Tamil Nadu & Kerala · 15 days
Tamil Nadu and Kerala
Fifteen days from the Coromandel coast to the Malabar one. A journey we have run.
The journey
This is not a brochure route. It is one we built for a group and ran end to end, and the shape of it is the shape it actually took: four nights on the Coromandel coast before moving at all, the Chola country in the middle, three nights at Kumily because the plantations there reward them, and Kovalam at the end so that the last day is not a drive to an airport. The temple visits are timed to the ceremonies rather than to the opening hours.
Route
- Chennai
- Mamallapuram
- Trichy
- Srirangam
- Madurai
- Kumily
- Kochi
- The backwaters
- Kovalam
- Kanyakumari
What stays with you
- 01Four nights at Mamallapuram, including a day in Chennai by rickshaw
- 02Srirangam, the largest working temple complex in India, and Rock Fort above Trichy
- 03The evening ceremony at the Meenakshi temple, which is the one worth staying for
- 04Chacko's spice plantation at Kumily — three nights there, not one
- 05A night on a houseboat in the backwaters
- 06Kanyakumari where the three seas meet, and Padmanabhapuram palace on the way
Day by day
A shape rather than a timetable. Days move, and most people move one or two of them.
1
Late into Chennai, and straight down to Mamallapuram.
2
The morning free. The carvings in the afternoon, with a guide.
3
Into Chennai for the day, by rickshaw, and back down the coast by evening.
4
Mamallapuram again in the morning; the afternoon left alone.
5
West to Trichy. Rock Fort in the afternoon.
6
Srirangam early, then on to Madurai. The flower market and the Gandhi museum.
7
The Meenakshi temple in the morning, and again for the night ceremony.
8
Over the ghats to Kumily. A nature walk in the afternoon.
9
The spice plantations with Chacko.
10
The morning free; the last boat on the lake in the afternoon.
11
Down to Kochi. Kathakali in the evening.
12
Fort Kochi in the morning, the afternoon free.
13
Onto the houseboat, and a night in the backwaters.
14
Off the boat and down to Kovalam.
15
The day at leisure, and out of Trivandrum around midnight.
Shall we plan it?
Tell us roughly when, and how many of you, and we will come back with dates, a price and anything we would change about the route.
Or write to us at info@scenicescapesindia.com
The South