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Kerala & Tamil Nadu · 11 Days
Kerala & Tamil Nadu — the Complete South
The full circuit — Kochi, three nights in Munnar and Thekkady combined, Madurai, and a Nilgiri finish at Ooty.
Day by Day
11 Days, In Full
The complete South India circuit, coast to two hill ranges. Two nights in Kochi, then three across Munnar and Thekkady for the tea estates, Top Station's viewpoint, and the Periyar spice forest. Two nights in Madurai for the Meenakshi temple and the old town. The drive north into the Nilgiri hills for a last night in Ooty, the toy-train hill station, before departure via Coimbatore. Eleven days, and both of South India's great hill regions alongside its coast and its temple country.
Kochi
Arrival in Kochi — Fort Kochi & the Spice Quarter
Your driver meets you at Cochin airport. The road runs out to Fort Kochi, where four centuries of trade left their mark on one small peninsula. Walk the lanes on foot. St Francis Church, the Dutch Cemetery, the godowns of Jew Town still stacked with ginger and pepper. Evening is free for a Kathakali performance if you want one.
Kochi
Kochi — Chinese Fishing Nets & Mattancherry
Start early at the Chinese fishing nets on Vasco da Gama Square. The frames are cantilevered. Four men work each one by hand. Chinese traders brought the design here centuries ago. The method has not changed since. Later, Mattancherry Palace and its Ramayana murals. The afternoon is yours — Fort Kochi rewards aimless walking.
Kochi → Munnar
Kochi to Munnar — Into the Western Ghats
The drive up to Munnar takes about four hours and climbs the whole way. Rubber gives way to cardamom, then to tea. Stop at Cheeyappara and Valara waterfalls when the monsoon has been kind. By the time you arrive the air is fifteen degrees cooler than Kochi.
Munnar
Munnar — Tea Estates & the Old Plantation Machinery
Munnar is tea, and has been since the 1880s. Spend the morning walking a working estate with a planter who can explain what you are looking at. The Tata Tea Museum houses the original rollers and a functioning miniature factory. Afternoon at Mattupetty Dam and Echo Point.
Munnar
Munnar — Kolukkumalai Sunrise & Top Station
A jeep collects you in the dark. Kolukkumalai sits at 7,900 feet and grows the highest tea in the world. You watch the sun come up over the Tamil Nadu plains with the cloud still below you. Top Station on the way back, then a long breakfast.
Munnar → Thekkady
Munnar to Thekkady — Along the Cardamom Hills
Three and a half hours south through the Cardamom Hills. The road is good and the views are constant. You can smell the plantations before you see them. Thekkady sits on the edge of Periyar Tiger Reserve, so the last stretch runs through genuine forest.
Thekkady
Thekkady — A Working Spice Plantation
Thekkady grows cardamom, pepper, clove, nutmeg and vanilla, often on the same hillside. A guided walk through a working plantation shows you how each one actually grows, which is rarely what people expect. Buy directly from the estate if you want the good stuff at the real price.
Thekkady → Madurai
Thekkady to Madurai — Over the Western Ghats
A drive of about four hours, leaving Kerala's hills for the Tamil Nadu plains. The road climbs out of Thekkady past the Periyar reserve, crosses the Western Ghats near Kumily, and drops through Cumbum and Theni into drier, flatter country. The landscape changes fast: rainforest and spice gardens give way to palm and dry scrub within an hour of the crossing. You reach Madurai, one of Tamil Nadu's oldest cities, by the afternoon, with the temple towers visible well before the old town itself.
Madurai
Madurai — the Meenakshi Temple and the Nayak City
A full day in the old city. The Meenakshi Amman Temple in the cool of the morning: the fourteen painted towers, the twin shrines to the goddess and to Shiva, the hall of a thousand carved pillars, and the golden-lotus tank. Then the Thirumalai Nayak Palace and the Gandhi Memorial Museum, housed in a Nayak queen's palace. The afternoon is the flower and produce market and the tailors' hall by the east tower, and, if there is time, the drive out to the Tiruparankundram rock temple.
Madurai → Ooty
Madurai to Ooty — Up into the Nilgiris
A long climbing drive, about six hours, from the heat of the plains to the cool of the hills. The road runs through Dindigul, under its rock fort, and past the hill-temple town of Palani, then begins the ascent to the Nilgiri plateau through thirty-six numbered hairpin bends, the forest thickening as you go. You reach Ooty in the late afternoon, the air suddenly needing a jacket. Flying Madurai to Coimbatore and driving up from there is a shorter alternative.
Ooty
Ooty to Coimbatore — Departure
The drive down from the hills to Coimbatore, about three hours, through the Burliar and Mettupalayam bends and the forest at the base, sometimes with elephants near the road at dawn. Coimbatore airport has good connections to the main Indian cities. An early start is needed for a midday flight. Travellers with more time can take the Nilgiri Mountain Railway all the way down to Mettupalayam and meet the car there.
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