Nilgiri Ghat Roads

Many Ghat Roads can be found in the Nilgiris District of Tamil Nadu, Southern India. Nearly all of the district is located in the Nilgiri Hills, part of the Western Ghats mountains. This area borders the states of Karnataka and Kerala. The hills consequently can be reached by road from three states. Most of these Ghat Roads are heavily forested mountain roads and contain a number of sharp hair-pin bends.

There are five main Ghat Roads leading into the Nilgiris:

Route: Erode-Gobichettipalayam-Sathyamangalam-Mettupalayam-Aravenu-Kotagiri-Ooty

The Kotagiri Ghat is the oldest known route into the Nilgiris. It approximately follows the route taken by John Sullivan on his discovery trips in 1819. The distance between Mettupalayam and Kotagiri on this road is 33 km and it has only 4 hair pin bends. This road is part of State Highway 15. It is slightly less travelled as it is a slightly longer route from Mettupalayam to Ooty than the route via Coonoor, though as of 2012 the road condition is superior to the Coonoor Ghat road. It is also statistically less vulnerable to landslips. It is possible to divert from this route to Coonoor. There is a link from Aravenu to Bandishola.

Travellers reach Mettupalayam from Coimbatore and from Chennai via Erode and Gobichettipalayam.

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