Our country India is dotted with many fascinating pilgrimage destinations and the shrines and temples at each of these destinations not only emit a deep spiritual glow but are also mute testimonies of the architectural splendor prevalent during a particular era or during a particular royal rule. Also the pattern of temple architecture differs from region to region quite distinctly and this is why you would find a marked difference between the Architectural pattern of South Indian temples and the North Indian ones.

In other words like North India, South India too abounds in temples and shrines and visiting these temples through a South India Temple Tour is one of the popular attractions for tourists today. So once you are at any of the South Indian temples, the light fragrant whiff of Marigolds, Jasmines offered to the deity would totally enliven your spirits and the sacred ambience of these temples which apart from housing the deity are places where you could gather religious teachings, would fill your heart and soul with deep piety.

Tour Name	Temple Tour of South India
Tour Duration	15 Days / 14 Nights
Destinations covered	Chennai-Tirupati-Chennai-Kancheepuram-Mahabalipuram-Madurai-Rameshwaram-Tiruvannamalai-Aurovile-Madurai-Puttaparthi
Tour Price	On Request

About the Tour Package:

Travel Tour Guru, the reputed travel company offers many lucrative packages to their customers for enjoying fulfilling tours all over India and among their Pilgrimage tour package the South India Temple tour package would indeed allow you to bag some great deals and offers. You would be taken to all the major temple towns of South India like Mahabalipuram, Kanchipuram, Tanjore  etc and would be able to explore the sublime beauty of the very ancient temples out there to your heart’s content. Once you visit the South Indian temples, don’t forget to mark the stone carvings on the exteriors and interiors of the temples. You would definitely marvel at the architectural excellence plus the engineering heights that were reached even in the ancient times and still remains till date. The TravelTourGuru tour operators would help you complete your sacred tour successfully. They also have customization options in case you have time crunch or economic issues.

Itinerary

Day 1: Reaching Chennai

You are to reach Chennai either by flight or by train. On reaching Chennai you’ll be greeted heartily by our representative who will lead you to a hotel where there’s an advance booking for you. Since you have arrived from a hectic journey, you are given an off for the remaining part of the day. Take ample rest. Rest overnight and recharge yourself for the tour.

Day 2: Chennai to Tirupati

Post breakfast freshen up and set out for a temple tour within the city of Chennai itself. Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu can rightly be called the pathway or entrance to Southern India. The city offers pivotal support to politics, to religion and also to films and fine arts. It forms a storehouse of historical attractions and the many beautiful beaches and temples enhance the beauty of the city a tenfold. Vadapalani Temple, Parthasarathy Temple of Chennai are really worth paying a visit and are known far and wide for their aesthetic beauty. Of the two temples mentioned, the former belongs to the deity Lord Muruga.

After your temple tour of Chennai, finish your lunch and fly to Tirupati. On reaching Tirupati check into a hotel.  Leave for the Darshan of the Lord Balaji, the deity housed in the temple. The temple is on the hills of Tirumala and well reflects the splendid Dravidian architecture of the era. Be mentally prepared to face a serpentine queue because per day almost 1000 devotees visit the temple. Tirupati has many other beautiful temples which you have to finish visiting as well. Retire to hotel for night stay.

Day 3 Tirupati to Chennai

Take flight back to Chennai. Check into hotel. Take rest for few hours. Then set out for visiting the two beautiful and famous Churches in the city; i.e. Church of Santa Maria and Santhome Cathedral. If you have interest in dance, music and fine arts you can then visit ‘Kalakshetra’. It is an Institute where traditional dance training, even Classic dance training like Bharatanatyam, Carnatic music training, textile and fabric designing training are all imparted to students. The famous Rukmini Devi was the founder of this Institute that came into being in the year 1936. After this you would definitely want to take some rest and the best place for that is the Marina beach. Sit on a boulder, feel the cool afternoon sea breeze and get lost in your musings or even some of you might want to take a stroll on this longest beach of the world. The stones statues in Marina beach are indeed artistic creations! After the entire day’s travel, you would really feel strong hunger pangs. So enjoy a solid dinner and good night’s sleep at your hotel.

Day 4: Chennai to Kancheepuram (A Distance of 75 Kilometers)

Drive from Chennai to Kancheepuram. Kancheepuram is known to be the base of Adi Guru Shankaracharya or his original habitat. On reaching Kanchipuram you can finish off with the Darshan of the temple of Sri Ekambareswarar that has as its deity the duo Shiva-Parvati. Post lunch you can pay visit to the temple dedicated to Sri Swami Subramaniya. Then you can draw your temple tour of the city to a close for the day and do some shopping. You must have heard about the famous Kancheepuram silks. The city has a 400 years old tradition of silk production. Go to some registered emporium and purchase some silk Sarees. Rest overnight at hotel.

Day 5: Kancheepuram Temple Tour Continues

Next day, finish your breakfast, freshen up and set out for the rest of the temple tour of Kancheepuram. The temples you would visit today are Sri Kamakshi Amman Temple, Temples of Sri Kailasanathar Temple, Sri Varadaraja, Perumal and the Karchapeswarar temple. You can visit some of the temples before lunch and some post lunch. You would be astonished to find the religious fervor with which People out there worship God in the form of Animals. As the day draws to a close you can take a stroll to the local bazaars to pick a souvenir or two.

Day 6: Kancheepuram to Mahabalipuram

Next day, drive by road to the coastal city of Mahabalipuram, counted as one of the World Heritage Sites. With nightfall the beauty of the beaches are enhanced further and so it would be a pleasant experience for you to see the waves of the Bengal dashing and breaking against the shore as you take a long stroll on a quiet night in the beaches of Mahabalipuram. Add a touch of luxury to this pleasant experience by halting at a spa overnight.

Day 7: Mahabalipuram Temple tour

Start by visiting the temple of Mamalla meaning a true fighter. This title was actually conferred upon Narasimhavarman I, a King of the Pallava dynasty well-known for his heroism. The temple is located in Mamallapuram, a coastal region in Mahabalipuram. The temple is well famed for some very distinct architectural marvels like the Pancha Rathas, Shore temple. Most of the carvings are done out of the Granite and once you have visited the exterior, explore the beauty of the Mandapam temple dedicated to Lord Krishna. The temple walls bear carvings depicting different events from the life of the Lord as well as the pastoral life of Lord Krishna. After temple visit, you can stroll for sometime on the beach followed by a Night stay at hotel post dinner.

Day 8: Mahabalipuram to Madurai

Finish your breakfast, set out for a by road journey to Madurai. It will be a comfortable drive in AC Cars. On reaching check into hotel and rest overnight.

Day 9: Madurai Temple Tour

Madurai we all know is famous for Meenakshi Temple, dedicated to Devi Parvati, the consort of Lord Shiva. After visiting the Meenakshi Temple with its world famous intricate carvings you can visit the Koodal Alagar, a temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu, then the Temple of Lord Subramanya. After finishing lunch do some shopping and then be on time to the Thirumalai Nayak Palace for the exciting Light & Sound Show.

Day 10: Madurai to Rameshwaram (at a distance of 167 Kms)

You can avail the train route or the bus route to Rameshwaram, one of the holiest Pilgrimage destinations or Dham for any devout Hindu. Rameshwaram is one of the Dham of the Char Dham in the four corners of the nation that a Hindu thinks his religious duty to visit at least once in his lifetime. It is on Pamban Island off the mainland and the Pamban Railway Bridge connects the island to the mainland of India. This island that has the shrine of Rameshwaram is however not far from Srilanka as well. Its only 24 kms from Srilanka and Gulf of Mannar has the Pamban Island bearing the shrine of Rameshwaram. The myths have it that Lord Rama got this Ram Setu to Lanka built to rescue Sita his wife from the clutches of Ravana, the abductor.

Day 11: Rameshwaram Temple tour

On reaching Rameshwaram set out for the temple tour of Ramanathaswamy. The deity in the temple is in the form a lingum that is counted as one among the 12 famous Jyotirlingas that our country has. Finish the Darshan of the deity, explore the beauty of the temple that manifests superb Dravidian architectural excellence. Then visit Kothandaraswamy Dhanuskodi and the Karai Setu, the former named after the sacred bow of Lord Rama and the latter, a stone bridge constructed over sea by Lord Rama according to the myths. After that you can just explore the beauty of the Rameshwaram beaches. Halt overnight at Rameshwaram.

Day 12: Rameshwaram to Auroville

Next day you are to return to Madurai. From Madurai, take off to Puducherry by flight. Our representative will lead you to the Village called ‘Auroville’, an exquisite township that came into being under the initiative of ‘Mother’, the chief spiritual collaborator of Rishi Aurobindo Ghosh. In this context its worthwhile to quote the lines of a letter in which ‘Mother’ describes Auroville. Here it is: “Auroville will be a place of research material and spiritual living embodiment of an actual human unity.” On reaching, check into a hotel and then go out for exploring this unique spiritual township. The countless souvenir shops therein will let you pick some rare items for your collection. Halt overnight at the hotel.

Day 13: Auroville to Puttaparthi

Next day morning, you can take small yoga training at one of the many Yoga and Meditation Centers in the Auroville village. Then explore the city of Puducherry, the historical attractions in the city to your heart’s content. Puducherry had been French colony till the year 1954. So you would be overwhelmed by the plentiful French heritage of yesteryears you would get to see in the city. Once your Puducherry sightseeing is over board a flight to Chennai and from there again fly to Puttaparthi, a village in the district of Ananthapur. This village is the dwelling place of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, who was considered the God in human form by his devotees. His devotees had constructed this village to pay a tribute to the God incarnate. On reaching this holy village you can either put up at some tourist accommodation or simply stay in the ashram for cheap rates

Day 14: Puttaparthi Darshan

The entire day is allotted for the Puttaparthi Darshan, the Puja, your participation in the Aarti and the religious discourse and it’s indeed a great experience. Stay overnight at Puttaparthi.

Day 15: Puttaparthi to Chennai

Board flight to return to Chennai and the next flight back to your hometown. Thus ends your South India Temple tour with lots of soul enlightening happy memories.