The most fascinating aspect of Ooty is that the hill town is surrounded by four magnificent hills belonging to the Nilgiri range.

The four beautiful ranges amidst which the hill resort of Ooty stands are Snowdon, Elk Hill, Doddabetta and Club Hill. This picturesque location of Ooty attracts many tourists to this place. It is situated at the point where the Eastern Ghats meet the Western Ghats.

The origin of the name Ootacamund is obscure, but "mund" is the Badaga word for a Toda village, and it is probably a corruption of the Badaga name for the central region of the Nilgiri Plateau. Another likely origin of the stem of the name ("Ootaca") comes from the local language Tamil where "Otta-Cal" literally means "Single Stone". This is perhaps a reference to a sacred stone revered by the local Toda people. Another reason is that the British could not pronounce it well so it became Ootacamund from Udhagamandalam it further changed into Ooty from Ootacamund.

John Sullivan, the British governor of neighbouring Coimbatore province, is credited with discovering and developing Ooty. Mr. Sullivan liked the climate of this forested land, and occupied it by securing land from the native tribes. Ooty served as the summer capital of the Madras Presidency, and had winding hill roads and a complicated rack railway system built by influential and enterprising British citizens with venture capital from the Madras government. It was a popular summer and weekend resort for the British during the colonial days, and soldiers were also sent here and to nearby Wellington to recuperate.