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Regions
Locations in South India
Alleppey
The sleepy, easy-going town of Alleppey sits largely on the water, surrounded by rustling palm trees and green paddy fields. In its time, it was a bustling trading centre on the Malabar Coast, famous for its coir industry producing coconut fibre rope...
Backwaters
Many people love the Keralan Backwaters precisely because there is so little to do; after the rigours of Indian travel, this is a moment to lie back, sip a drink, read a book, watch the birds or simply doze as the lush, sleepy jungle slides by. Th...
Bangalore
It was India's IT boom that really brought Bangalore to world attention, but the capital of the southern state of Karnataka, at the southern end of the Deccan plateau, has always been a cosmopolitan city. In the 19th century it was known as the "Gard...
Bangaram Island
India's tiniest Union Territory, the Lakshadweep Archipelago, is a cluster of 27 idyllic islands set in the Arabian Sea, between 200 and 400 kilometres west of the Malabar Coast. Uninhabited Bangaram is the only island where tourism and alcohol are a...
Chennai
As the first British settlement in India (1640), Chennai has a fine legacy of colonial architecture, displaying influences from the classicism of the 18th century to the eclectic Anglo-Indian School of the late 19th. Classic sights include Fort St Ge...
Chettinad
Chettinad, the ancestral homeland of the Nattukottai Chettiars, is renowned for its mansions and rich and distinctive cuisine - dishes such as chicken or mutton biryani, fresh fish curries and vegetarian stews are finely flavoured with up to 23 diffe...
Chidambaram
The life of Chidambaram revolves around its mighty Sabhanayaka Temple, one of five Shiva temples representing the elements (Sabhanayaka is dedicated to ether; the others represent fire, earth, wind and water). Chidambaram was the capital of the Ch...
Cochin
Cochin is the great water city of the Malabar Coast, sprawling over islands and headlands in the Arabian Sea and leading into the winding canals of the Backwaters. Documented since Roman times, it is the oldest European settlement in India, with a...
Coonoor
The rolling, forested Nilgiri Hills were once the favoured summer escape for the colonial British living on the southern plains and Coonoor - at 1,850 metres - is a little lower than the more famous Ooty. It is also more peaceful, with timeless Raj-e...
Dharasuram
The little town of Dharasuram lies four kilometres west of the great temple town of Kumbakonam, in the "Chola Heartland" of eastern Tamil Nadu, and its Airatesvara Temple is one of three great Chola temples collectively designated a UNESCO World H...
Dindigul
Cardamom House near Dindigul offers a true Indian village experience, which few tourists will ever encounter. Walking around Athoor on the track, you will pass a Hindu temple situated under a banyan tree and, if you are feeling energetic, you can wal...
Gangaikondacholapuram
The 11th -century temple at Gangaikondacholapuram, forming part of UNESCO's World Heritage Site, is 100 metres long and 40 metres wide and was built to commemorate a series of conquests by the Chola kings that took them all the way up to the Gange...
Goa
A beautiful, small state, with almost 100 kilometres of sandy beaches overlooking the Arabian Sea, Goa has had a long relationship with the West. It was the first place in India to be colonized by the Portuguese in 1510, reached its peak in the 16th ...
Gokarna
This relatively unspoilt beach on the Karnataka coast has a broad sweep of white sand and a wonderful backdrop of the forested foothills of the Western Ghats. Rather like Goa in the past, it attracts backpackers and independent travellers in search o...
Hampi
Hampi is regarded as one of the most interesting and charming sites in India, partially due to its inaccessability which keeps away large crowds. It was once a thriving town, occupied since the 3rd century BC but at its height during the 16th cent...
Havelock Island
The Andaman Islands are in the middle of the Bay of Bengal, 1,000 kilometres from India's east coast. Havelock Island is to the south of the archipelago and is absolutely beautiful, covered in exotic tropical forest with its own distinct flora and fa...
Hyderabad
The capital of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad is an integral part of the famous twin-city pair of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. Situated on the banks of the Musi river, the 400 year old city is now a burgeoning IT hub, was once governed by and home to th...
Kabini
Nestled between the forest reserves of Nagarhole and Bandipur, Kabini is reputed to have the highest density of wildlife in South India - including tiger, leopard, wild dog, sambar deer, sloth bears, spotted deer, as well as over 300 species of birds...
Kanchipuram
This busy temple town is famous for two reasons; its marvellous silk, and for being one of the holiest cities in the country, sacred to both Shaivites and Vaishnavites. Kanchipuram was originally established by the Pallava dynasty in the fourth ce...
Karaikudi
Karaikudi is known as the capital of the Chetinad culture because of the predominance of the 'Nattu Kothai Chettias' - a prosperous merchant class who ventured overseas to do business in South and Southeast Asia in the 19th and early 20th Centurie...
Kovalam
Kovalam's sandy beaches are lined with palm-fringed lagoons and rocky coves. Its close proximity to Trivandrum however has meant that its irresistible beaches have been subject to tremendous development and the town itself and its principal beach fro...
Kumarakom
Behind the peninsula stretching from Cochin down to Alleppey is a vast lagoon, Lake Vembanad, a reservoir for the streams and canals of the Keralan Backwaters. At its southeast edge the blunt Kumarakom peninsula juts into the waters, a green and brow...
Kumbakonam
The temple town of Kumbakonam, one of the oldest in Tamil Nadu, lies between the Cauvery and Arasalar Rivers. Capital of the Chola dynasty in the seventh century, it has 18 temples and a monastery in its centre alone. The Mahamaka Tank, in which t...
Madurai
Madurai is a colourful, extrovert city that originally evolved around the Great Temple of Meenakshi-Sundareshwar and is full of the sounds of Tamil loudspeaker music and temple bells. Tiny shrines and temples dot the streets and there are wonderful, ...
Mahabalipuram
Mahabalipuram, famous for its shore temples, is a welcoming old port city. From the 8th to the 11th century, the Pallava dynasty conducted a thriving maritime trade here with the Far East. The magnificent Shore Temple, although ravaged by the element...
Mararikulam
The people of Mararikulam, a sleepy fishing village between the Backwaters and the Arabian Sea, live in mud-walled huts with steep roofs of palm thatch secured by coir rope. Most of the men are fishermen and can be seen dragging their boats up the be...
Munnar
Munnar is in the Cardamom Hills, which stretch right down eastern border of Kerala to the southern tip of India, and at 1,700 metres above sea level, it is surrounded by high peaks and several of the highest tea estates in the world. The hills are de...
Mysore
Mysore has a lovely, spacious feel, despite the fact that it is Karnataka's second city. This is partly because of its elegant layout, around the granite and marble Maharaja's Palace at the foot of the Chamundi Hills, and partly because of its pleasa...
Neeleshwar
Neeleshwar is a tranquil area of empty beaches fringed by coconut plantations, uncrowded inland waterways and lush hillside spice gardens set against the immensity of the ocean. The long beach is clean and great for swimming; deep and safe. The nearb...
Ooty
The great mountain ranges of the Western and Eastern Ghats sweep down to form a "V" about 400 kilometres from the southern tip of India. Just here, where the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka meet in the Nilgiri Hills, are three hill station...
Pallakad
This small town in the gently undulating landscape of the Nilgiri Hills occupies an important pass between the plains of Tamil Nadu and the west coast of Kerala. Tipu Sultan's father, Hyder Ali, built a granite fort here in 1766 (you can still visit)...
Periyar
This vast reserve, stretching over 750 square kilometres of densely forested terrain in the Cardomom Hills, does have a few tigers and leopards, but they are rarely seen out of the dry season in April and May and even then sightings are rare. However...
Pondicherry
"Pondi", a French Union Territory on the Bay of Bengal, has always had a charm and a style of its own, which is still visible in the old city beside the sea. As an outpost of the French Empire for almost 300 years, it was built on a grid system, neat...
Sultans Battery
This beautiful, peaceful area of coffee and cardamom plantations is a true slice of rural Kerala. It was once known as Ganapathivattom - "the fields of Ganapathi" (or Ganesh, the elephant-headed son of Shiva) - and Tipu Sultan built a fort and bat...
Tanjore
The vast delta of the Cauvery (Kaveri) River is a fertile rice-growing region, and Tanjore is its busiest rural centre. Once the capital of the powerful Chola dynasty from the 10th-14th centuries, with a walled town and the Brihadiswara Temple, a Wor...
Tanjore
The vast delta of the Cauvery (Kaveri) River is a fertile rice-growing region, and Tanjore is its busiest rural centre. Once the capital of the powerful Chola dynasty from the 10th-14th centuries, with a walled town and the Brihadiswara Temple, a Wor...
Tellicherry
Tellicherry Black Pepper is the most famous product of this little coastal town in northern Kerala, which became a busy port under the British East India Company exporting cardamom, coffee, coconut and sandalwood. It was divided from the neighbouring...
Tiracol
Set in an abundant landscape of paddy and coconut plantations and jungle dotted with temples, Tiracol is the last place before the border with Maharashtra. Its fort, on the far side of the Tiracol River, started life as a Maratha fort, sited secur...
Tranquebar
The peaceful and windswept village of Tranquebar is unlike anywhere else in Tamil Nadu. After brokering a deal with the King of Tanjore in the 17th century, King Christian IV of Denmark established an important trading post for the Danish East India ...
Trichy
Trichy is on the banks of the Cauvery (Kaveri) River and since the second century AD, when it was raised by the Cholas as a citadel, it has passed through the hands of the Pallavas, the Pandyas, the Cholas again, the emperors of Hampi and the Decc...
Vazhoor
Vazhoor is set amongst thousands of acres of rubber trees planted by the British on the slopes of the Cardamom Hills, and there are some lovely views over the misty Western Ghats. The land around Vazhoor is incredibly fertile, full of cocoa, pepper, ...
Vembanad Lake
This enormous freshwater lake stretches from Cochin to Alleppey. Separated from the Arabian Sea by a narrow strip of land, it is fed by rivers and streams running down from the Western Ghats. Its banks are dripping with exotic vegetation, making i...
