India Travel

Dakshina Chitra in Tamil Nadu

Related Properties from Gurgaon

Around Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu

The sandy hinterland and flat estuarine paddy fields around Mamallapuram harbour a handful of sights well worth making forays from the coast to see. A short way north along the mam highway, the Government College of Sculpture and elaborately carved Tiger Cave can easily be reached by bicycle. To get to the Crocodile Bank, where rare reptiles from across south Asia are bred for release into the wild, or Dakshina Chitra, a museum devoted to south Indian architecture and crafts, you'll need to jump on and off buses or rent a moped for the day. Finally, a good target for

The northeast of Chennai in Tamil Nadu

Fazed by the fierce heat and air pollution of Chennai, most visitors escape as fast as they can, heading down the Coromandel coast to India's stone-carving capital, Mamallapuram, whose ancient monuments include the famous Shore Temple and a batch of extraordinary rock sculptures. En route, it's well worth jumping off the bus at Dakshina Chitra, a new folk museum 30km south of Chennai, where traditional buildings from across south India have been beautifully reconstructed. Further inland, Kanchipuram is an important pilgrimage and silk-sari-weaving town from where you can loop southwest to Tiruvannamalai, a wonderfully atmospheric temple town clustered at the

Eating to Rameshwaram in Central Tamil Nadu

Eating in Rameshwaram is more about survival than delighting the taste buds. Most places serve up fairly unexciting "meals". Arya Bhavan and Kumbakonam, W Car Street. Both places are run by the same family and dish up standard, inexpensive veg “meals”. Ashok Bhavan, W Car Street. Offers cheap, regional varieties of thalis. TTDC Hotel Tamil Nadu, near the beach. Gigantic, noisy, high-ceilinged glasshouse near the sea, serving good south Indian snacks and "meals:: - many items on the menu are unavailable, however.

Kanniyakumari in Central Tamil Nadu

KANNIYAKUMARI, at the southernmost extremity of India, is almost as compelling for Hindus as Rameshwaram. It is significant, not only for its association with a virgin goddess, Kanya Devi, but also as the meeting point of the Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. Watching the sun rise and set from here is the big attraction, especially on full-moon day in April, when it's possible to see both the setting sun and rising moon on the same horizon. Although Kanniyakumari is in the state of Tamil Nadu, most foreign visitors arrive on day-trips from Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala,

Accommodation to Rameshwaram in Central Tamil Nadu

Apart from the TTDC hotels, accommodation m Rameshwaram is restricted to basic lodges, mostly in the Car streets around the temple. The temple authorities have a range of rooms for pilgrims; ask at the Devasthanam Office, E Car Street. The railway retiring rooms consist of six large double and three triple rooms, generally cleaner (and quieter) than town lodges for the same price, plus a dorm (Rs40). Ctiola Lodge, N Car Stteet, A basic pilgrim place in the quietest of the Car streets. Maharaja's, 7 Middle St, Located next to the temple's west gale. Good clean rooms with attached bathrooms, two

Tiruchirapalli and around in Central Tamil Nadu

TIRUCHIRAPALLI - more commonly referred to as Trichy - stands in the plains between the Shevaroy and Palani hills, just under 100km north of Madurai. Dominated by the dramatic Rock Fort, it's a sprawling cominerc, centre with a modern feel; the town melt holds little attraction, but pilgrim flock through en route to the spectacular Ranganathaswamy Temple : Srirangam. 6km north. The precise date of Trichy s foundation is uncertain, but though little early architecture remains, it is clear that between 200 and 1000 AD control of the city passed between the Pallavas and Pandyas.

Practicalities of Sabhanayaka Temple in Central Tamil Nadu

Chidambaram revolves around the Sabhanayaka Temple and the busy market area that surrounds it, along North, East, South and West Car streets. Though little more than a country halt, the railway station, 2km southeast of the centre, has good connections both north and south, and boasts retiring rooms and, on platform 1, a post office (Mon-Sat 9am-lpm & 1.30-5pm). Frequent buses from Chennai,Thanjavur, Mamallapprarn, and Madurai pull in at the bus stand, also in the southeast, but nearer the centre, about lkm from the temple. Staff at the TTDC tourist office, next Co TTDC Tamil Nadu hotel on Railway Feeder Road,

Little Mount Caves in Tamil Nadu

St Thomas is said to have sought refuge from persecution in the Little Mount Caves, 8km south of the city centre (bus #18A, #18B, or #52C from Anna Salai), now 200m off the road between the Maraimalai Adigal Bridge and the residence of the governor of Tamil Nadu. Entrance to the caves is beside steps leading to a statue of Our Lady of Good Health. Inside, next to a small natural window in the rock, are impressions of what are believed to be St Thomas' handprints, created when he made his escape through this tiny opening. Behind the new circular church

Central Tamil Nadu: The Chola heartland in Tamil Nadu

Continuing south of Pondicherry along the Coromandel coast, you enter the flat landscape of the Kaveri (aka Cauvery) Delta, a watery world of canals, dams, dykes and rivulets that has been intensively farmed since ancient times. Only a hundred miles in diameter, it forms the verdant rice-bowl core of Tamil Nadu, crossed by more than thirty major rivers and countless streams. The largest of them, die River Kaveri, known in Tamil as Pontri. "The Lady of Gold" (a form of the Mother Goddess), is revered as a conduit of liquid shakti, the primordial female energy that nurtures the millions of farmers

Visiting Tamil Nadu

Temperatures in Tamil Nadu, which usually hover around 30°C, peak in May and June, when they often soar above 40°C, and the overpowering heat makes anything but sittmg in a shaded cafe exhausting. The state is barely affected by the southwest monsoon that pounds much of India from June to September: 11 receives most of its rain between October and December, when the odd may well make an appearance. The cooler, rainy days, however, bring their own problems: widescale flooding can disrupt road and rail links and1 imbue everything with an all-pervasive dampness. Accommodation throughout the state is good and plentiful;

Palakkad in Kerala

PALAKKAD (Palghat), surrounded by paddy fields, lies on NH-47 between Thrissur (79km) and Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu (54km), and on the railway line from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Historically, thanks to the natural 20km-wide Palakkad Gap in the Western Ghats, this area has been one of the chief entry points into Kerala. The environs are beautiful, but the town itself doesn't warrant a stop, other than to break a journey. Arriving from Tamil Nadu, Palakkad, with its dry, Deccan-like landscape, unlike most of the state, gives a misleading first impression of Kerala. The well-preserved fort, built in 1766 by Haider Ali

Tirukalikundram in Tamil Nadu

The village of TIRUKALIKUNDRAM, 16km east on the road to Kanchipuram, is locally famous for its hilltop Shiva Temple, where a pair of white neophran vultures, believed to be reincarnated saints on their way between Varanasi and Rameswaram, used to swoop down at noon to be fed by the priests. No one knew how long these visits had been going on, or why, in 1994, the vultures suddenly stopped coming. Their absence, however, was taken as a bad omen, and, sure enough, that year massive cyclones ravaged the Tamil Nadu coast. Four hundred hot stone steps need to be scaled to

Practicalities of Kumbakonam in Central Tamil Nadu

Kumbakonam's small railway station, in the southeast, 2km from the main bazaar, is well served by trains both north and south, and has a left-luggage office (24hr) and decent retiring rooms (Rs100). The hectic Moffussil (local) and Aringannar (long-distance) bus stands are opposite each other in the southeast of town, between the railway station and the Mahamakham tank. All the timetables are in Tamil, but there's a 24-hour enquiry office. Buses leave for Gangaikondacholapuram, Pondicherry, and Thanjavur every five to ten minutes, many via Darasuram. Frequent services run to Chennai, Trichy and several daily to Bangalore.

Information of Chennai in Tamil Nadu

At the highly efficient and very helpful Government of India Regional Tourist Office (GOIRTO) at 154 Anna Sala, (Mon-Fri 9.15am-5.45pm, Sat 9pm-1pm) you can pick up maps and leaflets, and arrange accommodation. They also supply the names of reliable tour agents for car rental, and keep a list of approved guides you can arrange for a private tour of the city, either for a full day ((350-750), or half-day (Rs250-500). The Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC), 4 EVR Periyar Rd (Mon-Fri 10am-5pm), outside Park Station, a ten-minute walk northeast of Anna Salai, can only book accommodation in dieir own hotels

Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu

Synonymous with the fifth Hindu element of fire, TIRUVANNAMALAI. 100km south of Kanchipuram, ranks, along with Madurai, Kanchipuram, Chidambaram and Trichy, as one oft the five holiest towns in Tamil Nadu. Its name, meaning "Red Mountain", derives from the spectacular extinct volcano, Arunachala, which rises behind it, and which glows an unearthly crimson at dawn. This awesome natural backdrop, combined with the presence in the centre of town of the colossal Arunachaleshvara Temple, makes Tiruvannamahi one of the region's most memorable destinations. Well off the tourist trail, it is a perfect place to get to grips with life in small-town

Accommodation of Kanniyakumari in Central Tamil Nadu

As Kanniyakumari is a "must-see" for Indian tourists and pilgrims, hotels can fill up early. However, recent developments have raised standards, and relieved the pressure on space. Kerala House, seafront, A large colonial-era building, converted into a rest house for Keralan civil servants, whose cavernous doubles (two of them are a/c) have dressing rooms and bathrooms; some rooms have sea views. Book in advance through the Political Department of the State Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram. Lakshmi Tourist Home, E Car Street. The rooms are smart, some are sea-facing and have swish a/c There's an excellent non-veg restaurant. Maadhini, E Car Street. Large,

Coimbatore in Central Tamil Nadu

Visitors tend only to use the busy industrial city of COIMBATORE as a stopover on the way to Ooty, 90km northwest. Once you've climbed up to your hotel rooftop to admire the blue, cloud-capped haze of the Nilgiris in the west, there's little to do here other than kill time wandering through the nuts-and-bolts bazaars, lined with look a like textile showrooms, "General Traders" and shops selling motor parts.

Sankaramandam in Tamil Nadu

Kanchipuram is the seat of a line of holy men bearing the title acharya, whose line dates back perhaps as far as 1300 BC to the saint Adi Sankaracharya. The 68th acharya, the highly revered Sri Chandrasekharendra Sarasvati Swami, died in January 1994 at the age of 101. Buried in the sitting position, as is the custom for great Hindu sages, his mortal remains are enshrined in a samadhi at the Sankaramandam, a math (monastery for Hindu renouncers) down the road from the Ekambreshvara Temple. The present incumbent, the 69th acharya, has his quarters on the opposite side of a

Government College of Sculpture in Tamil Nadu

A visit to the Government College of Sculpture, 2km north of Mamallapuram on the Kovalam (Covelong) Road gives a fascinating insight into the processes of sculpture training. You can watch anything from preliminary drawing, with its strict rules regarding proportion and iconography, through to the execution of sculpture, both in wood and stone, in the classical Hindu tradition. Contact the college office to make an appointment.

Accommodation of Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary in Central Tamil Nadu

Standards in Mudumalai are generally high, with most of the hotels in gorgeous, peaceful settings. The best of them are up to 5km off the main road from Masinagudi in Bokkapuram, although two budget options overlook the mam road. Book in advance, and arrange for your hosts to pick you up from the bus stop - taxis or Jeeps are rare in the village. Most places expect guests for full board, as Masinagudi only has a few simple restaurants. Bamboo Banks Guest House, 2km from the main road, Masinagudi. Two rooms, and tour cottages in a beautiful environment: delicious meals are