In depth Tamil Nadu

DAY 1 DEPART THE UK

Depart the UK for your flights to Chennai.

DAYS 2 & 3 Pondicherry 

On arrival at Chennai airport your English speaking driver will pick you up; he will be spending the next 14 days with you. He will transport you to the beautiful former French territory of Pondicherry and the rest of this first day will be at leisure.

A full day will be spent touring the ‘white town,’ the French area of Pondicherry, by foot. Highlights will include the Place de la Republique, the museum and the Tamil Quarter.

DAY 4 & 5 Kumbakonam 

This morning you will take the short transfer to Pondicherry train station where you will board the Kanyakumari express for the 4-hour train journey to Kumbakonam, one of the oldest towns in Tamil Nadu. Here you’ll be staying in a central location, convenient for exploring the 7th century capital of the Chola dynasty and situated by the two rivers of Cauvery and Arasalar.

Early the next day, you’ll take a morning sightseeing tour of Tanjore with a local private guide.  Tanjore is a fascinating city with its spectacular central temple, Brihadeeswara.

DAY 6 & 7 Chettinad

Today, journey through rural countryside and villages towards Chettinad, a small town with an impressive artistic heritage. Your small central hotel has a homestay feel and is a great base from which to explore.

The next day you’ll have a full-day guided tour of this prosperous community, during which you can experience the culture and cuisine of a relatively unchanged region. It’s hard not to be impressed by the beautiful mansion houses with lovely courtyards. Chettinad is a fantastic town in which to go antique shopping too!  

DAY 8 & 9 Rajakkad 

This morning you’ll drive through the hidden hills of Tamil Nadu to a lovely estate in a lush forest and coffee plantation. Here you can take some time out to relax, go for walks, eat lovely home-cooked food from the locally grown ingredients and while away a few hours reading a book.

Day 10 & 11 Madurai 

A relatively short drive today will bring you to the third-largest city in Tamil Nadu: Madurai. It's a city famous for upholding Tamil traditions and is an important Hindu pilgrimage centre. The rest of the afternoon is yours to enjoy at leisure.

The next day you’ll have a private guided tour of the city, taking in the key sites such as the Meenakshi Amman Temple and the 17^th century Thirumalai Nayak Palace. In the evening you have a chance to experience the famous puja at the Sri Meenakshi temple, joining hundreds of pilgrims as an image of the god Shiva is carried from his shrine by temple priests and taken in a chariot procession to the shrine of his wife.

DAY 12–15 Mahabalipuram 

In the late morning, you will take a short flight back to Chennai and transfer south for about 2 hours to Mahabalipuram. Now is your time to relax on the coast for the next three days, but the region still has a lot to offer thanks to the local UNESCO world heritage sites of beautiful stone carvings.

You may like to extend the trip or, if you are short of time, miss out the beach. All of our holidays are tailor-made, which means it’s easy to change them to suit your requirements.