Ralliah Dam

Ralliah (Rallia) Dam sits on the Coonoor-Kattabettu-Kotagiri road and was built in 1914 as a catchment supplying drinking water to Coonoor and Kotagiri. Ringed by eucalyptus forest and reached by a short walk, it is a peaceful, little-visited spot popular for gentle trekking.

Ralliah Dam, Coonoor
Practical guide

Plan Ralliah Dam

Who's going?Tailor Ralliah Dam to your trip
Typeheritage
Nearest baseCoonoor
DistrictThe Nilgiris
Best timeOctober to March is the cooler, drier…
Time neededAbout an hour
EntryFree
Places to visit16Listed businesses14

Ralliah Dam is planned from Coonoor, one of the travel bases in The Nilgiris district. Use Coonoor for stays, food and local transport, then plan this place as a focused stop.

What to expect

Highlights

Getting there

How to visit

  • Base yourself in Coonoor or nearby in The Nilgiris, then confirm the last-mile route locally before travel.
  • If access depends on temple, museum or seasonal rules, check on the day before you go.
Timing

Best time

October to March is the cooler, drier season in the Cauvery delta.

Weather in Ralliah DamSeasonal guide

Live forecast loads in your browser.

Today at Ralliah Dam
Sunrise6:13 am
Sunset6:34 pm
Golden hour best light5:34 pm–6:34 pm
Blue hour after sunset6:34 pm–6:59 pm
Sun sets toward compass bearingW · 279°
Moon tonight🌖 Waning gibbous · 90%
South-west monsoon. June to September is the south-west monsoon in Tamil Nadu. Expect heavy showers, mostly in bursts rather than all day — carry rain cover, allow extra time for getting around, and note that ferries and open-air sites are the first things affected.

Sun and moon are calculated for this location and shown in IST. Photography windows are the hour around sunrise and sunset; the sunset bearing is degrees clockwise from true north. Moon phase is accurate to about half a day.

Stay · eat · do · rent · see · shop

Stays, food & things to do near Ralliah Dam

Verified hotels, homestays, restaurants, experiences, sights, shops and rentals around Ralliah Dam — commission-free, with direct contact. Filter by what you need.

9 places to stay near Ralliah Dam

N
Neemrana's Wallwood Garden
Place to stay
Top pick
Heritage hotel
Neemrana's Wallwood Garden

A nineteenth-century Scottish-style house on Kotagiri Road, run by Neemrana. It keeps its own award-winning gardens and a tea estate.

Commission-freeView details
I
Ibex Resorts, Coonoor (Leewood)
Place to stay
Top pick
Heritage hotel
Ibex Resorts, Coonoor (Leewood)

A colonial bungalow of 113 years on the Leewood Estate at Highfield. Five grades of room, and lawns used for weddings.

Commission-freeView details
1
180° McIver
Place to stay
Top pick
Boutique hotel
180° McIver

Three grades of room in the old McIver Villa on Orange Grove Road. The view runs right across the Coonoor valley.

Commission-freeView details
T
Tenerife Hill
Place to stay
Top pick
Plantation homestay
Tenerife Hill

A two-bedroom farmstay inside a working tea estate. The kitchen cooks Badaga food, which few places serve visitors.

Commission-freeView details
T
The Sanctuary at Paradise Hill
Place to stay
Top pick
Plantation bungalow
The Sanctuary at Paradise Hill

A two-suite plantation bungalow on Paradise Hill, closed in by hills on three sides. Meals and guided estate walks come with it.

Commission-freeView details
I
Ibex Resorts, Coonoor (Tapas)
Place to stay
Resort
Ibex Resorts, Coonoor (Tapas)

The smaller of the two Ibex houses at Coonoor, out at Burliar. Three mountain-view rooms with private sit-outs, and a restaurant called Sparrow.

Commission-freeView details
F
Fairy Glen
Place to stay
Guest house
Fairy Glen

A two-bedroom colonial cottage on Hatherly Road, let as a whole house. Meals are cooked to order with a day’s notice.

Commission-freeView details
E
Erin Villa
Place to stay
Guest house
Erin Villa

A house of more than 150 years on six acres, two kilometres out of town. Let by the room or as a whole cottage.

Commission-freeView details
C
Coonoor Club
Place to stay
Members club
Coonoor Club

The town’s club since 1885, with heritage guest suites looking onto the garden. A dining room, a bar, tennis, and a library of 3,000 books.

Commission-freeView details

Book with the place itself. India’s cyber-crime coordination centre warned in April 2025 that convincing copies of hotel and pilgrimage booking sites are being pushed through sponsored search and social ads, taking payment for rooms the property never hears about. Every listing here links to the business’s own contact details and its own Google or Bing profile — we take no commission and sit in nobody’s payment path. If a booking page reached you through an ad, check the address bar against the property’s own site before you pay. Fraud can be reported on cybercrime.gov.in or on 1930.

Ranked

The best of Coonoor, ranked

Ralliah Dam sits in Coonoor, and these rank everything verified across the town rather than this one spot — built from the same listings shown above, ordered by the strength of the source evidence behind each entry rather than by anyone's star score. Every card shows how many places are really on it. Nobody pays to appear.

Across the whole of Coonoor

Ranked guides

Top experiences around Coonoor

10 more places around Coonoor, each worth a day of its own.

activityNilgiri Mountain Railway

6.4 km · ~16 min by auto

A UNESCO World Heritage metre-gauge rack railway connecting Mettupalayam to Ooty via Coonoor, opened in stages between 1899 and 1908.

parkSim's Park

5.0 km · ~12 min by auto

A 12-hectare botanical park in Coonoor established in 1874, laid out in irregular Japanese style with a small lake and rare tree species.

viewpointDolphin's Nose, Coonoor

A rocky outcrop near Coonoor offering sweeping views of the Nilgiri escarpment, Catherine Falls, and the plains below.

viewpointLamb's Rock

A viewpoint near Coonoor overlooking tea and coffee plantations and the Coimbatore plains, named after a former collector of the region.

heritageDroog Fort

Droog Fort sits at about 6,000 feet on a hilltop roughly 13 km from Coonoor and is reached by a trek through tea estates and shola. It is said to have been used as an outpost by Tipu Sultan in the 18th century, with surviving remnants including a wall and a clock tower. The summit gives sweeping views over the plains and hills.

heritageLaw's Falls

6.3 km · ~16 min by auto

Law's Falls lies about 5 km from Coonoor on the Coonoor-Mettupalayam ghat road, where the Coonoor river drops through a wooded gorge. It is named after Colonel Law, who built the Coonoor ghat road in the 1830s. Surrounded by dense greenery, it is a relatively uncrowded picnic spot.

heritageLady Canning's Seat

5.1 km · ~13 min by auto

Lady Canning's Seat is an elevated colonial-era vantage point near Coonoor named after the wife of Lord Canning, Viceroy of India. It is prized for its sunrise and sunset views over the surrounding valleys and tea slopes.

heritageKattery Park

Kattery Park is a horticultural park spread over about 5.5 acres near Coonoor, with landscaped flower beds, a children's play area and a small waterfall on the Kallar river nearby. It is a compact garden stop on the outskirts of the town.

heritageSt. George's Church, Coonoor

5.9 km · ~15 min by auto

The Anglican church of the Wellington cantonment, about three kilometres from Coonoor rather than in the town itself, with six Ionic columns dividing the hall into a nave and side aisles under a vaulted roof, and a white marble altar. Its date is contested: the Wellington Cantonment Board's own history records it as built in 1885 by Major Morant of the Royal Engineers, who was also the moving spirit behind the Nilgiri Mountain Railway; travel writing gives 1826 and credits Colonel J. T. Boileau. The barracks themselves were only begun in 1852. We have no checked coordinate for it, so no distance to it is printed.

heritageAll Saints Church, Coonoor

5.5 km · ~14 min by auto

An Anglican church in Coonoor, now of the Church of South India, on the Kattabettu road out of the town — stained glass, antique woodwork and an old pipe organ in a Gothic hall. Its founding is published as both 1851 and 1854 and we have found no official source that settles it, so both are printed. We have no checked coordinate for it, so no distance to it is printed.

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Before you go

Ralliah Dam — at a glance

TimingsDaylight hours
Best timeOctober to May

Entry: Free

Getting here

How to reach Ralliah Dam

About 10 km from Coonoor on the Kotagiri road; nearest railway Coonoor NMR station; nearest airport Coimbatore (CJB) ~75 km.

Getting around Ralliah Dam

We have not assessed physical access at this place yet. Across India, step-free routes, handrails and accessible toilets are the exception rather than the rule, and pavements are often interrupted — if step-free access matters to you, contact the site or a local operator before committing to the trip.

If you need help at Ralliah Dam
112All emergencies (police · fire · medical)The single number to call in any emergency (ERSS).

Emergency numbers are verified against official government and state tourism sources. 112 works anywhere in India.

Nearby

What’s near Ralliah Dam

heritageHidden Valley, Coonoor 3.7 km · ~9 min by auto · straight line
heritageHighfield Tea Estate and Factory 4.2 km · ~11 min by auto · straight line
parkSim's Park 5.0 km · ~12 min by auto · straight line
heritagePasteur Institute of India, Coonoor 5.1 km · ~13 min by auto · straight line
heritageLady Canning's Seat 5.1 km · ~13 min by auto · straight line
heritageAll Saints Church, Coonoor 5.5 km · ~14 min by auto · straight line
heritageBedford, Coonoor 5.8 km · ~14 min by auto · straight line
heritageSt. George's Church, Coonoor 5.9 km · ~15 min by auto · straight line
heritageBrooklane Coonoor Tea Factory 6.2 km · ~16 min by auto · straight line
heritageLaw's Falls 6.3 km · ~16 min by auto · straight line
activityNilgiri Mountain Railway 6.4 km · ~16 min by auto · straight line
heritageCoonoor railway station 6.4 km · ~16 min by auto · straight line

All 16 places to visit in Coonoor →

On the map

Where Ralliah Dam is

Good to know

Ralliah Dam — frequently asked

When is the best time to visit Ralliah Dam?

October to March is the cooler, drier season in the Cauvery delta.

What are the entry fee and timings at Ralliah Dam?

Entry: Free. Timings: Daylight hours.

How do I reach Ralliah Dam?

Base yourself in Coonoor or nearby in The Nilgiris, then confirm the last-mile route locally before travel. If access depends on temple, museum or seasonal rules, check on the day before you go.

How much time do I need for Ralliah Dam?

About an hour.

What else is near Ralliah Dam?

Nearby you can pair Hidden Valley, Coonoor (3.7 km), Highfield Tea Estate and Factory (4.2 km), Sim's Park (5.0 km), Pasteur Institute of India, Coonoor (5.1 km).

Read before you go

Ralliah Dam guides, stories & itineraries

We have not published a story about Ralliah Dam itself yet. These cover Coonoor, the town it sits in, and the wider district.

Around Coonoor

Ralliah Dam sits in Coonoor, so these cover the streets, buildings and surroundings around it.

Tamil Nadu-wide guides & itineraries

Route-level itineraries and practical guides for the rest of Tamil Nadu.

See all 10 The Nilgiris guides & stories →

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