10, 13 and 17 Seater Urbania in Coimbatore

Coimbatore is worth operating from because of where it sits — at the foot of the Nilgiris and on the main crossing into Kerala through the Palakkad gap, which puts Ooty, Coonoor, Valparai, Munnar and Kochi all within reach. Almost every interesting trip from here involves a serious climb, and the climbs in this region are among the most demanding a long vehicle will meet anywhere in the south. Vehicles are positioned ahead of your pickup, so a few days' notice gets you a chauffeur who has driven these ghats before rather than one meeting them for the first time.

The Valparai road is the one to understand before booking. The ascent is a long, tight sequence of hairpins through a reserve, and while a long-wheelbase Urbania can make it with a chauffeur who has done it, the 17 seater is genuinely awkward on those bends in a way the 13 is not. Where a group is near the boundary between the two, we will recommend the smaller vehicle for a Valparai itinerary even though the larger one would seat everyone. It is a better journey and it costs less.

The Valparai road is the one to understand before booking. The ascent is a long, tight sequence of hairpins through a reserve, and while a long-wheelbase Urbania can make it with a chauffeur who has done it, the seventeen seater is genuinely awkward on those bends in a way the thirteen is not. Where a group is near the boundary between the two, we will recommend the smaller vehicle for a Valparai itinerary even though the larger one would seat everyone. It is a better journey and it costs less.

Within the city itself a long vehicle is comparatively easy to place. Coimbatore's roads are wider than Madurai's and the traffic is lighter than Chennai's, so most hotel and residential pickups are straightforward. The older commercial areas around Town Hall and Oppanakkara Street are the exception, being narrow and congested through the day; for anything there we will suggest a nearby main road and a short walk rather than attempting a turn that blocks the street.

The other thing worth knowing about this hub is how much the season changes it. The Nilgiris and the Anamalai roads are wet for a long stretch of the year, with visibility on the climbs dropping sharply and diversions a real possibility rather than a theoretical one. During those months we check road status before dispatch and will reroute or advise against a leg rather than send a family onto a ghat we would not choose to drive that week. It occasionally costs us a booking and it has never once cost us a passenger.