Coimbatore is one of those gorgeous little “in-between” places, and I’m not talking about location. Rather, it has a balance: its climate is neither too hot nor too cold; traffic is neither sparse nor jam-packed beyond hope; and it is a city that is neither a fully “metro” nor fully rural. It’s scattered with well-known temples, as well as boasting of two malls, while still having a wide range of market areas and street vendors in various pockets around the city.

My family and I made a group of seven people. We had decided to stay at a homestay since we feel that to soak in the culture of a place, there is no better way than staying at a homestay. And we were very happy to have the most docile hosts, who ensured that we were always comfortable.

The first place that we visited is the Siruvani Falls. The waterfalls surrounded by the lush greenery of the forest, is something not to be missed. We enjoyed every second that we spent here, viewing the beauty of nature. With this day dedicated to witness the beauty of nature, we went to the Monkey Falls next. The surreal beauty of this place had us in awe. Amazing is the beauty of nature.

We awoke early the next day to visit Dhyanalinga Temple, which was surrounded by lush greenery and gave of an aura of peaceful, welcoming serenity. We visited their well-known meditation center and were enthralled by the beautiful carvings on the temple walls and the sculptures. In fact, it felt that just walking through the area was as good as a meditation, especially considering the ambience of the place, which was immensely calming. This is definitely a place one should see in Coimbatore. We ended our day by visiting the nearby Singanallur Lake House (also called Boat House) during the tail end of its visiting hours.

We spent the last leg of our trip exploring the shops which had almost everything, from cloth to stationery items and from beads to tools – and practically any kind of goods you could think of. And all of them came at incredible bargains!

With half a family as bookworms, we landed at the Town Hall area where the Old Book Market is. It is basically just an entire long alley of open shops with naught more than a table under each stall roof. But each of these tables was piled unbelievably high with second-hand books, with barely a millimeter of space on the table untouched. All the books were second-hand of course, and thereby notably cheaper than what one would get at a store. But what was really impressive was that we could find practically any genre that one can think of, along with the latest bestsellers as well as old books that we hadn’t even heard about. Pretty impressive!

Needless to say, we spent quite a lot on purchasing souvenirs from our trip, but it was all great fun! Coimbatore has the right mix of nature’s beauty perfectly combined with the serenity found at the temples and also a shopper’s paradise.