Highlights of Southern India

The southern India trip itinerary offers a nice variety of things to see and do. One day you are at a magnificent temple and the next day you are on a safari looking at a tiger. Be aware that there are long drives to get from one city to the next but this trip gives you a nice taste of the southern region which has a totally different feel from the northern and central areas.

Excellent leader and full itinerary , I felt train journey followed by short night in hotel due to very early start and then long return journey were too demanding for me coming one on top of the other. Ok if you're under 55 but most Explore travellers are not. Also thought the van could have been more comfortable given some of the long journeys involved.Appreciate that standards in India are not always the same as in many Asian countries and did read your comment on this. Lovely group and leader and the Indian people made this holiday a great experience.

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.

Long journeys a lot of which were through large cities. Itinerary sounded really interesting but some only took 1-2 hours which left a lot of the day unplanned. Our lovely guide did his best to add unplanned activities.

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.

The reason why I wouldn't recommend the tour is I never recommend any tour I do, it's not because I didn't enjoy it. Tour guide - Jojan is one of the best tour guides I have had & I have travelled thru 62 countries. He went beyond his tour responsibilities to make sure we all enjoyed ourselves. Itinerary - itinerary was good but I would have loved a few different activities include.- incorporating kayaking in the Backwaters of Kerala on the small canals with our overnight experience on the barge. Doing a Tuk Tuk tour around Fort Kochi. Doing a cycle ride & hike somewhere in the itinerary where suitable. For me the trip was good but didn't have the wow factor! This was my second trip to India, the previous trip was in the Rajasthan area & that particular trip had the wow factor! Itinerary 9/10 Guide 10/10 Transport 10/10 Acco.modation 10/10

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.