Kotagiri

Kotagiri is a beautiful hill station in the Nilgiris Hills, about 33 km southeast of Ooty.

Understand
Kotagiri is very peaceful and cheap, but it has all the good qualities of Ooty, which is suffering from over-attention.

Get in
Kotagiri can be reached from Coimbatore, 66 km and from Ooty, 28 km. Direct buses to Kotagiri are a little crowded when you board them from Coimbatore. It is advisable to go to Coonoor first and then take a bus back to Kotagiri.

Get around
Taxis and autorikshas are freely available. Only taxis are available after 8PM.

See


Kotagiri abounds in big European-style bungalows built by the British and most of them retain their Englishness, are still very habitable and have been converted into upmarket homestays. New constructions too are aplenty but at the cost of aesthetics.

There are numerous tea factories producing the famous Nilgiri tea. The famous Nilgiri thailam (Eucalyptus oil) is distilled in small shacks in a rudimentary manner.

Kotagiri also has some gold deposits, which were mined to levels possible during the days of the British Raj. Research is going on to determine if it would be possible to extract more gold from the mines.

There is also considerable bauxite in the area.

Drink
Hot fresh tea is special in the cool climate. You get different favours of tea like chocolate, ilaichi, ginger, lemon etc.

Stay safe
Estate dogs can be very ferocious when you walk in the tea gardens. They are even more dangerous if you carry a stick with you. Keep to the main roads and don't walk early in the morning.

Go next

 * Coimbatore
 * Chamarajanagar
 * Male Mahadeshwara Betta
 * Kannur (Cannanore)
 * Kozhikode (Calicut)
 * Mysore
 * Ooty