Coimbatore is the second largest city (by population) in the South India state of Tamil Nadu and a major textile and engineering hub of South India It is the administrative headquarters of the Coimbatore District..
It is a heavily industrialised city and a regional hub for textiles, manufacturing, software services, education and health care. The city is also referred to as "the Manchester of South India" due to the presence of a flourishing textile industry. The city has over 25,000 small, medium and large scale industries and 2 IT SEZs
Coimbatore has a well developed educational infrastructure, with 7 Universities, 2 medical colleges and over 54 Engineering Colleges and 70 Arts and Science colleges.
The city is also a major health care and an emerging medical tourism destination with many super speciality hospitals and as many as 750 hospitals and medical centres in total. The hill stations of Ooty, Coonoor and Valparai are close to the city making it a good tourist attraction throughout the year. The city is situated about 500 kilometres (311 mi) southwest of state capital Chennai, on the banks of the Noyyal River and is close to the Siruvani Waterfalls.
Roads
The city has six major arterial roads and National Highways - NH-47 , NH-67 and NH 209. A new bypass highway built by Larson & Toubro completed in 1998 has helped reduce truck traffic in the city. Coimbatore has several major bus stands. The town buses (intra-city) operate from the Town Bus Stand in Gandhipuram to other bus stations across the city. Inter-city buses that connect Coimbatore operate from five different bus stands: Gandhipuram Bus Stand (for buses going to East and North East to Erode, Gobichettipalayam, Trippur, Salem, Sathyamangalam and surrounding areas), Singanallur Bus Stand (for buses to Madurai, Trichy and the towns around them), Thiruvalluvar or SETC Bus Stand at Gandhipuram (for Express buses to Other states and also within Tamilnadu), Ukkadam Bus Stand (for buses to Palakkad, Palani, Pollachi and Udumalpet and other nearby places) and Mettupalayam Road Bus stand for buses going toward Mettupalayam and Ooty Apart from these the Omni Bus Stand in Sathy Road, Gandhipuram caters to private bus operators.
