Description
Day 1
Arrive at Chennai airport and transfer by private (air conditioned) car on roads to Mamallapuram on the coast. Check in to a beach resort hotel and eat before afternoon sightseeing to Shore Temple and Five Rathas. Return to hotel for dinner. Enjoy the sunset and watch the fishermen.
Day 2
OPTIONAL early morning walk along the beach and to see the fishermen bringing in their catch and walk to local temple and back through a village. Have breakfast before checking out and driving to Pondicherry further down the coast. Check in to hotel for a 2 night stay. Afternoon free to relax – OPTIONAL walk down by the beach and around the town.
Day 3
Sightseeing in and around Pondicherry including Auroville, museum, churches, Botanical Gardens. Return to hotel.
Day 4
Check out and drive by road to Tanjore. Check in to hotel alongside the river and have lunch before afternoon sightseeing to the temple, palace and museum. Return to the hotel.
Day 5
Check out and drive further inland to Madurai, check in to hotel and have lunch. Afternoon sight seeing to Sri Meenakshi Temple and watch the evening prayer ceremony inside the temple. Return to the hotel for dinner.
Day 6
Check out of hotel and visit Sri Meenakshi Temple from the outside and walk around the perimeter walls before driving on to Kovalam. Check in to a 5* hotel for 3 nights. Take a walk along the beach and have dinner.
Day 7 & 8
Local sightseeing to fishing ports, beaches, temples, palace, Trivandrum city and the “Land’s End” of India, Kanyakumari, where the 3 seas meet. Take a boat ride to the Vivekananda memorial and watch the sunset.
Day 9
Tour ends – transfer to airport – return home or onward travel.
Penny Bond –
WOW, WHAT A TRIP!
It is difficult to know where to start or what to say – however, WOW – what a trip. This was my fourth visit to India and my first with Nep-In-Sri Travel. I have no hesitation in recommending Nep-In-Sri Travel to friends, family and anyone else who will listen, and will certainly be booking my next trip with them. The only problem is the choice with so many tours available.
This particular tour started off with garlands of jasmine and just got better. It is difficult to single out any particular highlight, as the whole tour was one after another, but being blessed by elephants, buying saris, watching bronzes being cast, being caught in the tail end of the monsoon, boat trip down the Keralean backwaters, Hindu Temple closing ceremonies and deciding that we definitely want to be reincarnated as holy cows, provides a taster.
The hotels ranged from excellent to excellent and we would have liked to have extended our tour to spend a bit more time in some of them – the early morning dips in the pools were paradise. This tour was on a bed and breakfast basis, but we ate ‘A la carte’ in all the hotel restaurants and the food was superb – real Indian, served on banana leaves in many cases.
We elected to have guides at all of the sites, rather than travel with us, which worked perfectly. The guides ranged from very good to superb, only because there needs to be some kind of comparison, and we learnt a lot about the Hindu way of life, even if we will never truly understand it.
The star of our holiday, was without question, our driver – Mr Venke. He spoke fair English at the start of the trip but after an eight-day intensive course, there was no joke he didn’t understand, and I think he could now claim to be fluent.
The roads we traveled were mad in comparison with the UK, but not that bad in comparison with those in Northern India, although my sister still can’t get over the cows just lying and dozing in the middle of the highways. However, we always felt safe with Mr Venke at the wheel, and were impressed with the way he found alternative routes when the roads impassable due to the heavy rains, and even drove safely through floods where the roads were full of submerged potholes.
This was an amazing trip – thank you so much to all of the staff involved who ensured that it went so smoothly and has left us with fantastic memories – I don’t want to call it ‘a trip of a life-time’ because I can’t wait to go back.
Diana Hendzel –
There is not a lot more to add to Penny’s review, to call this trip, a holiday is an understatement, it was a real life experience, all the comments Penny has made I totally agree with, however I was an Indian Virgin so it was all new to me.
I loved the noise, colour and organised chaos although I hated the rubbish and the poverty. I found the different culture and the resourcefulness of the people really enlightening, I even at times felt humbled by people who have so little, who seem to have so much more. I found the all-embracing belief in the Hindu way of life at times quite overwhelming, but the depth and breadth of the belief and how their lives evolve around their God’s quite inspirational as well. I could have stayed at the school and loved the old temples. I loved the cows and of course the elephant!
I had, not only wonderful travel companions, thank you Dad and Penny but an amazing driver Venky, would recommend to anyone, would also recommend that hiring a car in India would be bonkers! As Rami one of our guides said ‘ just because you have visited India once, does not mean you have been to India’, so true. So thank you Claire for facilitating such a great trip, thank you Venky for making it such a safe trip, to all the guides for making it such an informative trip, and thank you Dad and Penny for all the memories and laughs, here’s to the next trip!
Carol and Colville Greaves –
We had a most fantastic time on this tour, which was our first trip to India. Every day was extremely well planned to make the very most of the startling array of points of interest and culture available. We visited towns, temples, and beaches. Experienced guides were waiting for us at every stage to make sure we didn’t miss a thing. The hotels were all excellent and our well-being was monitored at every stage. Help was always on hand (we arrived at the height of the demonetisation crisis), but we didn’t have to worry about a thing. Venky, the driver, was just brilliant. He was extremely knowledgeable about all the agriculture, was great at spotting interesting wildlife and knew all the best tea shops! Nothing was too much trouble for him. Thanks to Claire for sorting this out for us. We will be back!