Madurai · Kodaikanal · Rameswaram · Kanyakumari · Kovalam · 6 nights / 7 days · family
Temples, Hills & Kovalam — 6 Nights
Temples, a hill station and a beach, in the order that makes geographic sense. Madurai and Rameswaram for the temples, Kodaikanal for the cool air in the middle, Kanyakumari for the southern tip, and two nights at Kovalam to finish lying down. Seven days, one car, one driver.
Photos
Highlights
- The Meenakshi Amman temple at Madurai and its night ceremony
- A night in Kodaikanal — Coaker's Walk, Pillar Rocks and the lake
- The Pamban bridge and Ramanathaswamy temple at Rameswaram
- Dhanushkodi, where the land runs out
- Kanyakumari at sunrise, the Vivekananda Rock and the Thiruvalluvar statue
- Two nights at Kovalam on the Arabian Sea
- Private air-conditioned car and driver for all seven days
Day-by-day itinerary
Day 1 — Arrive Madurai
Check in, then the Meenakshi temple in the late afternoon. Stay for the night ceremony if you can.
Day 2 — Madurai to Kodaikanal
Three hours and about two thousand metres up. Coaker's Walk in the afternoon while the valley is still visible, and the lake in the evening.
Day 3 — Kodaikanal to Rameswaram
A long day — seven hours or so, down out of the Palanis and east to the coast, crossing the Pamban bridge at the end of it. Evening at Ramanathaswamy.
Day 4 — Rameswaram to Kanyakumari
Dhanushkodi in the morning, then south along the coast, arriving in time for sunset at the point.
Day 5 — Kanyakumari to Kovalam
Sunrise at the shore, the ferry out to the Vivekananda Rock, and then two and a half hours up the coast into Kerala. At Kovalam by early afternoon.
Day 6 — Kovalam
Nothing scheduled, which after five days of driving is the point. The lighthouse beach, an Ayurvedic massage, or Trivandrum forty minutes away for the Padmanabhaswamy temple and the Napier Museum.
Day 7 — Home
Transfer to Trivandrum airport, about forty minutes.
Included
- Hotels for every night of the trip, on twin sharing, with breakfast each morning
- A private air-conditioned car with a driver for the whole trip — every transfer and every sightseeing stop
- Your driver is with you 8am to 8pm each day
- All toll charges, interstate permits, parking fees and driver allowance
- All applicable taxes on the above
- A single point of contact in Delhi before, during and after the trip
Not included
- Flights or trains to and from the start and end points
- Lunches, dinners and snacks, unless a meal is listed in the inclusions
- Entrance fees at monuments, parks, boat jetties and viewpoints — these are paid at the gate
- Personal expenses: tips, laundry, phone calls, room service, porterage
- Optional activities, and any upgrade you decide to take on the day
- Travel insurance
- Anything not written into the inclusions list above
Best time to go: October to March. Avoid April and May unless you like real heat on the plains
Things to carry
- · Photo ID for every traveller, including children — hotels and some temples ask for it
- · Clothes that cover shoulders and knees for temple visits; men are asked to remove shirts at a few shrines in Tamil Nadu
- · A pair of socks — temple floors get very hot by midday and shoes come off at the entrance
- · A hat, sunglasses and sunscreen
- · Any regular medication
- · A small bag you don't mind leaving at the shoe counter
- · A light rain jacket or a compact umbrella
- · One warm layer: hill station evenings drop to 12-15C even in summer
Cancellation policy
More than 30 days before departure: we retain ₹3,000 per person and refund the rest. 30 to 15 days before departure: 25% of the package cost. 14 to 8 days before departure: 50% of the package cost. 7 days or less, or no show: 100%.
Festival dates and a few resorts carry stricter terms of their own. If any part of your booking is on non-refundable terms, we tell you in writing before you pay anything — it will never be a surprise at the cancellation stage.
Refunds go back to the account you paid from, within 7 to 10 working days of the cancellation being confirmed.
Flight tickets, once issued, follow the airline's own rules and are refunded only to the extent the airline refunds us.
More questions, answered
- Are flights included?
- No. The price covers everything on the ground from the moment you land to the moment we drop you back. We can book your flights alongside the package if you'd rather have one invoice — just say so when you enquire.
- Is the car ours for the whole trip?
- Yes. Same car, same driver, from arrival to departure. It isn't a shared coach and it isn't a series of separate transfers. Your driver is with you 8am to 8pm each day.
- What if there are four or six of us?
- The price drops per head, and not by a little. The car and the driver cost the same whether two people are in it or six, so a group of six pays roughly a third less each than a couple does for exactly the same trip. Tell us your group size and we'll send the real number.
- Can we change the hotels?
- Yes, within reason. Tell us what you want and we'll price it. The categories on this page are the ones we hold rates in, but we're not locked to a fixed list.
- How do we pay?
- Part now to confirm the booking, the balance before you travel. You get a proper GST invoice, not a WhatsApp message with a UPI ID.
- Is day 3 really seven hours?
- Yes, and we won't pretend otherwise. It's the price of putting a hill station between two temple towns. We start early, stop properly for lunch, and you're at Rameswaram before dark. If you'd rather not, we can drop Kodaikanal and make it a five-night trip.
- Can we fly into Madurai and out of Trivandrum?
- That's exactly how it's built. Book the two legs separately; it usually costs about the same as a return.