Places to Visit in Alangayam

The Yelagiri hills, Asia’s largest optical telescope, a leather-and-biryani belt and the fought-over Carnatic capital — a guide to the two districts split from Vellore in 2019.

Cooler, greener and far less crowded than Ooty or Kodaikanal — a guide to Tamil Nadu’s quieter ranges, from the Kolli Hills’ 70 hairpin bends to sleepy Sirumalai, Yelagiri’s lakes and the wild Jawadhu and Kalrayan plateaux.

On a dark forested ridge above the leather towns of Tirupathur, a great dome shelters a 2.34-metre mirror that once ranked as Asia’s largest optical telescope — and caught early glimpses of a ring around Uranus and an atmosphere around a moon of Jupiter.