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Southern India

DAY 01 ARRIVE BANGALORE
Arrive Bangalore. Met upon arrival and transferred to the hotel
Stay at hotel The Park for one night

Fact sheet:
1. 109 rooms with telephone, television and attached private facilities
2. 24-hour restaurant
3. Italian specialty restaurant
4. Bar
5. Swimming pool
6. Massage, steam and sauna rooms
Our comments: 5-star boutique hotel

DAY 02 DRIVE TO HASSAN
Morning Drive to Hassan (04 hours)
Arrive Hassan and half day city tour
Stay at Taj Garden Retreat for one night
First class hotel
This 29-room resort is located approximately 60 kms from Hassan and 6 kms from Chikmagalur town. It is set on a hill slope overlooking the Sahyadhri Mountains and Chikamagalur town. The accommodation consists of 19 deluxe cottages & 10 standard rooms, designed with balconies overlooking the mountains and swimming pool. The resort also has the facility of table tennis and ayurvedic centre.
Each air-conditioned bedroom has a private bathroom and/or shower and toilet and telephone.

Hassan is the base for visiting Belur and Halebid. Hassan is a picturesque town in the heart of Malnad with rich vegetation and pleas¬ant climate. The Hoysala temples in Belur & Halebid symbolize the confluence of Dravidian, Chalukyan and Chola art. At the same time, one sees the Hoysala originality in every stone. The seren¬ity of Belur is attributed to the celebrated temple of Channa¬keshava, built by the Hoysala King Vishnuvardhan in 1117 A.D. A short distance away from Belur lies the magnificent Halebid, which has several strikingly beautiful Hoysala temples, and Jain Shrines. The Hoysaleswara temple, standing on a platform like a casket, is a sculptural extravaganza, richly smothered with most finely detailed scrollwork in stone. Another famous temple is the Kedareswara temple, where the sculptor's virtuosity seems to have surpassed even the goldsmith's skill in its sheer intricacy.

DAY 03 HASSAN - MYSORE
Drive to Mysore (4 hrs) visiting the imposing statue of Gomateshwara at Sravanabelagola and Tipu's Summer Palace at Srirangapattana en route.

Also called the city of Palaces, combines traditional grandeur with modernity and emerges as one of the most beautiful and best planned cities in India. Mysore's sightseeing includes the Maharaja's Palace, the lush Brindavan Gardens with its danc¬ing fountains built on the terraces of Krishnarajasagar Dam, St.Philomena's Church built in an imposing Gothic style, the Jagan¬mohan Palace which was converted into an art gallery in 1875 and the Chamundi Hills.

Shravanabelagola, a revered centre for Jain culture, is situated about 100 Kms from Mysore and is famous for its colossal statue of Gommateshwara, who is also referred to as Lord Bahubali. Carved out of a monolithic stone, the imposing 17 metre high statue of Gommata, towers in majestic splendour and is said to be one of the tallest and most graceful statues in the world. The symmetry in stone was created around 983 AD by Chamundaraya, a general and minister of the Ganga King Rachamatta. Starkingly simple, the beautifully chiseled features of this statue embody serenity. His perfect lips are turned out at the corners with a hint of smile viewing the world with detachment. The giant statue was sculpted by Aristanemi in 981 AD. In addition to this statue, there are several Jain bastis (temples) and monasteries in Shravanabelagola. Shravanabelagola attained historical importance when Chandragupta Maurya, the greatest King of Mauryan Empire, settled on this hill in 3rd century BC,along with his Guru Bhagwan Bhadra Bahu Swami, after renouncing his kingdom. Bhadra Bahu's disciples spread the tenets of Jainism, thus affording a firm base to the Jain religion in the South. Once in 12 years Mahamastakabhisheka, a ritual,to anoint the huge monolithic with thousands of pots of milk, coconut water, ghee, curds, saffron, jaggery, bananas and sandal wood paste takes place. Literally a colourful feast for the eyes! The Mahamastakabhisheka festival attracts lakhs of tourists and devotees from all over the world.

Srirangaptanam is a name that has filled the pages of British history in Karnataka. It is a picturesque place on the banks of River Kaveri on the Mysore-Bangalore highway at a very short distance from Mysore. The island of Srirangapatnam in the River Kaveri, 14km north of Mysore, measures 5km by 1km. Long a site of Hindu pilgrimage, it is named for its tenth-century Sriranganathaswamy Vishnu temple. In the year 1133 it served as a refuge for the philosopher Ramanuja. The Vijayanagars built a fort here in 1454, and in 1616 it became it became the capital of the Mysore Wadiyar Rajas. However, Srirangapatnam is more famously associated with Hyder Ali, who deposed the Wadiyars in1761, and even more so with his son Tipu Sultan. During his seventeen-year reign-which ended with his death in 1799, at the bloody battle of "Seringapatnam" Tipu posed greater threat than any other Indian ruler to British plans to dominate India. Tipu and his father were responsible for transforming the small state of Mysore into a major Muslim power. His burning life-long desire to rid India of the hated British invaders naturally brought him an ally in the French. He obsessively embraced his popular name of the "Tiger of Mysore", surrounding himself with symbols and images of tigers; much of his memorabila is decorated with the animal or its stripes. Tipu's Srirangapatnam was largely destroyed by the British, but parts of the fort area in the northwest survive, including gates, ramparts, the grim dungeons, and the domed and minareted Jami Masjid mosque.

Stay at Hotel Lalitha Mahal Palace for 02 nights
(A grand heritage palace)

Lalitha Mahal Palace is centrally air-conditioned hotel. The hotel has 54 rooms including 14 suites equipped with telephone, television and attached private facilities. Other amenities include a health club, swimming pool, tennis, golf, billiards, indoor games and jogging track.

Location: Bangalore Airport - 160 kilometers: Railway Station - 7 kilometers: City Centre - 5 kilometers.

DAY 04 MYSORE
Visit the sights of Mysore
Including the Mysore Palace, Chamundi Hill, Nandi Bull and the colourful Devraja market.

DAY 05 MYSORE - CHENNAI
Departure transfer to the train station to connect express air-conditioned train to Chennai (Shatabdi Express 1420 hrs / 2125 hrs)
Arrive Chennai at 2125 hrs met upon arrival and transferred to the hotel
Stay at Hotel Le Royal Meridian for two nights.

Fact sheet:
Location: 5 kilometres from Anna International airport
1. Set among 3.5 acres of landscaped gardens
2. Air-conditioned rooms with telephone, television, mini bar, hairdryer, tea/coffee maker and attached private facilities
3. Multi-cuisine restaurant
4. Nightclub
5. Bar
6. Fitness centre
7. Swimming pool
8. Steam, sauna and Jacuzzi

Government grading: 5-star hotel
Our comments: A modern well-run hotel. Recommended for stay

DAY 06 CHENNAI
Full day guided city tour of Chennai
Drive through the bustling city of Chennai visiting Fort St George, built by the East India Company in 1653 and said to be the first bastion of the British power in India, St. Mary's Church, the oldest Anglican church in the country. Visit the National Art Gallery - formerly the Victoria Memorial Hall & Technical Institute, designed and built by Henry Irwin in 1909. The Kapaleeswarar - an ancient Shiva temple is a masterpiece in Dravidian architecture, fragmentary inscriptions in the temple date back to 1250 A.D. The Parthasarthy temple built in the 8th century A.D. by the Pallavas is devoted to lord Krishna and houses the Five Avatars of Vishnu (of which Krishna was one).

DAY 07 CHENNAI - PONDICHERRY
Drive to Pondicherry (04 hours)
Arrive Pondicherry and check in at hotel L Orient
Half-day city sightseeing tour

This restored, attractive former French colony exudes a Mediterranean aura, with its chic streets, whitewashed residences and ornamental gardens. Apart from the charming atmosphere, excellent restaurants and cheap beer, most travellers come to Pondicherry to visit the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and its offshoot, Auroville, 10km outside town. The ashram, whose spiritual tenets combine yoga and modern science, is one of the most popular and affluent in India.

An afternoon siesta from 1- 4pm is common with most shops closing at this time. In the evening it is a pleasant activity for the clients is to walk on the foreshore overlooking the ocean.

Auroville is located 10 kilometres outside of Pondicherry on an expansive site, which is a community of around 1000 people from 20 nationalities. The areas that are open to the visitors are the Information Centre - throughout the day with regular showings of an information video and the Matri Mandir Meditation centre. The Matri Mandir is only open from 4-5 P.M. and the visitors must collect a pass at the main information centre before proceeding to this spot. Queues are often lengthy.
Stay at Hotel De L Orient for one night
Standard grade heritage accommodation

Hotel De LOrient is located 175 kilometres from Chennai railway station and 160 kilometres from Chennai airport. The hotel has 14 rooms and suites that are named after former French comptoirs, loges and factories. All the rooms have attached private facilities. The hotel also has the facilities of a health club, bar and a multi-cuisine restaurant.

DAY 08 PONDICHERRY - TANJORE
Morning drive to Tanjore (04 hours)
Arrive Tanjore and check in at your hotel
Stay at Hotel Parisutham for two nights

This centrally air-conditioned hotel has 50 rooms including 2 suites equipped with telephone, television, mini bar and attached private facilities. Other amenities include a swimming pool, barbecue lawns, bar and a multi-cuisine restaurant.

Location: Airport - Trichy Airport - 45 minutes: Tanjore Airport - 15 minutes
Government grading: Three-star hotel
Our comments: Standard Grade modern Hotel

DAY 09 TANJORE
Full day visit to the temples

The Chola kings built the majority of Tanjore's (also known as Thanjavur) 93 temples. The enormous gopurams of the Briha¬deeshwara Temple bulit in the 10th century by Raja Chola dominate Tanjore. The temple itself, between the Grand Anicut Canal and the old town, is surrounded by fortified walls and a moat. The old town, too, used to be similarly enclosed, but most of the walls have now disappeared. What remains are winding streets and alleys and the extensive ruins of the Palace of the Nayaks of Madurai. The Raja Museum and the Art gallery is a house of large collection of Chola sculptures in bronze and granite. The Sarawa¬ti Mahal library contains over 40,000 rare books and palm leaf inscriptions.
Thanjavur is an ancient fortified town dating a glorious history of more than 1500 years. The U.S. News and World Report dtd. August 16/23, 1999 has listed Thanjavur as one of the fifteen top most cities of the last millennium [1000A.D] along with Cairo and Constantinople.

Tanjore is considered to be the home of Carnatic music, musical instruments, dance, and the traditional Handicrafts. Tanjore is famous for the Brahadiswara temple.

DAY 10 TANJORE - MADURAI
Drive to Madurai (04 hours)
The city of Madurai is synonymous with this temple that is dedicated to the consort of Shiva, it is one of the biggest temple complexes in India. The five gopurams that surround the temple are known for the stuccowork and the 48.8 meters high southern gopuram is the tallest. Exquisite sculptures are found throughout the temple complex. The Thirumalai Nayakar Mahal is another temple built in the Indo-Saracanic style by the Nayaks. The main attractions here are the musical pillars and the pathway.
The Koodal Alagar Temple, devoted to Vishnu is as old as Madurai itself.

Enjoy a sightseeing of the town in the evening
(Including the famous Meenakshi Temple and the busy bazaars)

Meenakshi Temple
The life of Madurai revolves around the Sri Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple. This magnificently carved temple is the main attraction of Madurai and its huge Gopurams towers over the city. Meenakshi temple has a thousand pillared 'Mandapam'. Precisely there are 985 pillars and each of them is delicately and exquisitely carved. Among these are the musical pillars, which produce music when tapped. Surprisingly, these musical pillars are carved out of a single granite rock. The temple has been a hub of Tamil culture and has been sponsoring literature, art, music, and dance in the region for a long time. The temple also has an art museum.

Stay at Taj Garden Retreat for one night
Heritage grand hotel - a unit of prestigious Taj Group of Hotels

Taj Garden Retreat is spread over 62 acres, the hotel is a mix of a 105-year-old colonial architecture and new construction. The hotel has 50 centrally air-conditioned rooms and each deluxe room gives a view of the city, the famous Meenakshi Temple and the Kodai Hills. Each air-conditioned bedroom has a telephone and attached private facilities. (Beautifully situated and a lovely place to stay at. Other amenities include a fresh water swimming pool, badminton and tennis courts and multi-cuisine restaurant cum bar.
Location: Airport - 15 kilometers: Railway Station - 6 kilometers: City Centre - 5 kilometers

DAY 11 MADURAI - PERIYAR
Drive to Periyar (Approx 05 hours)
Stay at the Shalimar Spice Garden for one night.
(First Class modern resort with local ambience)

The Shalimar Spice Garden is located at Periyar, Kerala, 140 kms from Madurai airport and 255 kms from Trivandrum. It has 6 elegant cottages and 6 rooms. The hotel offers the facilities of a swimming pool, an Ayurvedic centre, a small speciality shop and a restaurant that offers Indian, Continental and Italian cuisines. It also offers therapies at its Ayurvedic Centre under the guidance of a team of qualified doctors.

DAY 12 PERIYAR - KUMRAKOM
Morning boat ride at Lake Periyar for game viewing
Drive to Kumarakom (03 hours)

Perched on the eastern banks of the mighty Lake Vembanad is the sleepy little town of Kumarakom in central Kerala. The Hartland of Keralas famed backwaters, Kumarakom has changed little since the middle ages but for its string of exotic resorts that makes it the perfect jumping - off point to explore the backwaters, especially for a first time visitor to this chilli-shaped state in the south-western tip of India endorsed by the National Geographic Traveller as one the 10 paradises on Earth!
Stay at Coconut Lagoon for one night
Deluxe backwater resort

Located on the backwaters of Kumarakom, Coconut Lagoon is 10 kms from Kottayam, 14 kms from Kottayam railway station and 78 kms from Cochin City. Coconut Lagoon has 14 heritage mansions, 28 heritage bungalows and 2 pool villas (with private swimming pools). The hotel has the facilities of Ayurvedic Massages, Yoga & Meditation, swimming, fishing, rice boat cruises and ethnic and international cuisine. Each air-conditioned room has a telephone and a private bathroom with bath and/or shower and toilet.

DAY 13 KUMARAKOM - COCHIN
Drive to Cochin (approx 03 hours)
Cochin - formerly a princely state beckoned travelers from distant shores. This commercial city, also called The Queen of the Arabian Sea is famous for its exquisite designer Gold Jewelry. The Indian Navy, the Port and the Airport share the largely man-made Willingdon Island. The sightseeing includes the visit to Dutch Palace built by the Portuguese for a local King in 1555 A.D. The famous Jew Street, a cul-de-sac leading to the beautiful Parsi Synagogue built in 1568. A walking tour of Fort Cochin will take you through the streets still graced with traces of Portuguese, Dutch & British colonial architecture, including a few old trad¬ing factories, the only ones still standing anywhere in the world.

Stay at Hotel Brunton Boat Yard for 02 nights
A Period 5-star Hotel
Brunton Boat Yard is a period hotel located at the site of the original boatyard built by Brunton - a German boat builder in the 19th Century - and the first European boat building yard in the Indian Sub-continent. It is built to the Dutch and Portuguese architectural principles of early 16th and 17th century and has suites overlooking the confluence of the backwaters with the Arabian Sea. The large high ceiling suites are furnished with period furniture & large picture-window baths and are all sea facing. The Brunton Boatyard is located 15 kms from Cochin City. It is a 30-minute drive from Cochin airport and 40-minutes from Cochin railway station.

DAY 14 COCHIN
Enjoy a sightseeing of the town in the morning.
(This will include the Synagogue, Dutch Palace and St Francis' Church)

In the evening enjoy a Kathakali dance performance, the traditional dance-form of Kerala.
(Suggest arrive early to see make-up being put on by the artists)

The most popular and sacred dance-drama of Kerala, Kathakali evolved across the last 400 years. This classical dance requires lengthy and rigourous training to attain complete control of the body and sensitivity to emotion so as to be able to render all its nuances through facial expressions and hand gestures. Themes centre on the two great Indian epics - the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. We suggest arriving early in order to witness the artists putting on their make-up.

Day 15 DEPARTURE COCHIN
Departure transfer to airport to connect flight to onward destination