Boutique South India: From Chennai to Cochin

14 days from £5,940 for 2022 per person

• Chennai
• Pondicherry
• Tanjore
• Dindigul
• Munnar
• Mararikulam
• Cochin

Boutique South India is one of Ampersand's Top 10 Winter Sun Trips.

Starting in Chennai, begin your trip at Ampersand favourite, The Leela Palace Chennai before journeying on to the charming town of Pondicherry, where you can experience a little bit of 'gay Paris' in this charming former French outpost. Spend the following night in the Tanjore from where you can visit the Brihadiswara Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Then continue on to the idyllic Rajakkad Estate in Dindigul, where you can truly unwind and get back to nature, quite literally – the estate’s expansive grounds are teeming with wildlife!

Next, venture into the verdant state of Kerala and up into the tea plantations of Munnar for an authentic slice of South Indian rural life in its purist form. Stay at the Talayar Village Bungalows and pay a visit to the villages’ tea factory where you can witness how the leaf gets from field to cup. No comprehensive tour of South India would be complete without visiting Kerala’s backwaters and a stay at the Marari Beach House is the perfect place from which to explore them. Spend a few days relaxing on the beach before continuing on to Cochin and exploring everything this ancient water city has to offer. After such a relaxing two weeks we wouldn’t be surprised if you 'accidentally' miss your flight home!

This is purely a suggested itinerary and can be booked as it is, or alternatively used as a starting point for creating your own tailor-made holiday to India.

To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.
Bill Bryson