Day-to-day schedule
Day 1: Bangalore
Welcome to South India!
Your tour starts in Bangalore, where you can use your hotel room from check in time (12.00 hrs at noon) on day 1. Your travel companions will also arrive this first day, the exact time will be depending on their flight schedule. You will be collected from your hotel and taken to the airport in Bangalore to meet the group and travel onwards to Mysore (collection time will be advised). You will meet with your English speaking tour leader at 08.00 hrs on day 2 in the lobby of your hotel in Mysore.
Day 2: Bangalore - Mysore
After having transferred to the airport to meet your group, you will travel together to Mysore. Mysore is situated 145 km (3 hour drive) from the international airport of Bangalore.
Mysore is situated in the state of Karnataka and is famous for its extremely high quality silk, incense and sandalwood. The Devaraja fruit and vegetable market is one of the most colourful in India. From Chamundi hill you can get a great view of Mysore and the surrounding area and pilgrims climb the steps daily to get to the Sri Chamundeswari Temple. If you feel your karma is good enough already, you'll be pleased to know that you can also get up there by public transport.
Day 3: Mysore
An essential highlight of any visit to Mysore is the palace of the Maharaja. The breathtaking building is an excellent example of the overwhelming splendor in which the former princes lived. Huge wooden doors lead into rooms with giant columns and mosaic floors. The bright colours and many frills make the whole place appear even more extravagant. On Sunday the palace is lit with thousands of lights, a spectacular sight that you really can not miss! Mysore Zoo is known for its large size and good conditions in which many exotic animals live. If you have time over then visit Mysore city to enjoy a wonderful stroll around and great shopping.
Day 4: Mysore – Mudumalai
Today we venture south to the Mudumalai National Park on the north western side of the Nilgiri Hills, also known as the Blue Mountains. The park was created in 1940 to become the first wildlife sanctuary in southern India and today is home to elephants, tigers, hyenas, colourful parrots, leopards, eagles, wild boar, flying squirrels and much more. The best way to see the park is by jeep safari, or, if you want to go even further into areas which are inaccessible to vehicles, take an elephant safari for a really unique view of the park.
Day 5: Mudumalai – Ooty - Coonoor
We travel to Coonoor, stopping at Ooty to take the famous Toy Train, a charmingly colourful and old-fashioned train that winds its way over bridges through the Nilgiri mountains, in the midst of lush green forests and tea plantations. At this altitude the views are spectacular. We then continue on to the charming town of Coonoor, famous for its unique and very tasty Nilgiri tea and extensive tea trade. The city is surrounded by green tea terraces. Why not visit a local tea garden and sample the product that this region is famous for? If you fancy stocking up on some authentic souvenirs, or just want to soak up the local atmosphere, don’t miss the bustling, colourful and deliciously aromatic Coonoor bazaar!
Day 6: Coonoor – Kochi
We continue from Coonoor to Kochi (also known as Cochin) for about 315 kms. Kochi is a charming old city on the Arabian Sea, situated on a number of islands and peninsulas linked by ferries. Kochi is the setting for the famous dance-drama of Kerala, the Kathakali, the dancing is characterised by elegant costumes and extensive and varied make up. The stories are mostly taken from the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Firstly, a dance is performed behind a white sheet, hidden from the audience. This dance is intended for the gods. At every performance, an oil lamp burns at the front of the stage. This lamp represents the presence of the gods.
Day 7: Kochi
Visit the ‘Dutch Palace’ and admire its attractive wall paintings portraying episodes from Hindu mythology or the 16th century Jewish synagogue in the only Jewish community in India. The Bolgatty Palace on the island of the same name is a stately home where the former Dutch colonial governor of Kochi lived, and is also a great place to enjoy your lunch under the tall tropical trees around the lagoon. In the afternoon you can take part in an optional boat trip through the famous ‘backwaters’. The trip lasts for around three hours and takes you through the many canals, lakes and creeks. You can sunbathe on deck or enjoy the wonderful views from the saloon. The boat trip takes us through a stunning area full of palm trees, rice fields and floating sea plants which surround the boat like mini-islands.
Day 8: Kochi – Alappuzha via motorboat cruise
After breakfast travel to the busy market place of Alappuzha (also known as Alleppey). After lunch we board the ferry for a 3 to 4 hour journey through the famous 'backwaters', a beautiful territory full of channels, lakes and coves. You can sunbathe on the deck or watch the landscape go by from the shelter of the boat. Life on the waters edge is wide and varied, the locals row, fish, swim and bathe there, the waters is the centre of their lives and its not unusual to see people talking for an hour, while standing in the water up to their neck. Some people make a living transporting loads, and there is public transport over the water, while countless birds await their chance to catch a small fish.
Day 9: Aleppey – Periyar National Park
Today we journey through a lower-lying part of the mountain range into the Periyar National Park. Just before arriving, we’ll pass a genuine border with barriers: the border into Kerala. Here you will notice that the tropical rainforest still remains relatively unscathed.
Day 10: Periyar National Park
Periyar National Park is a large and mountainous area home to a wide variety of animals, including many endangered species. The parks inhabitants include herds of elephants, bison and groups of wild boar who can be seen wandering through the forest, appearing on the edge of the lake at sunset and sunrise. There are various species of monkey who tend to come up close to the hotel. Other animals in Periyar include fishing cats, otters and porcupines and you can spot turtles sunbathing on stumps of wood on the waters edge.
Another way to explore this magnificent green region is to join a ‘spice tour’ and visit a number of plantations in the rural surroundings of Thekkady by Jeep, stopping at a few small villages on the way. Your tour leader can tell you more.
Day 11: Periyar National Park – Madurai
Today we travel to Madurai, the oldest city in Tamil Nadu. The Meenakshi temple here is one of the largest of its kind in India and attracts thousands of pilgrims. The priests perform rituals and you can get blessed by an elephant and astrologers will offer to read your palm. There is also the opportunity to take a rickshaw ride through the city where a local guide will point out other points of interest.
Day 12: Madurai – Trichy – Thanjavur
After an early start we travel from Madurai to Trichy. On the north side of this chaotic city, on an island in the Kauvery River is India’s largest temple complex, Srirangam. The main gate is more than ninety metres high and twenty thousand people live and work in this labyrinth and every day numerous pilgrims arrive. Around the main temple, there are seven temple walls and within the walls you will find lots of small shops, as well as the houses of Brahmins and other temple folk. Only inside the fourth wall, does the temple begin to look like a temple and the holiest of the holy temples has an amazing gold roof. In the temple and along the riverside, festivals are celebrated almost continuously.
Later in the day you continue your trip to to Thanjavur (also known as Tanjore). The city and the estates around it lie in the fertile basin of the Kauvery River and the Tamils consider this river to be the southern Ganges, their holy river. Emperor Rajaraja I built the great Shiva temple in the 10th century and is considered one of the most beautiful buildings of the world.
Day 13: Thanjavur – Pondicherry
Today we drive to Pondicherry, a former French enclave known first and foremost for the mystic Sri Aurobindo, whose followers founded temples, Ayurvedic clinics and countless other organizations. North of the city lies Auroville, an ideal city planned by Aurobindo and his followers, which has become a model for the ideal society of the future, and when people started to build it, soil from 124 countries was brought together in a giant urn as a gesture to stress the unity of mankind.
Day 14: Pondicherry - Mamallapuram
Today we take the scenic journey along India’s south-eastern coast from Pondicherry to Mamallapuram. This is one of the most memorable journeys of the trip.
Day 15: Mamallapuram
Today is a free day in Mamallapuram, a UNESCO World Heritage site and a wonderful place to enjoy Indian country life. Travellers are drawn here for its miles of unspoilt beaches and its famous stone carvings. You will have time to explore the famous Shore temple which is the second most photographed monument in India after the Taj Mahal. Please be advised that your group will normally be departing very late this evening/early tomorrow morning.
Day 16: Mamallapuram
You can use your hotel room in Mamallapuram until check out time (most times at 12.00 hrs noon). Mamallapuram is situated only 55 km (1 to 1½ hour drive) from the international airport of Chennai. We wish you a comfortable journey home and are sure you will take with you some wonderful memories of South India.
Your personal ‘my.shoestring’ page on our website is the perfect way to make contact with other travellers before and after your trip. You can read and create journals from trips and upload your photos onto the photo gallery. Visit my shoestring today.
When booking your tour, please check to see whether you need any post-tour nights, bearing in mind that accommodation for the night of the final day of the tour (day 16) is not included.
FESTIVAL TOUR
On departure date 20 October 2012 you will be able to visit the DUSSHERA FESTIVAL in Mysore.
Please note: Groups of up to 4 passengers are escorted by a local driver, there is no tour guide available. Our drivers are very kind natured but please understand that their knowledge of English may not be perfect. The drivers do not sleep anywhere in the same accommodation as the group. Groups of 5 persons and more are accompanied by an English speaking tour guide.
Difficulty Information
This tour is classified as Category B
The difficulty of our travels varies greatly. Added to this is the fact that travel difficulty is a very personal perception. To give an indication of the difficulty of a particular holiday, we have developed the following classification system:
Category A: Light travel for everyone to do. Short distances, good hotels, travel at a slow pace.
Category B: For everyone to do as well. Sometimes long distances. Good hotels and camping facilities, sometimes an adventurous overnight experience, travel at a normal pace.
Category C: Good to do for anyone who prepares themself well and is flexible. There are tougher parts of the journey, such as longer distances or walking tours. Several nights can be spent in basic accommodation.
Category D: A relatively difficult journey, travelling long distances, often primitive accommodation or tents, and challenging walking tours.
The South India Adventure is a Category B tour. It can be made by any reasonably healthy individual. In the summer the trip is considerably more difficult than during the rest of the year. Although in the cities we stay in simple medium-priced hotels, remember that you are travelling in a developing country with much lower living standards than you are used to at home. Also, roads may be temporarily blocked because of the weather or owing to their state of repair, in which case a detour is unavoidable. A flexible and positive attitude is just as important as a good physical condition.
Nature of the trip
A journey through South India combines the colourfulness of Hinduism with the good-natured and friendly attitude of the local population and a truly tropical landscape. On this trip you will be able to enjoy white sandy beaches, lively temple complexes, a boat trip through exuberant tropical vegetation and a safari along and through a rainforest populated with elephants, bison and tigers.