Luxury Chettinad Tours

A large old house set among trees in the Chettinad region of Tamil Nadu.

Overview

Chettinad At A Glance

Chettinad is a dry region of small towns and villages in south-central Tamil Nadu, around the town of Karaikudi. It is the home of the Nattukottai Chettiars, a merchant and banking community that traded across South-East Asia in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They brought the money home and built mansions: long courtyard houses with Burmese teak pillars, Belgian mirrors, Italian marble, and hand-made Athangudi floor tiles. Kanadukathan village alone has dozens of them, some lived in, some empty, a few now hotels. Chettinad cooking is the other reason to come. It is the best-known non-vegetarian food in Tamil Nadu, built on sun-dried meats, freshly ground spice pastes, and stone-ground rice cakes. A night in a restored mansion, with a home-style meal, is the point of the stop.

Where To Stay: Visalam, a CGH Earth hotel, Chettinad
Continue To: Chennai, Madurai, Mahabalipuram

What To See

What To See In Chettinad

Chettinad's real highlights are what a private guide builds each day around.

Culinary · Half day

Chettinad Cuisine & Mansion Experience

A cooking session and home-style meal inside a Chettiar mansion, with a walk through the village houses and tile workshops.

A traditional South Indian meal of rice and side dishes served on a large green banana leaf.

How To Travel

Journeys Through Chettinad

Every journey comes with a private guide and driver for each day on the road. Full details live on each journey's own page.

A towering tiered Dravidian gopuram of a South Indian temple rises against the sky at Tiruchendur.

13 Nights

Slow Tamil Nadu

Chennai · Chettinad · Madurai · Mahabalipuram · Ooty · Pondicherry · Thanjavur

Misty tea gardens roll across the hillsides around Coonoor in the Nilgiris.

11 Nights

Tamil Nadu in Depth

Chennai · Chettinad · Madurai · Mahabalipuram · Ooty · Pondicherry · Thanjavur

The pillared frontage of a traditional Chettinad mansion with its deep verandah.

9 Nights

Classic Tamil Nadu

Chennai · Chettinad · Madurai · Mahabalipuram · Pondicherry · Thanjavur

Waves roll onto a Coromandel beach with the silhouette of a Mahabalipuram temple on the horizon.

8 Nights

Tamil Nadu Honeymoon

Chennai · Chettinad · Madurai · Mahabalipuram · Pondicherry · Thanjavur

Where To Stay

Where To Stay In Chettinad

Stays are chosen for the setting and the service, then matched to the pace of your route.

Night view of the restored 1930s Chettiar mansion and swimming pool at Visalam, a CGH Earth hotel, Kanadukathan

boutique · luxury

Visalam, a CGH Earth hotel, Chettinad

★★★★

Visalam is a 1930s Chettiar mansion in Kanadukathan village, built by the MSMM family for a daughter, Visalakshi, and named after her. It is a long Art Deco house around a pillared courtyard, with fifteen large rooms, terrazzo floors and period furniture. CGH Earth runs it lightly: a pool in the garden, bicycles for the village lanes, and cooking sessions in the open kitchen. Meals are Chettinad home food, served on the veranda. The staff walk guests through the neighbouring mansions and the Athangudi tile workshops. A night here is the best way to understand Chettinad.

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