Chennai Cultural, religious and historic sites Trips

A very enjoyable 2 week trip. The tour leader was excellent as was our driver and the local guides. The highlight of the trip was seeing leopards and a tiger in the Bandipur Tiger reserve but there were lots of other memorable moments from the evening "bed ceremony" at the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai to the Kathakali dance performance in Kochi and the train ride up to Ooty.

A very interesting tour packed with variety, colour and contrasts. Some long driving days but always plenty to see. The city sights were magnificent, and I particularly loved the night on the Kerala backwaters, also Bandipur and the bird reserve. Seeing a tiger was the icing on the cake. Our guide Abhi went out of his way to ensure we made the most of every day.

This was full on trip to visit major sights in S India. Expect a lot of travelling as there is a lot to see. Our tour leader Jojan was excellent. He was very knowledgeable, enthusiastic, well-organised with a good sense of humour and keen to showcase his country. Highlights included the Mamallapuram Shore Temples, the Meenakshi temple at Madurai, Kochi, the wildlife drive at Bandipur where we were lucky to see a tiger and Mysore Palace. A great trip with wonderful food.

An excellent tour led by our outstanding tour leader, Jojan. We got to see many amazing places and were lucky to be able to catch special events in temples and to see a wild tiger in Bandipur. The accommodation was better than I anticipated, all very comfortable. The food was consistently superlative. The only change I would recommend is to go to Mamallapuram after Chennai on the way to Pondicherry.

The trip itinerary certainly gave a wide range view of different areas of Southern India and their way of life. Busy bustling Chennai, then to the coastal resort of Pondicherry with a French flavour, followed by the temples and palace of Madurai. Then on to the hills hitting the tea plantations, spices and backwaters of Kerela for a sail along the river. Kochi, a busy town, with lots to see - Palace, museums, churches, synagogue and chinese fishing nets to name a few. A highlight was the toy train to Ooty. Lots to see in bustling Mysore from the Palace, statues, temples, markets and everything on the road together buses, cars, TukTuks, motorbikes, cows, sheep and goats and people! Fun to watch. Another variety of travel is the overnight train back to Chennai, ending with a leisurely day at Mamallapram. A bit of everything - recommended.

I loved this trip! We did travel a lot of miles but it was worth it! We saw many temples from the painted Hindu temples to ones carved out of solid granite that had only recently been uncovered! We travelled on a toy train to Ooty and an overnight train to get us back to Chennai, we had an overnight stay on a houseboat in Kerala. We saw both the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea! And the food was varied and delicious…..🥳