Compare Best of Southern India by G Adventures vs Gems of Southern India by Breathtakers Tours

Day 1 Kochi

Arrive at any time.

There are no planned activities before the evening welcome meeting, so check into the hotel and enjoy the city. After the welcome meeting, visit the harbour to enjoy sunset over the Chinese fishing nets followed by an optional group dinner.

Day 2 Kochi/Sultan Bathery

Take a morning train followed by a scenic drive to reach Sultan Bathery, in the Wayanad district.

Day 3 Sultan Bathery

Walk the nature trails through the farm area in Wayanad. Also take a tour of a tea factory and plantation to learn about tea production in the area from a guide.

Wayanad region of the western Ghats in Kerala is renowned for its sprawling tea plantations and is known to produce some of the finest teas.

Day 4 Sultan Bathery/Mysore

Settle in for the drive to the ancient city of Mysore.

Travel to Mysore (formally Mysuru) located in the foothills of the Chamundi Hills, which was the capital of the Kingdom of Mysore from 1399 to 1947.

Day 5 Mysore

Explore the vibrant city of Mysore including visits to Chamundi Temple and Mysore Palace. After enjoy free time and opt to visit the Devaraja market or join a yoga class.

Imagine life as a Maharaja on a guided tour of the Mysore Palace. Later, join the throngs of pilgrims at Chamundi Hills, with its temple on top, and Nandi the Bull (ridden by the Hindu god Shiva) a short walk below. In your free time, visit the Devaraja fruit and vegetable market or join a yoga class at one of the many local institutes. Opt to drive to Somnathpur, home to one of the most famous Hoysala Temples in India.

Day 6 Mysore/Māmallapuram

Enjoy a full day of train travel to Chennai before a short bus ride to Mamallapuram.

Arrive by train to Chennai before continuing south for a short ride to the small village of Mamallapuram.

Day 7 Māmallapuram

Visit the Shore Temple. In the afternoon, enjoy free time to explore Mamallapuram.

In the morning, visit the 7th century Shore Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Day 8 Māmallapuram/Puducherry

Continue to Pondicherry (now known as Puducherry) and learn about Sri Aurobindo Ghose at the ashram.

In the morning, drive to Pondicherry (now known as Puducherry), formerly the the largest French Colony in India and an important trading town. There is a strong French influence in the city's layout, with wide boulevards and French-style houses, but the city is undoubtedly Indian.

Day 9 Puducherry/Madurai

Travel inland to Madurai, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.

Day 10 Madurai

Hop on a cycle rickshaw for a tour of the city before visiting the famous Meenakshi Temple.

After visiting the temple complex, opt to visit the handicraft shops or duck into the cool shade of the covered, stone tailor’s market where, for a few rupees, rows of expert tailors will whip you up a custom shirt in minutes, all done on antique foot-pump sewing machines. In the late evening, opt to visit the Meenakshi Temple again for a glimpse of the nighttime rituals.

Day 11 Madurai/Thekkady

Drive to Thekkady. Take a guided tour of spice plantations in the Cardamom Hills.

Thekkady, adjacent to Periyar National Park, is the spice capital of India. On arrival, enjoy a guided tour of the spice plantations and a tea factory. Opt for a boat ride on the Periyar Lake.

Day 12 Thekkady/Kerala Backwaters

Travel to Alleppey for a local homestay. Experience local life and a guided walk along the lagoon.

Travel down to the backwaters from Thekkady to catch a private boat for the short journey to the village homestay. In the afternoon, explore the island with a local person to observe the different facets of local life — it's a great opportunity to meet and talk with the people who live in this unique location. Just before sunset, hop on a small country boat and journey along with the locals to enjoy sunset on the winding backwaters.

For this homestay, you will only need to take a small overnight bag. Your main bags will be transferred directly to the hotel in Kochi.

Day 13 Kerala Backwaters/Kochi

Spend the morning enjoying last moments with your host family. Learn to cook some local food, watch the toddy tappers at work, or wander around the village. Travel to a Planeterra project for lunch before returning to Kochi. Head out for an orientation walk, then enjoy an evening performance of kathakali, a form of traditional dancing from Kerala.

Day 14 Kochi

Depart at any time.

DAY 1 ARRIVE CHENNAI

Meals Included – None

On arrival at Chennai airport you will be met by Breathtakers Tours representative and transferred to hotel with assistance. Chennai, established on the site of a fishing village in 1639 as the first British settlement in India, the capital of Tamil Nadu is a teeming, sprawling, bustling industrial metropolis, a manufacturing hub known as the "Detroit of India”. Evening is at your leisure. Overnight stay at hotel in Chennai.

DAY 2 CHENNAI - MAHABALIPURAM

Journey Time – Approx. 1.5 hours drive

Meals Included – Breakfast

This morning commence your drive to Mahabalipuram and upon arrival check-in at your hotel. Mahabalipuram, a UNESCO World Heritage site which was a major seaport in the 7th century built by the Pallava King Narasimha Varman, occupying a spectacular location beside the Bay of Bengal, the small town has some magnificent rock temples and carvings dating from that period. The seafront Shore Temple comprises 3 ornate granite shrines. Krishna’s Butter Ball is a massive boulder balanced on a small hill near the Ganesha Ratha stone temple. Afternoon continue with sightseeing tour of Mahabalipuram.

It is a site of many ancient sculptural marvels. It was the port city of the Pallavas who had mastered the art of construction without using bricks or mortar, carving out exquisite sculptures from rocks. The best examples of their art here are the five monolith chariots. The various panels on the walls depict scenes

from Hindu mythology and fables from the Panchtantra. The Mahabalipuram ruins, date to the seventh century and consist of a cave temple, shore temple, monolithic Ratha. Evening is at your leisure.

Overnight stay at hotel in Mahabalipuram.

DAY 3 MAHABALIPURAM - PONDICHERRY

Journey Time – Approx. 2.5 hours drive

Meals Included – Breakfast,

After leisurely morning drive to Pondicherry.

Evening walk around Pondicherry.

Overnight stay at hotel in Pondicherry.

DAY 4 PONDICHERRY

Meals Included – Breakfast

Pondicherry is referred by names such as ‘Quintessence of French Culture’, ‘India’s Little France’ and ‘The French Riviera of the East’. This territory was under the French rule for nearly 281 years, still have

French flavour. Afternoon take a sightseeing tour of Pondicherry visiting The Sri Aurobindo Ashram with over 2000 residents saturates much of the town’s life. Founded by Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, who retired here to practice yoga and the ideals of a peaceful community, his principal disciple, a Parisian, known as the Mother in 1968 founded the nearby futuristic and optimistic town of Auroville, for people of all religions, politics and cultures to live together. Evening is at your leisure. Overnight stay at hotel in Pondicherry.

DAY 5 PONDICHERRY - TANJORE

Journey Time – Approx. 2.5 hours drive

Meals Included – Breakfast

Today commence your drive to Tanjore and en-route stop at Chidambaram and Darasuram Temples. Chidambaram Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva located in the heart of the temple town of Chidambaram. The Sangam classics refer to Viduvelvidugu Perumtaccan, respected clan of traditional Vishwakarmas, as being the chief architect of the temple renovation. Darasuram also known as Airavatesvara temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. This temple, built by Rajaraja Chola II in the 12th century CE is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The temple is one among a cluster of eighteen medieval era large Hindu temples in the Kumbakonam area.

After sightseeing commence your drive to Tanjore and on arrival check-in at hotel.

Tanjore is lying in the fertile Kaveri delta, dominated the political history of the region for 1000 years as the capital of three powerful dynasties. Firstly as the ancient capital of the Chola kings from 9th -13th

century, followed by the Nayaks 16th-17th century and finally the Marathas in 18th and 19th century. Overnight stay at hotel in Tanjore.

DAY 6 TANJORE - MADURAI

Journey Time – Approx. 3 hours drive

Meals Included – Breakfast

Today commence your drive to Madurai and on arrival check-in at your hotel. Madurai is a maddening whirl of a temple town, hugely popular for religious pilgrimages and receiving more than 10,000 pilgrims each day. The city has been a religious and cultural centre for well over 2,000 years and is among the oldest settlements in India. Successively ruled by the Pandiyans, Cholas, Hindu Vijayanagar Kings and Nayakas, each leaving their legacy with the most spectacular undoubtedly being the Meenaskhi Temple.

DAY 7 MADURAI

Meals Included – Breakfast

Madurai is a maddening whirl of a temple town, hugely popular for religious pilgrimages and receiving more than 10,000 pilgrims each day. The city has been a religious and cultural centre for well over 2,000 years and is among the oldest settlements in India. Successively ruled by the Pandiyans, Cholas, Hindu

Vijayanagar Kings and Nayakas, each leaving their legacy with the most spectacular undoubtedly being the Meenaskhi Temple.Late in the afternoon proceed for sightseeing tour of Madurai and visit the Tirumalai Nayak Palace,

built in 1636 in the Indo-Mughal style.

Evening visit to Meenakshi temple, the outstanding example of Dravidian architecture, built by the Vijayanagar rulers is a contemporary of the Taj Mahal and one of the largest and most important temples in India. Here witness “Aarti ceremony”. Overnight stay at hotel in Madurai.

DAY 8 MADURAI - MUNNAR

Journey Time – Approx. 4.5 hours drive

Meals Included – Breakfast

After a leisurely morning commence your drive to Munnar and on arrival check-in at your hotel. Situated in the heart of the Cardamom Hills in eastern Kerala, at an altitude of 1700m, Munnar is one of

Kerala’s gems and a still relatively undiscovered hill station. Surrounded by endless green, rolling hills and 30 of the world’s highest tea estates, Munnar is now Kerala’s principal tea growing region. Planters live in old bungalows left over from the days of the Raj and the surrounding, dense forest is still rich in wildlife. Hemmed in by soaring hills, dominated by peninsula India’s highest peak (Anamudi at 2695m), the setting is spectacular and the clean, fresh mountain air is a world away from the steamy coastal areas. The town itself is spread out on various levels and is full of grand old churches and scruffy little houses. Rest of the day is at your leisure to relax at the hotel. Overnight stay at hotel in Munnar.

DAY 9 MUNNAR

Meals Included – Breakfast

Today start the day with Tea Plantation walk. Start the walk through luxuriant tea estates wrapping the mountain ranges here. Delight in the sweet aroma of different types of tea grown here – walk through the narrow pathways separating these beautiful fields from each other. Tea plantation walking tour not only provides you best glimpses of the tea plantations of the region but also provides you with best views of the picturesque landscapes land

marking this entire region. Later visit Tea Museum (Tea Museum remains closed on every Mondays). Overnight stay at hotel in Munnar.

DAY 10 MUNNAR - ALLEPPEY

Journey Time – Approx. 4.5 hours drive

Meals Included – Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Today commence your drive to Alleppey and on arrival check-in at your hotel.

Rest of the day is at your leisure to relax at the hotel. Around 1300 hours you board your Houseboat which is a converted thatched roofed rice barge called a

Kettuvallam. Offering a unique way to explore the backwaters, stops will be made along the route and it is an extremely relaxing day as you are gently poled along the narrow waterways. There is no

electricity but the hurricane lamps provide light and atmosphere and your meals lunch and dinner (Keralan vegetarian or non vegetarian) will be cooked on board by the staff and the night will be at

anchor. The Backwaters’ comprise a labyrinthine network of canals and lagoons, at times only a few meters

inland from the sea, and stretching for miles. These waterways wind their way through the tropical jungles of palms and fruit trees, vibrant green paddy fields and small, water based settlements and

villages. In this region you will be able to glimpse Kerala’s unique rural lifestyle where land and water

are inseparable. Overnight on board Houseboat.

DAY 11 ALLEPPEY (BACKWATERS) - COCHIN

Journey Time – Approx. 1.5 hours drive

Meals Included – Breakfast

Today disembark the houseboat after breakfast at 0930 hours and thereafter commence your drive to Cochin and on arrival check-in at your hotel.

Cochin or Kochi which is on the Arabian Sea and lies on the natural trade route between China and Europe, the city has been a trading port since Roman times. Whilst modern Ernakulam in the east has

its expanding suburbs and is a dynamic city, the old districts of Mattancherry and Fort Cochin on a peninsula lie in the west & are the main focus for visitors. Narrow winding, picturesque streets, old

churches and Portuguese, British and Dutch colonial houses appear frozen in the 15th and 16th centuries. The renowned Chinese fishing nets supposedly introduced by traders from the court of

Kublai Khan line the entrance to the harbour. Evening at leisureOvernight stay at hotel in Cochin.

DAY 12 COCHIN

Meals Included – Breakfast

Today start the start the sightseeing of Cochin with a visit to Chinese Fishing nets.

Later start the sightseeing of Cochin.

Visit Jew Town on Mattancherry with its fascinating mixture of shops (some antique) warehouses and spice auction rooms with the synagogue at its heart.

The interior is illuminated by the 18th century blue Cantonese ceramics flooring tiles and original oil lamps. Mattancherry Palace built by the Portuguese in 1557 AD and later rebuilt by the Dutch houses

some superb murals from the Kerala school of painting. St. Francis Church originally built in wood in 1510 and named after Santo Antonio, the patron saint of Portugal, was the first European church in India. Vasco da Gama was originally buried here before his body was moved to Portugal. (Dutch Palace in Kochi remains closed on Fridays and Synagogue remains closed on Fridays & Saturdays) In the evening witness Kathakali dance show, which is a dance drama and is one of India’s most remarkable performing arts, an operating spectacle involving pantomime, abstract dance, singing,

instrumental accompaniment with elaborate costumes and makeup. Kathakali, which literally means "story play," was developed in the 17th century in Kerala as a courtly dance drama enacting mythic stories of the Hindu gods and goddesses. Overnight stay at hotel in Cochin.

DAY 13 DEPART FROM COCHIN

Meals Included – Breakfast

Today in time, you will be transferred to airport for flight to onwards destination.

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