Coimbatore

Overview

Visitors usually use the bustling industrial town of Coimbatore only as a stopover on their way to Ooty, 90 km to the north-west. Once you've climbed to the rooftop of your hotel to take in the blue, cloud-shrouded views of the Nilgiri Mountains to the west, there's little to do here other than kill time strolling through the local utilitarian bazaars, lined with seemingly identical fabric shops. Many stores sell car parts.