Recommended & pending a personal visit by our travel writer

Vijay & Meeta Prabhu, a young couple from Ootacamund, responsible for the creation of the town’s finest heritage hotel – Kings Cliff, have brought all their learning and experience to the fore, and created another beautiful hotel – Sherlock.

With the success of Kings Cliff, and the overwhelming response from guests (many of whom are friends!), Vijay felt the need to add more rooms. But rather than cramp things up, they found a pretty little turn-of-the-century bungalow called Sherlock’s End perched on a quiet little hill with jaw-dropping views of the surrounding hills and valley.

Here at Sherlock, are all the signature practices of Kings Cliff – the warm service, impeccably maintained wooden floors, antique furniture, and the romantic fireplace in every room. With just 9 rooms, this is an intimate hotel, ideally suited to couples and solo travellers.

Ootacamund or “Ooty” as the locals call it has plenty to offer, as long as you avoid the noisy polluted centre of town. Play a round of golf, go on short walks with a quirky local expert, go on the superb UNESCO-cited Nilgiri Mountain Railway, stay overnight in a secluded log-cabin (owned by Meeta and her husband), visit an organic food shop, or confess your sins in some of the pretty local churches.

Like all their hotels, Vijay & Meeta focus their efforts on water use, waste & energy management – Ootacamund suffers from overdevelopment which has put all the above three issues a big challenge for the town and its citizens.

If you choose to come to Ootacamund, then you can do no better than Sherlock – far from the noisy town centre with beautiful unbroken views of the mountains. Grab a recliner, go out into the garden, lay back and close your eyes with the sun-shining down on your face, and a crisp cool wind in your hair!