Ooty lake and the Botanical Gardens are the two favourite tourist spots of the visitors. The lake covers an area of 1.5 sq. miles, with a lake garden and toy train. Paddle boats or rowing boats are available for boating enthusiasts. The large graveyard of St. Thomas's church, built in 1870, overlooks the lake. It has the tallest memorial of Ooty.

The Marquis of Tweeddale established the Botanical Gardens in 1848. The gardens lie on the lower slopes of Dodabetta peak, the highest point in Ooty. Clipped bushes in the form of elephants, with raised trunks, and other animals greet the visitors, all over the gardens.

A variety of exotic and ornamental plants adorn this garden which is the venue for the flower show held in May every year. There is a fossil tree trunk 20 million years old in the midst of the garden. There are more than a thousand different species of plants including thirty odd varities of eucalyptus.