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BEST OF SOUTH INDIA (6 Days)

CHENNAI-COVELONG-PONDICHERRY-TANJORE-TRICHY-MADURAI-PERIYAR

Day 01: Abroad - Chennai - Covelong
Arrive Madras International airport.

On arrival, the guest will be met by our representative and directly proceed to Covelong (43 kms/1 hr)

Upon arrival at hotel the guests will be provided with the traditional Indian welcome consisting of aarti-tikka and garlands with non-alcoholic welcome drink.

Overnight at hotel.

Day 02: Covelong
Fullday sightseeing tour of Kanchipuram and Mahabalipuram.

Kanchipuram - known as the Golden City of a Thousand Temples, is one of the oldest towns in India. It is famous for both its temples, many of them remarkably well preserved and for its hand-woven silks. Kanchipuram is one of the seven sacred cities of India and it is the only one associated with both Shiva and Vishnu. Visit Ekambareshwar Temple, Kailashnath Temple, Kamakshi Temple, the Vaikunthaperumal Temple, all built in the 7th and 8th centuries. With a weaving tradition dating back to the Pallava era (when silk was the royal cloth), Kanchipuram is justly famous for its particularly fine silk saris, embellished with stunning patterns. Visit the local homes of the weavers and watch them create magic out of silk thread into saris.

Mahabalipuram - This is a small, quiet seaside resort with a unique 7th-century Shore Temple, a lovely beach and some of the most beautiful rock-cut temples in the world. Situated on the shore of the Bay of Bengal, Mahabalipuram was already a famous seaport in the 1st century AD. This, town was a workshop for temple building. Visit the seven pagoda-style shore temples, lashed by the waves of the sea and the seven rathas or temple chariots, a group of monolithic monuments & animal figures carved out of solid rock, the earliest known examples of Dravidian architecture. They were constructed in a single century-long burst of creative enthusiasm, starting in the reign of Narasimhavarman 1 (AD 630-68). End the visit by photography of the beautiful Shore temples at sunset.

Dinner and overnight at hotel.

Day 03: Covelong - Pondicherry
After breakfast drive to Pondicherry (162 kms/4 hrs)

Pondicherry, which was up until the 1950s, a far-flung outpost of the French maritime empire. It is so different from the rest of Tamil Nadu that one feels that one has entered another country! This busy coastal town is divided roughly into two: the old White Town of elegant French houses, restaurants & administrative buildings and the Black Town west of the canal where India takes over again.

Tour of Pondicherry - visiting Botanical garden, Eglise De Sacre Coeur De Jesus and Sri Aurobindo Ashram. Later visit township of Auroville or the city of Dawn. Designed by a French architect Roger Arger, it is an entirely new concept in education and urban living. Dinner and overnight at hotel.

Day 04: Pondicherry - Tanjore
After breakfast drive to Tanjore (177 kms/4 ½ hrs)

Upon arrival at Tanjore - check into hotel.

Afternoon sightseeing tour of Tanjore - was the capital of the Chola Empire from the tenth to the fourteenth centuries. A Chola king, Raja Raja Chola, who held the throne from 985 to 1016, built the greatest of the empire's 74 temples, the Brahadeeswarar, with its soaring tower over the inner sanctum. This tower rises more than 62 meters (200 feet). On its dome rests a single block of granite weighing 80 tons.

Dinner and overnight at hotel.

Day 05: Tanjore - Trichy - Madurai
After breakfast drive to Madurai (190 kms/5½ hrs) enroute visiting Trichy

City tour of Trichy - visit the 'Rock Fort Temple' which rises abruptly to a height of 273 ft. A steep staircase cut into the rock leads upto the Fort. At the first level are the remnants of a huge hall blasted into ruins in 1772. The next storey is the Mathrubhuteshwarer Shrine dedicated to Shiva. Finally at the top of the hill, the 'Uchhi Pillayar Koil' - a Ganesh Temple offering a commanding view of the city.

Thereafter continue drive to Madurai

Upon arrival at Madurai - check into hotel.

Evening visit of the Meenakshi temple - Leave the hotel for the temple by cycle rickshaws. At 9 PM, attend the night ceremony at the temple. This is a ceremony that takes place every evening when the temple bronze of Lord Shiva is carried to the bed chamber of Parvati. The procession is accompanied by religious prayer and temple music.

Dinner and overnight at hotel.

Day 06: Madurai - Periyar
Morning city tour of Madurai visit the Meenakshi temple one of the biggest temple complexes in India - 46 ft. long by 790 ft broad built in the 17th Century. It is a rectangular twin shrine: the southern temple dedicated to Meenakshi (the consort of Shiva) and the other to Shiva. It is Madurai's greatest landmark - a file city within a city: the complex includes a bazaar that bustles from dawn to nightfall. The high point of the Meenakshi temple is Hall of a "Thousand Pillars", built in the 16th C which is as great a work of structural engineering as it is of art. Also visit the palace of Tirumala Nayak which is an example of the architectural mastery of the Nayaks - a blend of Hindu and Saracen architecture. It's enormous roofed arcade supported by 48 foot high stoned pillar still stands.

After breakfast drive to Periyar (177 kms/5 hrs)

Upon arrival at Periyar - check into hotel

Thereafter join the Spice of Kerala Tour.