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Have your lunch at the hotel and enjoy the afternoon sightseeing tour of Chennai. In Chennai, you will see the famous Mariana Beach, Fort Museum, Mylapore Temple, Gandhi Memorial and Kala Kshetra among all the other attractions of Chennai. You will relax in the evening at your hotel. Have your dinner and stay overnight at Chennai.
Day 02: Chennai to Tirupati to Chennai
Have your breakfast and move on to Tirupati by road (154km / 4 hrs). Reach Tirupati and enjoy having delicious traditional lunch at the local restaurant. It is a small city located picturesquely on the Tirumala Hills managed by the temple trust. It is a significant temple and pilgrimage town for Hindus of south India. Tirupati is visited for an ancient and beautiful Lord Venkateshwara Temple. It is a beautiful temple and one of the oldest temples in India. The temple is also said to the richest of all. In the evening, you will return to Chennai for dinner. Stay overnight at the hotel.
Day 03: Chennai to Kanchipuram to Mamallapuram
Have your breakfast and take a drive to Kanchipuram (76 km / 1 ½ hrs). Kanchipuram is an erstwhile capital city of Pallavas, famous as the city of 1000 temples. Out of all, it still has 124 temples. Kanchipuram is famous for its magnificent silk. Make your visit to the amazingly beautiful temples of Kanchipuram popular for their architectural affluence. Most of them date back to 7th and 8th century. Have your lunch at a local restaurant at Kanchipuram. Later, you will take a drive to Mamallapuram. Reach and check in the hotel.
Mamallapuram is also known as Mahabalipuram. It is the 7th century port town of South India. You will see rock cut and monolithic temple architecture, while your sightseeing tour to Mahabalipuram. Being a UNESCO world Heritage Site, thousands of visitors visit Mamallapuram each month. You will visit to see Arjuna's Penance, Shore Temple and Pancha Rathas or Five Chariots. Have your dinner and stay overnight at Mamallapuram.
Day 04: Mamallapuram to Tiruvannamalai to Pondicherry
Have your breakfast and take a drive to Tiruvannamalai (112km/3hrs). It is a popular pilgrimage centre that hosts an ancient temple of Lord Shiva. Later you will move on to Pondicherry, a Union Territory of India, located near Tamil Nadu (131km/4 hrs). As Pondicherry was a former French colony, it still has Portuguese culture intact in the city. Pondicherry is also a sacred place where St. Agasthaya and Shri Aurobindo settled down and sought peace. Reach Pondicherry and check in the hotel. Have your dinner and stay overnight at Pondicherry.
Day 05: Pondicherry
Have your breakfast and visit the pious Aurobindo Ashram, at the distance of about 10 kms in the north of Pondicherry. St Aurobindo had great ideas for the humanity to bring a well accepted synthesis of Yoga and modern science. These are the ideas that ashram still promotes. You can also buy some interesting souvenirs from here. Post lunch at hotel, you will visit Auroville, a city that is a distinct experiment in international living. It is an effort to create a new environment where people from all over the world, of all nationalities live together in harmony. Have your dinner and overnight stay at Pondicherry.
Day 06: Pondicherry to Chidambaram to Tanjore
Have your breakfast and take a drive to Chidambaram (65kms/2hrs). The place is also known as Thillai and is most visited by the pilgrims to have darshan at the Nataraja Temple. The sculptures of the temple depict different attractive dance postures from Bharatnattayam dance form. Nataraja is depicted as Lord Shiva the cosmic dancer.
Have your lunch and take a drive to Tanjore (104km/3hrs). On the route, you will visit the Brass factory at Kumbakonam and have an interesting tour.
Reach Tanjore, the erstwhile capital city of ancient state ruled by the Cholas. Tanjore is famous for its temples and paintings. You will visit the Brihadeeshwarar temple that hosts a huge Shiva lingam and stone sculpture of Nandi bull, the vehicle of Lord Shiva. Have your dinner and stay overnight at Tanjore.
Day 07: Tanjore to Trichy
After breakfast we leave for Trichy (54km-2hrs). Also called Trichurapalli, the place is one of the most pious towns of south India. You will see here the Rock Fort temple, Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple and Sri Jambukeshwara Temple.
Reach Trichy and check in the hotel. Have your lunch and enjoy sightseeing tour to Trichy. You will visit Rock Fort, Sri Ranganathaswamy temple and Jambukeshwara Temples and observe the traditional Indian style of puja. Have your dinner and overnight stay at Trichy.
Day 08: Trichy to Madurai
Have your breakfast and move on to Madurai by road (133km/4hrs). Madurai is a 2,600 years old temple town of south India, mostly visited for Meenakshi temple. Reach Madurai and check in the hotel.
Later, you will visit the popular Meenakshi Temple and other attractions of Madurai, including Mariamman Teppakulam (Great Tank) and the Palace of Tirumalai Nayak. In the evening, you will again visit the Meenakshi Temple and attend the prayer ceremony at the temple. Stay overnight at Madurai.
Day 09: Madurai to Rameshwaram to Madurai
Have your breakfast and enjoy a full day excursion to Rameshwaram. It is a sacred pilgrimage place for Hindus famous for its spiritual aura and beauty. You will visit the famous Ramanathaswamy Temple near to the sea on the eastern side of Rameshwaram. Come back to Madurai in the evening and stay overnight at Madurai.
Day 10: Madurai to Thiruvanathapuram
Post breakfast, you will take a drive to Thiruvanathapuram or Trivandrum, the capital city of Kerala, the southern state of India (330 km / 8hrs). Reach and check in the hotel. Your evening time will be at leisure. Stay overnight at Trivandrum.
Day 11: Thiruvanathapuram to Kanyakumari to Thiruvanathapuram
Have your breakfast and move on to Kanyakumari by road (87km-2hrs). Kanyakumari is located in Tamil Nadu, the southernmost point of India. Kanyakumari is an important pilgrim centre of India. It is a remarkable place where Indian subcontinent meets the Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal and Pacific Ocean.
You will visit the most revered Kumari Amman Temple devoted to virgin Goddess and Vivekananda Rock Memorial. In the evening, you will enjoy a spectacular view of sunset against the sea that will enchant your eyes and soul. Later, you will return to Trivandrum. Stay overnight at Trivandrum.
Day 12: Trivandrum / Departure
Have your breakfast and get an on time transfer to airport. You will take a connecting flight to your onward destination or back home with unforgettable memories of South India Religious Tour.
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