Travel to Coimbatore



Coimbatore Tourism



Coimbatore is an important business city that has well structured health care centers, schools, colleges, engineering firms, textile industries and for its automobile spare parts manufacturing. It lies on the banks of the river Noyyal and hence experiences a soothing weather. It is an excellent spot for tourist destination that is full of temples with shrines of divine beings along with scenic amusement parks, botanical gardens, nearby lying hill stations and much more.

Coimbatore is a significant city in the state of Tamil Nadu. It has a civil airport at Peelamedu along with an Airforce base at Sulur. It has trains frequently running and connecting to all major cities of the nation. Buses run by the state governments of Tamil Nadu and Kerala ply to every major corner in and around the city.

There are many places to shop in Coimbatore. From leading brands to local shops selling items of daily use to handicrafts special to this place, everything is available here.

Coimbatore, being a business center, attracts a lot of tourists who come both for business as well as pleasure reasons. Hence, this city provides many lodging options to all tourists. From luxurious hotels with modern facilities to budget friendly hotels, Coimbatore has them all.

How to Reach Coimbatore



Coimbatore is the second largest city in the state of Tamil Nadu. Being a major commercial center, it is well connected to all parts of the country. It is very easy to access the city through road, rail, or air.

By Air



Coimbatore has its own airport, Coimbatore International Airport, located around 11 km away from the city centre. It is well connected to major cities in India. Several international and domestic flights connect Coimbatore to other cities across the world and within India.

By Train



Coimbatore junction connects almost all major cities of India to Coimbatore through rail. Apart from this Podanur Junction, Coimbatore North Junction, Southern Railway, Indian Railway Reservation and Southern Railway are few other railway stations that lie in close proximity.

Trains to Coimbatore

From Chennai:
Kovai Express/12675
Chennai Central-Coimbatore Duronto Express/12243
Chennai Central-Coimbatore Intercity Express/12679
Cheran Express/12673 More Trains...

From Delhi:
Kongu Express/12648
Kerala Express/12626
Millennium Express/12646
Swarna Jayanti Express/12644 More Trains...

From Mumbai:
Mumbai CST-Trivandrum Weekly Express/16331
Mumbai CST - Kanniyakumari Jayanti Janta Express/16381
Mumbai LTT- Coimbatore Kurla Express/11013 More Trains...

From Kolkata:
Santragachi Mangalore Vivek Express/22851
Shalimar Trivandrum Bi-Weekly Express/16324
Shalimar-Nagercoil Gurudev Express/12660 More Trains...

By Road



Six major arterial roads along with three National highways pass through the city. These include NH-47 (Kanyakumari-Salem), NH-67 (Nagapattinam-Ooty) and NH-209 (Bangalore-Dindigul).

Along with the State Road Transport Corporation of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, many private buses ply in and around the city of Coimbatore. A tourist can easily find super deluxe buses connecting Trivandrum, Cochin, Chennai, Kozhikode, Hyderabad and Bangalore to Coimbatore.

Bus Stands in Coimbatore

Following are the main bus stands in Coimbatore:
  • Gandhipuram Bus Stand
  • Singanallur Bus Stand
  • SETC Bus Stand
  • Ukkadam Bus Stand
  • Mettupalayam Road Bus stand
  • Omni Bus Stand
The buses are operated by the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC). Auto rickshaws and radio cabs are also available in the city.

Distance to Coimbatore
  • Ooty - 85 km
  • Kozhikode - 184 km
  • Kochi - 190 km
  • Mysore - 204 km
  • Madurai - 216 km
  • Bangalore - 363 km
  • Puducherry - 372 km
  • Thiruvananthapuram - 388 km
  • Mangalore - 417 km
  • Chennai - 497 km Coimbatore Distance Chart

Shopping in Coimbatore



Being an important industrial city of Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore may not be a popular as a shopping destination but it has many upcoming malls and markets. It is famous for its textiles and jewellery. Cotton apparels, hosiery products, khadi, sarees and ethnic wear are popular items which you may buy. Besides this, it is a major industrial centre for automobile, agriculture and engineering industry.

Coimbatore is famous for its textiles and is aptly called 'Manchester of South India' or the "Textile Capital of South India". Three main markets can be found in this city, namely RS Puram, Cross-Cut Road and the Town Hall Area. Following are a few market areas where a tourist can indulge into:

At Cross-Cut Road, a tourist can find a number of shops selling kanchivaram, benares and designer silk sarees. Sukravar Pettai is also famous for its handloom sarees.

Raja Street and D.B Road contains retail outlets of various leading global brands such as Lee, Arrow, United Colors of Benetton, Levi's Reebok, Adidas, Puma, and Crocodile. It also consists of many textile showrooms selling ethnic wear for the entire families.

Apart from this, Nilgiris is a leading chain of retail stores that provide market food items like frozen and tinned foods, along with a range of grocery, general merchandise and personal care products. Gourmet cheeses like Gouda, Colby, Monterey Jack, Cheddar, Havarti, Feta, Haloumi and Camembert are also available at their store.

Sri Krishna Sweets in Coimbatore is popular for its Indian sweets, especially, a sweet called mysorepa is a must try. It has around 18 branches in the city.

Big Bazaar at Oppanakkara Street and Raja Street at Ranga Gownder Street are also among the popular places to shop.

Poompuhar Handicrafts Emporium, Co-optex and Tansi Sales Center are among other popular places to shop.

Thirrupur is a nearby city where you can buy cotton apparel and hosiery items.

Tourism



Though Coimbatore is popularly an industrial city, it is also evolving as a tourism hotspot in the state of Tamil Nadu. Lots of foreign as well as domestic tourists flock to this place throughout the year. As it is well connected by road, railway and air, more and more people visit the city. As per the statistic reports by Tamil Nadu Tourism Department, a total of 32,64,876 visitors visited Coimbatore in 2010 among which 32,30,196 are domestic travellers.

This place has not only banked upon the usual tourist destinations such as Nilgiri Hills, Black Thunder Theme Park, Dhyanalinga Temple, Kovai Kondattam, Siruvani waterfalls, and Monkey Falls, but also promoted eco-tourism by involving tribal populace. This has created more opportunities and income for the tribal people without displacing them from their lands. One such initiative is in Kovai Kutralam (a tourist spot famous for its waterfalls) which gave regular employment to fifty men and women from tribal areas. With its roaring success, more such eco-tourism projects are launched here. Another such program is Baralikadu near Pilloor, where more than 50 people from tribal areas got employed. From this single project, the tourism department is earning more than 70 lakhs per annum.

Best Time to Visit



You can visit Coimbatore and other tourist spots near it throughout the year. However, the most preferable time to visit this place is between September and March. One of the greatest aspects of the temperature is that it remains moderate round the year.

  • Most favoured time to visit this place is between September and March. You can enjoy all kinds of activities with comfort. Whether it is sightseeing, spending leisure hours at beaches, or shopping, you can spend comfortable time here during this period.
  • If you visit Coimbatore during April and May, the best thing for you is to visit beaches and go for shopping in the evening.
  • In case, you plan to tour this place between June and August, it is better for you to plan a short trip. If you are a monsoon lover, you will simply cherish how the rain god blesses the city.

Local Transport



Whether you are a domestic or foreign tourist, you will find enough conveyance to roam around the city. Whether it is rail or road, the transport infrastructure of this place is well developed.

Extensive public transport helps intra city transport to go on smoothly. You can reach any part of the city and other suburbs through this public bus transport. You will also find private buses. there are over 1200 buses plying on different routes of Coimbatore. Metered taxis and Maxi Cabs (vans) are also available to help you reach your destination with ease.

Administration and local government have understood the importance of road infrastructure as well as transport in development of a place. Owing to this need, they have included transport development in Coimbatore Masterplan. This city has 6 major arterial roads and they are Pollachi Road, Palakkad Road, Mettupalayam Road, Sathyamangalam Road, Trichy Road, and Avinashi Road. The national highways that pass through this city include NH-209, NH-67, and NH-47. Highly developed road connectivity makes this place easier to visit. The primary railway station of this city is Kovai Junction. The other important junctions are Irugur, Podanur, and Coimbatore. North. Coimbatore International Airport handles both domestic and international flights.

Hotels



Coimbatore is not only a tourist spot but also a happening business center and is frequented by people across the globe for business purposes too. You will find all kinds of hotels and restaurants here. Whether you are looking for a boutique luxurious hotel or an affordable one, you will find the one of your choice in Coimbatore.

You can find most of the hotels in certain core areas of the city. These major city hotspots around which you will find wide range of hotels are Ram Nagar, Geetha Hall Road, Barathiar Road, Nava India, Raja Street, East Arokiasamy Road, Padmanabha Nagar, Race Course Road, Gandhipuram, Avinashi Road, Ramnagar, Ettimadai, Ukkadam, RS Puram, among many other. In these places, you will not only find budget hotels but 2-Star, 3-Star, and 5-Star Hotels too.

Food



Coimbatore will serve you with a variety of South Indian delicacies. Other than this, you will get all kinds of cuisines, catering to its multi cultural populace.

If you want to taste delicacies of the land, you can choose from the most popular dishes available such as Mysorepa, Halwa, Dosa, Idli, Biryani, Vada Sambhar, Katti Paruppu, Vendakkai Poriyal, Thengai Chutney, Pongal, and Avarakkai Kootu. Traditional dishes are served piping hot on banana leaves. Besides Annapoorna and Gowrishankar, the other restaurants where you can get great vegetarian preparations are Park Inn, Gayathri, Annalakshmi, Sugam, Aryas, People's Park, Abirami, RHR, and there are many more.

Besides traditional delicacies of Coimbatore, here you will get really good preparations of North Indian and Chinese dishes. Some of the places where you can get the best non-vegetarian foods are Cloud 9, Subbu Mess, Rayappas, Hong Kong, Anjali, Peking, Thalappakattu, and others.

Your full course meal is never complete without a dessert. While visiting Coimbatore, you cannot miss Sweet Ragi Adai, Bread Halwa, Cucumber Pineapple Salad, Rava Vadai, Banana Halwa, Coconut Milk Payasam, Kuzhi Paniyaram, Vella Seedai, and Sesame Seeds Ladoo. Mysorepa is one of the traditional sweets popular in this place. Nilgiris, Annapoorna, Anandha Bhavan, KRS Bakery, Sri Krishna sweets, and Adayar Delhiwala are among popular places that you should visit to taste the best sweets in town.

When you visit Coimbatore, you can't afford to miss the various kinds of juices available here. Some of the best ones are Green Juice (Medicinal Drink), raw mango juice, Gus Gus Paisa (made of mainly poppy seed, coconut, and jaggery), Fruit Lassi, Wood Apple Juice, fresh blend papaya juice, and more.

Last but not the least, among the street food the must haves are Pav Bhaaji, Bhel Poori, Dhahi Poori, and Pani Poori.

Popular Things



Coimbatore is one of the bustling cities in India, which is also known as 'Manchester of the South India'. Despite its expanding industrial area, factories, manufacturing units, and engineering firms, it remains one of the most pollution free places in India. If you want to spend some exclusive time with your family and close ones in this city, you should not miss the most popular attractions which include ancient temples, sports-adventure spots, lush green forest, Niligiri mountain range, happening shopping outlets, meditation centres, and others.

Some of the most popular tourist spots that should be there in your itinerary are Kovai Kutralam, Aliyar Dam, Valparai Hill Station, Black Thunder Theme Park, Horticulture Farms, and others. You can enjoy canoeing and kayaking at Sulur Lake, paragliding at Nilgiris, and rock climbing at Parambikulam, if you are fond of adventure sports.

Like entire South India, there are various temples and places of worship. With time they have started to attract lots of people. Now, these places have become thriving tourist spots. Some of these places that you can't risk to miss include Patteeswarar Temple, Koniamman Koil Temple, Saibaba Temple, Munthi Vinayakar Koil, Anthoniar Church (Puliakulam), Bethesdha Prayer Centre, Jain Temple (R.S. Puram), Carmel Prayer Tower, Christ Church, Immanuel Church, Arulmigu Echanari Vinayakar Temple, and others.

There are lots of shopping outlets in Coimbatore. You should get some of the traditional and contemporary things from here. It is advisable to spare enough time for shopping. Some of the renowned names to shop from are Poompuhar Handicrafts Emporium, Khadikrafts, Sukravarpettai (renowned for Handloom Sarees), Big Bazaar street, Rangey Gounder Street, Co-optex in Nehru Stadium Complex, Cross-cut Road, Diwan Bahadur Road and many more.

Travel Tips



For your Coimbatore trip, you should keep these tips in mind:

  • Decide upon the itinerary on the basis of your liking. The tour plan will vary on the basis of how you prioritize your choice among adventure, shopping, sightseeing, visiting religious places, and others options.
  • There are various textile mills in Coimbatore. So, don't forget to buy some textile products from there. If you want traditional as well as modern silk saris, you should go shopping in the famous silk houses here.
  • There are various places near this city. Some of the best hill stations are there in this district such as Coonoor, Kotagiri, and Ooty. If you are a nature lover, then you cannot afford to miss these places.
  • Koniamman Car Festival and Natyanjali Festival are among the main festivals of Coimbatore. You can also plan your trip according to the festivals dates.

How many days are enough to explore Coimbatore?



This question can have many answers, depending on the plan you have. Considering the variety of attractions Coimbatore has to offer, in a span of 3-5 days one can explore the most of it. However, if you are planning for an excursion from the city to any of the nearby destinations such as Munnar, Alleppey, Guruvayur, Thekkady, among others, then you can plan for a 8 to 10 days trip.

Places to Visit in Coimbatore



  • Black Thunder Theme Park
  • Nilgiris Hills
  • Dhyanalinga Temple
  • Perur Patteeswarar Temple
  • Kovai Kondattam
  • Monkey Falls
  • Monkey Falls

Last Updated on : 12 September 2013