a common search phrase on Google. And the advice is predictable. Preferably stay away from Ooty city and stay in the serene, calm environs of Coonoor. This probably was the not the case a few years back—before Ooty became city—one that can match even Coimbatore, as mentioned by a local guy. We did not have to choose since our trip was to Coonoor, based on recommendation from Rustik Travel.
Atwood at Coonoor was the picture-perfect, serene, and calm place to relax for a few days. Nestled among tea plantations on the Coonoor–Kotagiri road, Atwood is an old building repurposed to four cosy cottages and a kitchen. Each cottage has two rooms and an open veranda that opens to a picket-fenced lawn.
One can simply chill out in the cottage with books or walk around the tea plantations watching birds and occasionally a bison. One of the evenings, we did have a bison by our lawn. Sighting of leopard cubs also have been reported.
While we woke up to the repeated calls of oriental magpie robins, the ubiquitous birds in Nilgiris are bulbuls (red-whiskered and red-vented). They are literally everywhere. We don’t know whether the highly invasive lantana camara is the reason for this or bulbuls are spreading this weed. Looks hopeless in many places. After learning to ignore bulbuls, we managed to spot a few other birds. Hoopoe, great tit, streak-throated woodpecker (in Kotagiri), Indian spotted fan tail, pied bushchat, oriental white eye, painted bush quail, jungle babbler, and oriental honey buzzard are the ones we could click and identify. A few others we could simply marvel from the distance.
Based at Coonoor, one can explore some of the nearby places, either by a combination of local buses plus walk or by hiring a taxi. We chose to walk long distances every day, exploring around Coonoor and Kotagiri. Nilgiris, like other places in Tamil Nadu, has a well-oiled public transport facility and we strongly recommend using it. If one wants to explore some of the other interesting places in Nilgiris such as Avalanche, Upper Bhavani, Mukurti Peak, etc, it is better done with a taxi and Coonoor might not be the best base camp.
Atwood cottage is about 1.2 km from Sim’s Park in Coonoor, on the Coonoor-Kotagiri road. If you do not have an own vehicle, there are local buses as well as auto-rickshaws. Coonoor is well-connected to Bangalore and Coimbatore and perfect for a weekend getaway from both cities. And, if you are the work-from-home types, you could have an extended stay as the place has good mobile connectivity. Atwood can be booked through Airbnb or Rustik Travel.
