South India Tour

Hi all !

I am coming to India on my second trip. The first one was for a conference, at that time we visited Agra & Jaipur. Now I am planning to visit Southern part of India (Tamilnadu+Kearala) in August end on my own. I am in the process of making my itinerary and I'll post some queries ?

Some preliminary queries are:

1. Is this right time to visit Southern India ?

2. I want to visit Chennai (please give me some offbeat places), Madurai Temple and KaniyaKumari. From here I wish to go to Kerala, but I do not know where to go in Kerala ? Munnar, Kochi are some places in my mind.

These just came to my mind, I 'll do some research on this beautiful site and will seek more information. I hope you'll help me.

Cheers !

In Kerala you can visit Kovalam, Munnar, Kumarakom, Varkala and Fort Kochi...

Hi Jonam,

Answering your first question, it would be the monsoon season in Kerala in July- August and parts of TN might also get rains intermittently.

The places you can visit depends on the duration of your trip. Start your trip from chennai (north most part of TN), then continue southwards into Trichy and Madurai (temples) and then on to the southern tip - Kanyakumari. Get into Trivandrum (southernmost in kerala) from here and proceed northwards in the order of Kochi, Munnar, Allepey, etc.

In that way, you can enjoy the architectural splendor of TN's temples and them move on to Kerala for its amazing hills and backwaters. Munnar and Allepey are must -visits

Happy planning

I agree with Sharan on your planning.
But it depends on the number of days you have with you. If you can mention the number of days, we can advise you better.

Hi friend.
In Kerala there is lots of places to visit.
1 Kovalam (beach)
2 Aleppy (house boat)
3 Kumarakom (back water)
4 Periyar (wild life )
5 Munnar (hill station)
6 Cochin (historical)
7 Cherai (Beach )
8 Wayand (Wild life)
9 Kasarkode (historical)

And in Tamilnadu is a town of TEMPLES

sharan_travelcrazy and arunganpath,

Thanks for your valuable inputs !

I'll reach on 29th August. Will it still be raining heavily ?

I plan to holiday for 10-15 days. May be increase by 5 more days. But I want to travel on budget Travelling on Trains and staying in B&Bs etc. Will a budget of $35 per day be sufficient to cover these places or do I need to increase this. last time I was on a conference and everything was included, so I have no idea about costs, But I have heard that India can be done quite cheaply.

Your inputs pl.

Hi...

Now there is starts nice raining.
But in Augest the rain will stop.
I think $10 to $20 per day for B&B.
travel exp- is by bus $5 to $10 per day.
by car is $25 to $35 per day.

For a period of 10-15 days, you can have a decent look of tamilnadu.. You can start with Chennai, move to Madurai, then Rameshwaram and then back to Madurai to Kanyakumari. From then, you can go to Kerala - Trivandrum, Kovalam, Alleppey, Ernakulam..

With a budget of $35 per day, you can have a pretty decent accomodation. If you intend to travel by train, make your plan fast and book your tickets. In India, trains are crowded and getting accomodation in select routes is not easy. Booking starts 90 days in Advance. Better to have yourself booked atleast 30-45 days in advance to avoid getting into general compartment (which are invariably crowded).

Yes. As arun suggests, book your train tickets asap

And assuming your trip is for 15 days, I would advise the first 6-7 days for TN and the later half for kerala. Make sure you keep enough time for kerala (there's lots to see )such an amazing place it is! You might want to pick the best three places and soak in their beauty rather than rushing through 5-6 places.

sharan_travelcrazy, arunganpath & amine,

Again thanks !

I am glad to know that rains will come to a stop in August end.

First of all I want to see some offbeat places in Chennai. Can you please give some ideas about places which do not find mention in guidebooks, may be anything like an ancient temple, some water tank, some old house anything different..... I want to stay in Chennai for 3-4 days.

Then I intend to follow arun's suggestion.

How about Kochi and Munnar, arun has not included them in the suggested itinerary.

I can increase my stay upto 3 weeks....

And yes ! I want to savour the places and not just tick them off my list.

Jonam, he has mentioned Ernakulam which is a kind of twin city of Kochi. And yes, Munnar is a must-go - do not miss it at any cost! I would rate it as the best hill station in southern India.

And that question of an offbeat place in chennai keeps me thinking. Probably being a native of this place, I haven't explored any such places which a tourist might have I would suggest that you do a one-day trip to mahabalipuram (of course not offbeat by any means) where en route you can visit the Dakshin chitra, a heritage center for arts and crafts.

Ideally you could walk in the streets of Triplicane and Mylapore (where there are quite a lot of temples) to get a real feel of the ancient culture of the city.

[QUOTE=jonam;734086]sharan_travelcrazy, arunganpath & amine,

How about Kochi and Munnar, arun has not included them in the suggested itinerary.

QUOTE]

Sorry, I missed out Munnar. It is a must go place.. You can also think of plan to go to Thekkady..

If you wish, you can visit Ooty / Kodaikanal in Tamilnadu. They are hill resorts which you can cover on your way back from Kerala.

sharan_travelcrazy, arunganpath,

So how about the itinerary to Kerala from Kaniyakumari ?
How much time you think should be sufficient to cover each city ?
I wish to see the old Jewish quarters of Kochi....

I would like to cover Kovalam, Trivandrum, Kochi and Thekkady...

I've head that Ooty/ Kodaikanal are very crowded place ? is it right ? and will they be good in early September ?

Now ! One important thing, any suggestions about Hotels/B&Bs at these places in Tamilnadu and Kerala. My budget would be $25 Max.

You should not have an issue on B&Bs.. you can get accomodation in any one near the busstand at nominal rates. These small timers would not internet and you can get in there.

Kanyakumari to trivandrum should be around 3 hour journey. So, not a great travel.

Actually, I meant my entire Kearala itinerary ! i.e. In which order the plces in Kerala should be visited from KaniyaKumari.