South India Highlights Private Tour

Most long-haul flights reach Chennai International Airport late at night or in the small hours, so our representative tracks your arrival and is outside Gate 4 or the nearest exit with a placard bearing your name. After a quick greeting, you meet your chauffeur, who will drive you through Tamil Nadu and Kerala for the next two weeks, and settle into an air-conditioned car for the 30 to 45 minute ride to your hotel. The roads are quiet at that hour, with only the odd tea stall lit up along GST Road. Your representative hands over a printed day-by-day programme and the direct numbers of our operations team.

If you land in the morning, rest first, then take a gentle look around once the midday heat eases. Marina Beach, one of the longest urban beaches in the world, fills with families in the late afternoon, and food carts sell sundal, the spiced chickpea snack, and grilled corn rubbed with lime and chilli. Swimming here is unsafe because of strong currents, so treat it as a promenade. Back at the hotel, dinner might be your first South Indian thali on a banana leaf, with rasam, kootu and curd rice served in small portions that are refilled until you wave your hand.

Overnight stay in Chennai.

Begin with a morning Chennai city tour in the company of a local guide. Fort St George, built by the British East India Company in the seventeenth century, holds St Mary's Church, the oldest Anglican church east of Suez, and a museum of coins, uniforms and colonial portraits that is closed on Fridays. Drive on to Mylapore, the old Tamil quarter, where the Kapaleeshwarar Temple raises a painted gopuram covered in figures of gods and demons. Remove your shoes at the entrance and walk the corridors as women draw kolam patterns in rice flour by the tank. San Thome Basilica, a short drive away, is built over the tomb believed to hold the apostle Thomas.

After lunch, the driver heads south along the East Coast Road, a pleasant 55 km run that takes about an hour and a half with the sea glinting on your left. Halfway along, the open-air DakshinaChitra heritage museum shows rebuilt village houses from all four southern states, a useful primer for what lies ahead; it closes on Tuesdays. Mahabalipuram is a small fishing and stone-carving town, and you can hear chisels ringing from the sculptors' yards along the main street. Check in to a beachside resort and walk down to the sand as the fishing boats come home at sunset.

Overnight stay in Mahabalipuram.

Rise early to see the Shore Temple in soft morning light, when the granite turns pale gold and the waves break just beyond the compound wall. Built under the Pallava king Narasimhavarman II in the eighth century, it is one of the oldest structural stone temples in South India. Your guide then leads you to Arjuna's Penance, an enormous rock face carved with elephants, sages, river spirits and a cat standing on its hind legs in mock prayer. Nearby you will see Krishna's Butter Ball, a boulder that seems ready to roll downhill, and the Pancha Rathas, five shrines each cut from a single outcrop of rock.

Before noon the car continues south along the coast road towards Pondicherry, a drive of about 100 km that takes two and a half hours, crossing backwater creeks and salt pans near Marakkanam. The Union Territory of Puducherry was a French colony until 1954, and the change is clear the moment you enter the White Town: mustard and white villas, street names such as Rue Romain Rolland and policemen in red kepis. After check-in at a heritage guesthouse, spend the evening along the seafront Promenade, which closes to traffic each evening, and stop for a coffee or crêpe at one of the cafés on Rue Suffren.

Overnight stay in Pondicherry.

A morning walk through the French Quarter with a local guide shows how neatly the town was laid out on a grid, with the canal separating the European side from the Tamil quarter. Visit the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus with its stained-glass panels, the quiet courtyard of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, where visitors lay flowers on the samadhi in silence, and the Manakula Vinayagar Temple, where the temple elephant sometimes blesses visitors with a tap of its trunk. Across the canal, the Tamil quarter has old houses with deep front verandas called thinnai, and the guide explains how the two communities lived side by side.

After lunch, drive about 12 km north to Auroville, the experimental township founded in 1968 by the Mother, Sri Aurobindo's spiritual collaborator. The visitor centre has a short film and an exhibition about the community, and a shaded path leads to a garden viewpoint for the Matrimandir, a golden sphere covered in discs. Entry to its inner chamber is limited and must be booked in advance, so most visitors view it from outside. Auroville's shops sell handmade paper, incense and organic produce. In the evening, try Franco-Tamil cooking such as prawn curry with a crusty baguette in the White Town.

Overnight stay in Pondicherry.

Today is the longest drive of the tour, broken up by two remarkable temples. Chidambaram, about 70 km south of Pondicherry, is home to the Thillai Nataraja Temple, dedicated to Shiva as the cosmic dancer. Its inner sanctum has a gold-plated roof, and the hereditary Dikshitar priests, recognisable by their side-knotted hair, perform rituals several times a day. Men may be asked to remove shirts before entering certain halls. Your driver times the arrival so you reach the temple before it closes at midday, and a guide explains the 108 dance poses carved on the eastern gateway, a manual of classical Bharatanatyam in stone.

Continue inland through rice country to Gangaikonda Cholapuram, the capital built by Rajendra Chola I to celebrate his armies reaching the Ganges. The temple here is quieter than the one in Thanjavur, set on a wide lawn, and its sculpted panels of Shiva crowning the devotee Chandesha are among the finest of the period. Stop for lunch in Kumbakonam, known for its strong filter coffee brewed from chicory-blended beans and served frothing in a steel tumbler. The last stretch to Thanjavur takes around an hour, past canals fed by the Kaveri. Check in and rest after a full day on the road.

Overnight stay in Thanjavur.

Thanjavur was the seat of the Chola dynasty, and the Brihadeeswarar Temple, completed by Rajaraja Chola I in 1010, is its crowning work. A guide walks you through the gateways to the granite vimana, about 66 metres tall, and the monolithic Nandi bull that faces the sanctum. Look for the Chola frescoes in the inner passage, sometimes opened to visitors, and the inscriptions that list dancers, musicians and lamp donors by name. Visit in the morning, then come back in the late afternoon if you can, when the stone turns honey-coloured. The Thanjavur Royal Palace complex holds an art gallery of Chola bronzes and the Saraswathi Mahal Library of palm-leaf manuscripts.

After lunch, drive about 35 km to Darasuram, where the Airavatesvara Temple, a UNESCO-listed Chola shrine, is built in the form of a chariot with stone wheels and horses. Its steps once produced musical notes when struck, and the miniature carvings of dancers and acrobats repay a close look. Nearby Swamimalai has families of sthapathis, traditional bronze sculptors, who still cast idols by the lost-wax method: you will see beeswax models, clay moulds and molten metal poured in the workshop yard. On the way back, stop at a workshop making Thanjavur paintings with gold leaf and glass beads.

Overnight stay in Thanjavur.

The drive to Madurai passes through Tiruchirappalli, usually shortened to Trichy, about an hour from Thanjavur. On the island of Srirangam, formed by two branches of the Kaveri, stands the Ranganathaswamy Temple, one of the largest working temple complexes in the world, enclosed by seven concentric walls with streets, shops and homes between them. The main Rajagopuram rises about 73 metres over the southern entrance. Your guide shows you the Hall of a Thousand Pillars and the Sesharaya Mandapam, whose pillars are carved as rearing horses with riders. Non-Hindus may not enter the innermost sanctum, but the rest of the complex is open.

Cross back to the mainland for the Rock Fort, a granite outcrop in the middle of Trichy with about 400 steps cut into it, leading to the small Ucchi Pillayar shrine at the summit. The view takes in the Kaveri, Srirangam's towers and the flat farmland beyond, and it is worth the climb if your knees allow. After a lunch of Chettinad chicken or a vegetarian meals plate, continue south for about two and a half hours on the four-lane highway to Madurai. The city has been inhabited for well over two thousand years, and in the evening its streets fill with jasmine sellers and buzzing scooters.

Overnight stay in Madurai.

Spend the morning at the Meenakshi Amman Temple, the heart of the city and the reason most visitors come. A local guide steers you through four towering gateways covered in thousands of painted plaster figures, past the Golden Lotus Tank and into the Thousand Pillar Hall, now a small museum of bronzes. Mobile phones and cameras must be deposited at the entrance, so the guide brings the stories to life with words. Afterwards, walk to Pudhu Mandapam opposite the east tower, a pillared hall where tailors at sewing machines can stitch a shirt or kurta for you within a day.

After lunch, the Madurai city tour continues at the Thirumalai Nayak Palace, a seventeenth-century hall of huge plastered pillars and arches mixing Indian and Islamic styles. The Gandhi Memorial Museum, housed in a former queen's palace, displays the blood-stained dhoti Gandhi wore when he was shot, and it is closed on Fridays. In the evening, return to the Meenakshi Temple for the palliyarai ceremony, held at around 9:30 pm, when priests carry Sundareswarar in a silver palanquin to Meenakshi's chamber, accompanied by drums and a nadaswaram. Finish with a glass of jigarthanda, Madurai's chilled milk drink with almond gum and ice cream.

Overnight stay in Madurai.

Before leaving, pay an early visit to the Mattuthavani flower market, where farmers pile jasmine, marigold and rose petals on sacks before dawn and traders shout their prices across the hall. After breakfast, the car heads west through Theni, a farming district of banana groves, grape vines and coconut groves, with the Western Ghats rising ahead. At Bodinayakanur, the hairpin bends begin, and the road climbs over the Bodimettu pass into Kerala. Your chauffeur will pull over at the viewpoints on the way up, where the Tamil plains spread out far below. The total journey takes about five hours with stops.

The climb brings an abrupt change: the dry heat of the plains gives way to cool mist, and cardamom estates appear under the tree canopy, followed by the neat green rows of tea around Pooppara and Chinnakanal. Munnar sits at the meeting point of three rivers, and its estates were first cleared and laid out by Scottish and English managers. Check in to a hillside resort and take the rest of the afternoon to recover from the drive with a cup of local tea on the balcony. If you feel like stretching your legs, walk down to Munnar's old market, where shops sell spices, home-made chocolate and woollen caps.

Overnight stay in Munnar.

A naturalist guide meets you after breakfast for a morning trek through private tea estates, starting near Pothamedu and following footpaths between the bushes down towards Attukad Falls. The walk is about 6 km, mostly downhill, and the guide points out shade trees, birds such as the Malabar whistling thrush and the cardamom growing in damp hollows. Expect two and a half to three hours at an easy pace, with your car waiting at the end. Comfortable shoes with good grip are useful, since the paths can be slippery after rain. The falls are strongest between June and December, after the monsoon has filled the streams.

In the afternoon, drive about 32 km east towards Top Station on the Kerala–Tamil Nadu border, passing the Kundala reservoir and stretches of eucalyptus forest. At around 1,700 metres, the viewpoint looks down over a sheer drop into the Theni valley, and on clear days the view stretches across the plains you crossed yesterday. In the colonial era, a ropeway carried tea from here down to Kottagudi for shipment. Clouds often roll in after three o'clock, so the driver keeps an eye on the weather. On the way back, stop at a tea factory outlet to buy fresh leaf tea at estate prices.

Overnight stay in Munnar.

After a slow breakfast, set off on the hill road to Thekkady, about 90 km and three and a half hours away. The first section runs past tea estates around Chithirapuram, then winds through cardamom hills near Udumbanchola, where the land is shaded by tall jackfruit and silver oak. A recommended stop is the Kallaramkulam or Chellarkovil viewpoint, perched on the Kerala side of the border with views over the Cumbum valley in Tamil Nadu. As you get closer to Kumily, look for small coffee roasters and pepper drying on mats in front of houses, part of everyday life in this spice-growing belt.

Arrive at your Thekkady hotel by early afternoon and take time to rest. Later in the day, visit an organic spice farm with a local guide, who will show you how vanilla orchids are hand-pollinated and why black and white pepper come from the same vine. You might also taste fresh cocoa pulp straight from the pod. In the evening, attend a performance of Kathakali or Kalaripayattu in town, or simply take a walk along Kumily's main street, lined with stores selling cardamom, cloves and tea. Ask your hotel for an early wake-up call, since tomorrow begins before sunrise.

Overnight stay in Thekkady.

The Periyar Lake boat ride begins at the Thekkady boat landing at about 7:30 am, and this first sailing gives the best chance of seeing animals at the water's edge. The boat follows the long arms of the reservoir among drowned tree stumps, where elephants come down to bathe and wild boar root along the banks. Look for gaur, the massive Indian bison, and for anhingas drying their wings on branches. After about ninety minutes on the water, you return to your hotel for breakfast and check out. Our team books boat tickets ahead, as only a limited number are sold for each sailing.

The descent from the hills to Alleppey takes about four hours via Kottayam, with rubber estates giving way to paddy fields and canals. You board a private houseboat in the early afternoon, welcomed by a crew who will look after you through the night. As the boat drifts along the Pamba river and its side canals, lunch is served on deck, with rice, fish fry, beetroot pachadi and lime pickle. Village life passes slowly by: small ferries, temple festivals and children waving from the banks. In the evening, the boat moors beside paddy fields and dinner is served under the lantern light.

Overnight stay in Alleppey.

Breakfast is served on deck as kingfishers dart along the water and the first ferries of the day chug past, and you disembark at around 9 am. The drive north to Kochi follows the coastal highway for about 60 km and takes roughly an hour and a half, passing the toddy shops and church spires of Cherthala. After check-in at a heritage hotel in Fort Kochi, set out after lunch with a local guide on foot. Start at the Indo-Portuguese Museum in the Bishop's House compound, which shows church silver, altar pieces and processional crosses from the Portuguese era; it is closed on Mondays.

Continue through Fort Kochi's lanes to the Dhobi Khana, a communal laundry dating from the Dutch period where washermen still beat clothes on stone slabs and iron them with charcoal irons. Walk past the old Dutch cemetery to the waterfront, where Chinese fishing nets are worked by teams of fishermen. Later, take a short drive to the Kerala Folklore Museum near Thevara, a three-storey wooden building filled with masks, costumes and temple carvings from across South India. In the evening, a farewell dinner of Kerala seafood moilee or a vegetarian sadya marks the end of your two weeks on the road.

Overnight stay in Kochi.

Your final morning is free until it is time for the airport transfer. If you have a late flight, head to Mattancherry, a ten-minute drive from Fort Kochi, to browse the antique shops on Jew Town Road, where carved teak doors, old spice boxes and brass oil lamps fill the warehouses, or pick up packets of pepper and cardamom to take home. Ask your chauffeur to stop for one last cup of filter coffee or a fresh lime soda on the way. Hotel check-out is usually at noon, and a later departure can be requested, subject to availability. Luggage can also be stored at the front desk if you prefer to spend the last hours out in town.

At the agreed time, your chauffeur drives you to Cochin International Airport, a journey of about an hour and a half from Fort Kochi, timed to arrive three hours ahead of an international flight. After fourteen days and around 1,200 km together, the farewell at the terminal is usually a warm one. Our office keeps an eye on your flight status until you are airborne, and the chauffeur helps with your bags to the terminal door. If you would like to add a few beach days at Kovalam or Varkala, or continue to the Andaman Islands or the Maldives, we can arrange the extension and transfers when you book.