Luxury (over US$35/Rsl000 per room night) Madurai’s most interesting hotel is the Taj Garden Retreat, Pasumalai Hill, (tel 88256,22300, tix 0445-205 located on a hill 6 km (3 3/4 miles) from the town. The house once belonged to the managing ...

Sri Meenakshi Temple-Thirumalai Nayak Palace From either the bus or rail station, it’s a 15-minute walk up Town Hall Road to the Sri Meenakshi Temple. This is one of the biggest temple complexes in India-258 m long and 241 m ...

One of the most pleasant Indian cities, Madurai has a charming situation on the River Vaigai, fringed by lush paddy fields and coconut groves. It is both the home of Tamil culture (poets, artisans, artists, scholars and saints have used ...

Kanchipuram is a typical temple town, with lots of pilgrim dharamsalas and hardly any tourist hotels. But the TTDC Hotel Tamil Nadu, 78 Kamatchiamman Sannathi Street (tel 2953, 2954) is a pleasant place, with rooms from Rs200, and a nice ...

Kailasanathar Temple-Ekambareshwara Temple-Kamakshiammon Temple-Vaikuntha Perumal-Varatha Temple A short 15-minute cycle ride down Nellukkara and Putteri Streets takes you to the west of town, and the 8th-century Kailasanathar Temple. This lies in a garden clearing, and the giant Nandi bull in ...

Kanchipuram is one of the oldest towns in India, famous for both its temples, many of them remarkably well preserved, and for its handwoven silks. Known as South India’s ‘Golden City of Temples’, it is a major pilgrimage centre and ...

Expensive (over US$35/Rsl000 per room night) The best hotel is in fact 42 km (7 1h miles) to the north at Kovelong. The Taj Group’s Fisherman’s Cove (tel 04428-2304, 6268 Madras 474849) set in a beautiful cove has an excellent ...

This is an ideal tourist situation, with lots to see, all of it interesting, and everything within walking distance. You can hire out auto-rickshaws, private cars (Rs5 per km, from JRS Travels opposite tourist office) and motorbikes (also from JRS), ...

This is a small, quiet seaside resort with a unique 7th-century Shore Temple, a lovely beach, and some of the most beautiful rock-cut temples in the world. Situated on the shore of the Bay of Bengal, Mahabalipuram was already a ...

Madras cuisine is essentially vegetarian and the food is extraordinarily cheap. The staple diet is the tray of assorted vegetables and spices, often served with a dollop of rice, called thalis or ‘meals’; also the folded pancake filled with spiced ...