Mamallapuram Tours and Trips

I'm not sure why we didn't visit Mamallapuram enroute to Pondicherry in the morning of the first day of group travel. We could then have spent two nights in Pondicherry giving us more time to explore the city. The last two nights could have been spent in Chennai making the journey to the airport easier tham from Mamallapuram. Overall though the trip was excellently lead by our guide Shree. The itinery was generally very good. The hotel in Mamallapuram was disappointing. The hotel in Chennai though was excellent. Overall a very good trip.

This was such an enjoyable trip with great variety. We were transported in comfort in our roomy coach. Our tour leader Sree was outstandingly helpful, knowledgeable and professional. The warmth, colour and sounds of India were made accessible on this extremely satisfying trip - and we saw a leopard!

Sriraj was organized and was able to provide the leadership needed to bring our disparate group together. You could tell that leading tours was a joy to him and it reflected in the joy we all felt while on the tour. When we had to leave the tour unexpectedly, Sriraj arranged for the transportation and made sure that we knew we were being taken care of

We had a great leader, tacking us to restaurants to eat with the locals. He was good at explaining things to us and went out of his way to help us. When the cyclone hit and our flights were cancelled he helped us with alternate flights and accommodation we would have struggled on our own. My only suggestion for the tour that could be different would be exploring the backwaters canals in small boats.

The greatest concern the tour itinerary was going to way too many Hindu temples. It would be greater value to add in different activities or free time in hotels. Highlights for us included the spice planation tour, the national park game drive, and eating in the different restaurants our guide arranged. The Kerala backwaters houseboat was very relaxing.

As stated in the trip notes, this is a fast paced tour that covers a lot of ground. There are some long drives although there are often stops to visit somewhere of interest. Overall the tour was excellent, there was plenty of variety in the programme. The only disappointments were that Puducherry was oversold and there wasn’t much French heritage to see and the trip on the houseboat in the Kerala backwaters was a cruise on the lake and didn’t venture into the canals. The hotels were very good, the final hotel in Mamallapuram was more basic but this was more than offset by its location in the centre of the town. Replacing the overnight train journey with a daytime express train is a good decision by Explore. The food was delicious throughout. We had an excellent tour guide. This tour would be ideal for someone visiting India for the first time.