A landmark in the misty hills of Ooty since 1829, the Savoy is vintage gold. This heritage grand hotel in Ooty ushers guests into a colonial-era lifestyle with afternoon high tea, croquêt on the lawns, spa sessions, single malts by the fireplace, and an exclusive taste of local cuisine. Walking through the Nilgiris tea estates, you can imagine your footsteps tracing those of John Sullivan who was summoned by the Madras Presidency to explore the fabled ‘Blue Mountains’ for an escape for British officers sweltering in the heat of the plains. In 1819, he discovered a summer retreat, where a school for European children was built a decade later. It was converted into a hotel and changed several identities before becoming the Savoy, the crown jewel in Ooty - the queen of India’s hill stations. Our heritage hotel in Ooty is in full bloom all year, with over 150 varieties of flowers, along with fragrant pine and eucalyptus trees. Settle into one of the 40 rooms or cottages spread across six acres, light the fireplace and you’ll be instantly swayed by the Savoy’s refined charm. Look around, history is everywhere. The vintage teakwood beams in rooms 101 to 103 were dragged up on elephant-back all the way from Tipu Sultan’s palace at Srirangapattanam. British filmmaker David Lean - the director of Dr Zhivago shot some scenes for his film A Passage to India on Ooty’s famous toy train – stayed in the hotel, as did American author Harold Robbins and the most famous inter-racial couple of their time, the Raja of Pudukottai with his Australian wife. Sought after by international celebrities and royalty, the hotel starred in a BBC show, ‘Snooty Ooty’.