Tamil Nadu Temple Tour: 7 Days of Mahabalipuram, Kanchipuram, Thanjavur and Madurai

Arrive in Chennai

Your driver meets you at Chennai airport and takes you to your hotel. Chennai, formerly Madras, is the capital of Tamil Nadu and the gateway to the great temple towns of the south. It grew up around Fort St George, where the British East India Company set up a trading post in the 17th century, but the old neighbourhoods of Mylapore and Triplicane are far older.

After a long flight, keep the first day easy. Rest at your hotel, drink plenty of water and try to stay awake until a normal bedtime to help with jet lag. Your coordinator will call or message to welcome you and confirm tomorrow's start time.

In the late afternoon, if you feel fresh, walk along Marina Beach, one of the longest urban beaches in the world, where families gather at sunset among snack stalls and kites. The sea is rough and swimming is not safe. For dinner, try a first taste of South Indian food: crisp dosa, soft idli with coconut chutney and sambar, and a tumbler of strong, milky filter coffee.

• ArrivalMeet and greet at Chennai airport
• AfternoonRest
• EveningOptional walk on Marina Beach and a South Indian dinner

OvernightChennai, 1 night.

The rock-cut temples of Mahabalipuram

Drive south along the East Coast Road to Mahabalipuram (Mamallapuram), the port of the Pallava kings in the 7th and 8th centuries and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The road follows the shore past fishing villages and casuarina groves, and you can stop on the way at DakshinaChitra, a museum of traditional South Indian houses and crafts.

With your guide, see the Shore Temple standing on the edge of the Bay of Bengal; the Pancha Rathas, five temples each carved from a single block of granite, with a life-size stone elephant beside them; Arjuna's Penance, one of the largest open-air rock reliefs in the world, crowded with gods, animals and sages, where you can spot a family of elephants and a cat imitating a holy man; and Krishna's Butter Ball, a huge boulder balanced on a slope. The sites are spread out and have little shade, so a hat and water help, and the early morning and late afternoon are the most comfortable times.

Watch the sunset at the Shore Temple and visit the stone carvers' workshops in town, where the Pallava tradition continues. Dinner by the beach is usually fresh fish or prawns, cooked to order.

• MorningDrive to Mahabalipuram
• AfternoonPancha Rathas, Arjuna's Penance and Krishna's Butter Ball
• SunsetThe Shore Temple
• EveningStone carvers' workshops and seafood dinner

OvernightMahabalipuram, 1 night.

Kanchipuram, city of a thousand temples

Drive inland to Kanchipuram, one of the seven sacred cities of Hinduism, once the capital of the Pallavas and still a city of temples and silk.

Visit the Kailasanatha Temple, built in the early 8th century and the oldest structure in the city, its sandstone walls lined with small shrines and carvings of Shiva in his many forms. Then see the towering Ekambareswarar Temple, dedicated to Shiva as the element of earth, with a gopuram nearly 60 metres high and an ancient mango tree in its courtyard. If you have time, add the Varadharaja Perumal Temple, dedicated to Vishnu, where pilgrims touch carvings of a gold and a silver lizard on a ceiling for good luck. Many temples close for a few hours in the middle of the day, so your guide plans the visits for the morning and late afternoon.

For lunch, try Kanchipuram idli, a spiced version flavoured with pepper, cumin and ginger. In the afternoon, visit the silk weavers' workshops to watch Kanchipuram saris being woven on handlooms with gold thread. These heavy silks are prized across South India for weddings, and your guide can explain how to tell pure silk and real zari work from imitations.

• MorningKailasanatha and Ekambareswarar temples
• OptionalVaradharaja Perumal Temple
• AfternoonKanchipuram silk weavers

OvernightKanchipuram, 1 night.

Across the plains to Thanjavur

A longer drive across the Tamil Nadu plains, past rice paddies, coconut groves, sugarcane fields and village temples with brightly painted guardian figures, to Thanjavur, the former capital of the Chola kings, who ruled much of South India and parts of Southeast Asia a thousand years ago. Stop for lunch at a roadside restaurant serving 'meals' on a banana leaf, and for a strong filter coffee, which this part of Tamil Nadu takes very seriously.

If you make good time, stop at Darasuram near Kumbakonam, about 40 minutes before Thanjavur, to see the Airavatesvara Temple. Built in the 12th century and part of the UNESCO-listed Great Living Chola Temples, it is smaller and quieter than the Brihadeeswarar, with very fine sculpture and a hall carved as a chariot with stone wheels and horses.

Arrive in the afternoon at your heritage hotel near the Brihadeeswarar Temple, with time to settle in. If you have energy, see the temple's tower lit up at dusk, when families stroll on the lawns and the evening rituals begin.

• DayDrive to Thanjavur, with a lunch stop
• AfternoonOptional Airavatesvara Temple at Darasuram
• EveningOptional first look at the Brihadeeswarar Temple at dusk

OvernightThanjavur, 2 nights, at a heritage hotel.

The Brihadeeswarar Temple and Thanjavur Palace

Spend the morning at the Brihadeeswarar Temple, completed in 1010 by Rajaraja Chola I and part of the UNESCO-listed Great Living Chola Temples. One of the largest Hindu temples in India, it has a 66-metre granite tower topped by a capstone said to weigh around 80 tonnes, a huge monolithic Nandi bull and Chola frescoes in its corridors. Go early, when the light is soft and the stone is still cool underfoot; shoes are left at the gate.

In the afternoon, visit the Thanjavur Maratha Palace and its art gallery of Chola bronzes, among the finest metal sculptures in the world, and the Saraswathi Mahal Library, one of the oldest in Asia, with palm-leaf manuscripts. Nearby shops sell Thanjavur paintings, bright with gold leaf, and the bobbing-headed Thanjavur dolls.

In the evening, your guide can arrange a Bharatanatyam dance or Carnatic music performance; Thanjavur is the home of both traditions.

• MorningBrihadeeswarar Temple
• AfternoonThanjavur Palace, Chola bronzes and the Saraswathi Mahal Library
• EveningOptional dance or music performance

OvernightThanjavur.

The Meenakshi Temple

Drive south to Madurai, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in India, built around the great temple of Meenakshi. Check in and rest over lunch; the temple, like most in Tamil Nadu, closes for a few hours in the early afternoon.

In the afternoon, visit the Meenakshi Amman Temple, a city within a city dedicated to the goddess Meenakshi and her consort Sundareswarar, a form of Shiva. Its 14 gopurams are covered with thousands of brightly painted figures. Inside, see the Hall of a Thousand Pillars and the Golden Lotus Tank, and watch the constant flow of pilgrims that makes this one of the most alive religious sites in India. Mobile phones and cameras are not allowed inside; leave them, with your shoes, at the counters by the gates.

Return at night for the closing ceremony, when the image of Sundareswarar is carried in a silver palanquin to Meenakshi's chamber, with drums, pipes and lamps.

• MorningDrive to Madurai
• AfternoonMeenakshi Amman Temple
• NightThe closing ceremony

OvernightMadurai, 1 night.

Fly home from Madurai or Chennai

Depending on your onward flight, transfer to Madurai airport for a domestic connection, or travel back to Chennai for international departures, by a short flight or a long drive. In the morning, if time allows, visit the 17th-century Thirumalai Nayak Palace, with its giant pillars and stucco arches, or the flower market, heaped with jasmine and marigold. The Gandhi Memorial Museum, in an old palace, is another good choice; it holds the cloth Gandhi was wearing when he was assassinated.

• MorningOptional Thirumalai Nayak Palace
• DepartureTransfer to Madurai airport