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South India Cultural Tours
Duration: 4 Nights / 5 Days
Places Covered: Cochin - Ooty - Mysore - Hassan - Bangalore - Bombay

Chinese Fishing Net, Cochin

Day 1: Cochin - Ooty
After breakfast, drive to Ooty (281 kms / 8 hrs).
Upon arrival at Ooty - check into hotel.

Ooty was first discovered by the Collector of Coimbatore John Sullivan who built a residence and then the Lake. With its green downs, gentle rains and mild temperatures all year round, it was adopted as their summer home by British officials and planters in South India. The downs of Ooty might well be in Devon of Yorshire-there are 80 kms of them offering golf, hunting or pleasant walks & hikes. Ooty still maintains its definite air of elegance and there are British Raj reminders everywhere-notably in the stone cottages with flower gardens, the beautiful Botanical gardens (1840), the Churches, tea gardens and eucalyptus plantations. Ootacamund derives its name from "Toda" term meaning village of huts". The Todas, the original settlers here before the British were an aboriginal tribe and lived in barrel-shaped huts.

Dinner and overnight at hotel.

Mysore Palace

Day 2: Ooty - Mysore
Morning drive to the Botanical gardens - 51 acres of terraced gardens and lawns housing 650 varieties of plants created by the Marquis of Twerdale. Ascending through gardens of ornamental plants, orchards, ferns, conifers and rockplants, keep an eye out for the local Toda community on the top levels. About 2000 of them lived up here, almost exclusively engaged in the cultivation of potatoes and weaving. Nearby is the Raj Bhawan (Government House). Out of the gardens make a hairpin bend to the St. Stephens Church. Just below is the select Ooty club famous for its amazing Raj memorable and as the place where snooker was invented. A straight walk leads to the picturesque Ooty Lake (4 km circumference). Also visit Wedlock Downs, offering spectacular views down over the Coimbatore plains, Ketti Valley, the Mysore plateau and tea-estates.

After lunch, drive to Mysore (158 kms/5 hrs).
Upon arrival at Mysore - check into hotel.
Dinner and overnight at hotel.

Day 3: Mysore - Hassan
Visit the beautiful city of Mysore, that is known for its fine craftsmenship in wood, ivory, sandal-wood and for its silk. Visit the Maharaja's Palace, which is lavishly decorated in a mixture of styles. Also visit the Zoological Garden, Mysore Arts & Crafts centre and then proceed to the Chamundi Temple on a hill above the city.

After lunch, drive to Hassan (115 kms/4½ hrs) enroute visiting Srirangapatnam and Sravanbelgola.

Sriringapatnam - from this small island fortress town straddling the river Cauvery, came the two brilliant Muslim leaders Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan, who rulled a powerful empire comprising much of Southern India for 40 years. Tipu Sultan "The Tiger of Mysore" became the most dreaded foe of the British in the south, and inflicted two punishing defeats on the forces of East India Company before at last being overcome in 1799. Tipu was killed and his town razed, but his elegant Summer Palace, or Daria Daulat Bagh remains intact; the British kept it for their own use. Later Duke of Wellington, lived here for a spell while serving as governor of Mysore.

Sravanbelgola - famous for its colossal statue of the Jain Saint Gomateshwara. 614 steps lead to his monolithic statue, 18 meters tall and standing atop the hill of Indragiri. Every 12 years Jains from all over India gather here for the spectacular bathing festival of the statue.

Upon arrival at Hassan - check into hotel.
Dinner and overnight at hotel.

Belur

Day 4: Hassan - Bangalore - Bombay
After breakfast drive to Bangalore enroute visit Halebid & Belur. Built in the 12th & 13th Century in the superbaroque style, these temples are carved of stone and are truly magnificent. As one architect and critic said "These friezes carved with a minute elaboration of detail are one of the most marvellous exhibitions of human labor to be found even in the patient East". The temple at Belur is famed for its profusely ornamented exterior, and the one at Halebid for its sculptured figures and open air museum. Also visit the colossal monolithic Jain statue, 57-ft high, which stands on top of a steep bare hill.

Thereafter continue drive to Bangalore airport (180 kms/ 5 hrs) to connect flight Bangalore / Bombay (2000 / 2130 hrs).

Upon arrival the guests will be met & transferred to the hotel where rooms will be provided for wash and change.

Dinner at the hotel.

Later transfer to the International airport for onward flight.

Day 5: Abroad - Bombay
Leave Bombay.

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Exclusive South India
Duration: 5 Nights / 6 Days
Places Covered: Chennai - Covelong - Pondicherry - Tanjore - Trichy - Madurai - Periyar

Day 1: Abroad - Chennai - Covelong
Arrive Madras International airport.

On arrival, the guest will be met by our representative and directly proceed to Covelong (43 kms/1 hr)

Upon arrival at hotel the guests will be provided with the traditional Indian welcome consisting of aarti-tikka and garlands with non-alcoholic welcome drink.

Overnight at hotel.

Day 2: Covelong
Fullday sightseeing tour of Kanchipuram and Mahabalipuram.

Kanchipuram - known as the Golden City of a Thousand Temples, is one of the oldest towns in India. It is famous for both its temples, many of them remarkably well preserved and for its hand-woven silks. Kanchipuram is one of the seven sacred cities of India and it is the only one associated with both Shiva and Vishnu. Visit Ekambareshwar Temple, Kailashnath Temple, Kamakshi Temple, the Vaikunthaperumal Temple, all built in the 7th and 8th centuries. With a weaving tradition dating back to the Pallava era (when silk was the royal cloth), Kanchipuram is justly famous for its particularly fine silk saris, embellished with stunning patterns. Visit the local homes of the weavers and watch them create magic out of silk thread into saris.

Mahabalipuram - This is a small, quiet seaside resort with a unique 7th-century Shore Temple, a lovely beach and some of the most beautiful rock-cut temples in the world. Situated on the shore of the Bay of Bengal, Mahabalipuram was already a famous seaport in the 1st century AD. This, town was a workshop for temple building. Visit the seven pagoda-style shore temples, lashed by the waves of the sea and the seven rathas or temple chariots, a group of monolithic monuments & animal figures carved out of solid rock, the earliest known examples of Dravidian architecture. They were constructed in a single century-long burst of creative enthusiasm, starting in the reign of Narasimhavarman 1 (AD 630-68). End the visit by photography of the beautiful Shore temples at sunset.

Dinner and overnight at hotel.

Day 3: Covelong - Pondicherry
After breakfast drive to Pondicherry (162 kms/4 hrs).

Pondicherry, which was up until the 1950s, a far-flung outpost of the French maritime empire. It is so different from the rest of Tamil Nadu that one feels that one has entered another country! This busy coastal town is divided roughly into two: the old White Town of elegant French houses, restaurants & administrative buildings and the Black Town west of the canal where India takes over again.

Tour of Pondicherry - visiting Botanical garden, Eglise De Sacre Coeur De Jesus and Sri Aurobindo Ashram. Later visit township of Auroville or the city of Dawn. Designed by a French architect Roger Arger, it is an entirely new concept in education and urban living. Dinner and overnight at hotel.

Day 4: Pondicherry - Tanjore
Kapaleeshwara Temple, Tanjore

After breakfast drive to Tanjore (177 kms/4 ½ hrs)
Upon arrival at Tanjore - check into hotel.

Afternoon sightseeing tour of Tanjore - was the capital of the Chola Empire from the tenth to the fourteenth centuries. A Chola king, Raja Raja Chola, who held the throne from 985 to 1016, built the greatest of the empire's 74 temples, the Brahadeeswarar, with its soaring tower over the inner sanctum. This tower rises more than 62 meters (200 feet). On its dome rests a single block of granite weighing 80 tons.

Dinner and overnight at hotel.

Day 5: Tanjore - Trichy - Madurai
After breakfast drive to Madurai (190 kms/5½ hrs) enroute visiting Trichy.

City tour of Trichy - visit the 'Rock Fort Temple' which rises abruptly to a height of 273 ft. A steep staircase cut into the rock leads upto the Fort. At the first level are the remnants of a huge hall blasted into ruins in 1772. The next storey is the Mathrubhuteshwarer Shrine dedicated to Shiva. Finally at the top of the hill, the 'Uchhi Pillayar Koil' - a Ganesh Temple offering a commanding view of the city.

Thereafter continue drive to Madurai.
Upon arrival at Madurai - check into hotel.

Evening visit of the Meenakshi temple - Leave the hotel for the temple by cycle rickshaws. At 9 PM, attend the night ceremony at the temple. This is a ceremony that takes place every evening when the temple bronze of Lord Shiva is carried to the bed chamber of Parvati. The procession is accompanied by religious prayer and temple music.

Dinner and overnight at hotel.

Meenakshi Temple, Madurai

Day 6: Madurai - Periyar
Morning city tour of Madurai visit the Meenakshi temple one of the biggest temple complexes in India - 46 ft. long by 790 ft broad built in the 17th Century. It is a rectangular twin shrine: the southern temple dedicated to Meenakshi (the consort of Shiva) and the other to Shiva. It is Madurai's greatest landmark - a file city within a city: the complex includes a bazaar that bustles from dawn to nightfall. The high point of the Meenakshi temple is Hall of a "Thousand Pillars", built in the 16th C which is as great a work of structural engineering as it is of art. Also visit the palace of Tirumala Nayak which is an example of the architectural mastery of the Nayaks - a blend of Hindu and Saracen architecture. It's enormous roofed arcade supported by 48 foot high stoned pillar still stands.

After breakfast drive to Periyar (177 kms/5 hrs).
Upon arrival at Periyar - check into hotel.
Thereafter join the Spice of Kerala Tour.

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