Pop: 1.25 million Area Code: 0422

You may come here while traveling to Ooty or one of the other hill stations in the Nilgiri Hills. Coimbatore is an industrial city with nothing to see or do.

Information
The railway station is in the southwest part of the city. The two major bus stands are about two km north of the railway station. There is another bus stand, Ukkadam, which is one km south of the railway station.

You can change money at the Bank of Baroda and State Bank of India on Bank Rd. Canara Bank is on Oppankara St.

Some bookshops are: Landmark (Lakshmi Plaza, 1089 Avinashi Rd), Higginbothams and Pai (Big Bazaar, near the railway station).

A good e-mail and fax facility is Best Business Centre (235-538; fax 233-894), on Kalingarayan St, near the Zakir Hotel. There is also e-mail facility at Netserf (235-983), 205 Vivekananda Rd (Rs 100 per hour) and the Residency Hotel (open to non-guest).

Where to Stay—Lower
The Retiring Rooms at the railway station are Rs 175 and Rs 225 with A/C. Dorm beds are Rs 60.
Guru (230-341), opposite the railway station, has cheap basic rooms. It has a veg restaurant.
Hotel Sivakami (210-271), Davey & Co Lane, has basic rooms with bath for Rs 120/160. It is a friendly place.
Zakir Hotel, Sastri Rd, has basic rooms for Rs 110/140.
Sri Ganapathy Lodgxe "Coimbatore" e (230-632), 1 Sastri Rd, near the State bus stand, has decent rooms with bath for Rs 140/200.
Hotel Shree Shakti (234-225), 11/148 Sastri Rd, opposite the State bus stand, has clean rooms with bath for Rs 170/210. It is convenient for an early morning bus.

Where to Stay—Middle and Higher
TTDC Tamil Nadu (236-311), Dr Nanjappa Rd, near the State bus stand, has rooms with bath for Rs 225/300 and Rs 400/450 with A/C and TV. It is a good value.
Gateway (391-133), 517B Oppanankara St, is close to the Ukkadam (local) bus stand.
Sri Aarvee (433-677), 311A Gandhi-puram, has clean modern rooms with TV for Rs 400/500 and with A/C for Rs 500/600.
Hotel Blue Star (230-635), 369 Nehru St, has good rooms with bath for Rs 250/350. The rooms in front can be noisy. Some rooms don’t have windows.
Nilgiri’s Nest (217-247; fax 217-131), Avanashi Rd, is a well-managed place with comfortable A/C rooms for Rs 900/1200. It is a good place.
Hotel City Tower (230-681; fax 230-103), Sivaswamy Rd, off Dr Nanjappa Rd, a few minutes walk from the State bus stand, has modern rooms with TV for Rs 560/800 and Rs 1000/1100 with A/C. It has two good restaurants. It is a well-managed, recommended place.
Hotel Surya International (217-751; fax 216-110), 105 Racecourse Rd, has comfortable rooms for Rs 1000/1150. It has a good restaurant.
The Residency (201-234; fax 201-414), Avinashi Rd, has good modern rooms for Rs 1800/2000. It has e-mail and fax facilities.

Where to Eat
Royal Hindu Restaurant, near the railway station, has good vegetarian food.
Indian Coffee House is on Raman Koil Rd.
Dakshin, Shree Annapoor Hotel, 47 E Aroklasamy Rd, RS Puram, has a good A/C vegetarian restaurant.
Annalakshmi, 106 Racecourse Rd, is a very good veg restaurant. It is managed by devotees of Shvanjali. Open Mon to Sat for lunch, noon to 3 pm and daily for dinner from 6.30 to 9.30 pm. It is recommended, but is not cheap.
Cloud Nine, Hotel City Towers, is a very good rooftop restaurant, with good views (high-priced).
Dasa is a higher-end A/C veg place with good food and ice cream.

Travel
Air The airport is 10km northeast of the city. It costs around Rs 100 by auto-rickshaw or Rs 150 by taxi to get downtown. From the airport, bus #20 goes to the bus station and buses #10 or #16 to the railway station (Rs 25).

Indian Airlines (399-821), Trichy Rd, has flights to Delhi (1 daily, $275), Mumbai (1 daily, $140), Chennai (6 weekly, $85), Trichy (4 weekly, $75) and Kozhikode (1 daily, $40). The Air India office (213-393) is on Trichy Rd. Jet Air (213-034/36) has flights to Mumbai and Chennai.

Train To get to Ooty you get the Nilgiri Exp #6605 at 5.30 am to Mettupalayam (1 hr) and from there you take the miniature train (7.45 am). This trip takes around 4½ hr. To get the Nilgiri Express it is best to stay near the station or arrange transportation to the railway station the night before, because it can be hard to find an auto-rickshaw early in the morning.
Bangalore Cheran Exp #2674 (10.30 pm, 9 hr); Chennai Shatabdi Exp #2024 (7.25 am; 7 hr, except Wed), Cheran Exp #2674 (10.30 pm, 9 hr); Kozhikode (Calicut) West Coast Exp (4½ hr). The Rameswaram Exp goes to Madurai (6 hr) and then to Rameswaram (13 hr). The goes to. There are also daily trains to Delhi and Kochi.

Bus From the State bus stand, buses depart to Ooty (3 hr, 90km, every half-hour), Coonoor, Bangalore (9 hr, 2 daily) and Mysore (11 hr, 3 daily). You can book some long-distance buses in advance (9 am to 8 pm).
The Ukkadam bus stand on Cross Cut Rd, 5 minutes from the State bus stand, has buses to Ooty (frequently), Pollachi (frequently), Chennai (11½, 7 daily), Mysore (20 daily), Trichy (5½ hr, 12 daily), Pallani (every half hour), Dindigul, and Madurai (6 hr).

Near Coimbatore

Black Thunder Water Theme Park
This is a state-of-the-art water theme park, 40km from Coimbatore, with a large pool with waves, water slides, and a canal which you can float along. Admission is Rs 200 for adults and Rs 150 for children. Men must wear Bermuda-style bathing suits. Open 10 am to 6 pm. There are regular buses to here from Coimbatore and Ooty. Outside food is not permitted in the park.

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