Best of North & South India
Duration: 19 Nights / 20 Days
Destinations Covered: Delhi - Jaipur - Udaipur - Aurangabad - Mumbai - Chennai - Mahabalipuram - Pondicherry - Tanjore - Trichy - Madurai - Thekkady - Kumarakom - Cochin - Mumbai

Day 1: Arrive Delhi
Assistance on arrival. Transfer to your hotel where a traditional welcome ceremony awaits you.

Day 2: Delhi
After a leisurely breakfast embark on a sightseeing tour of Old Delhi including the Red fort and the Jama Masjid. After lunch proceed for a tour of New Delhi to include Qutab Minar, India Gate, Humayun's tomb and the Lakshmi Narayan temple.

Day 3: Delhi - Jaipur ( 250 Km. )
Morning drive to Jaipur, the fabled 'pink city' of the desert named after Jai Singh, the former Maharajah of Jaipur. Arrive Jaipur by afternoon and check in to hotel. Afternoon City Tour.

Day 4: Jaipur - Udaipur
After breakfast leave for Amber Fort and ascend the fort on Elephant back to visit a magnificent palace and halls of City Palace. Transfer to the airport for an onward flight to Udaipur (the Venice of the east).

Day 5: Udaipur
After breakfast go for a morning city tour, visit the City Palace, buit in 1725 and Sahelion ki Bari, the gardens the maids-of-honour and in the afternoon have a boat ride in Lake Pichola.

Day 6:  Udaipur - Mumbai - Aurangabad
Transfer to the airport for a flight to Aurangabad . Upon arrival you will be transferred to the hotel. Afternoon City Tour.

Day 7: Aurangabad
Morning full day trip to the Ajanta (200BC to 650AD) and Ellora(760AD). Caves that date back showcase the masterpieces of Hindu, Buddhist and Jain art.

Day 8: Aurangabad - Mumbai
Transfer to the airport for a flight to Mumbai. On arival transfer to your hotel. Afternoon explore the city of dreams including visits to Mani Bhavan, Prince of Wales Museum, Marine Drive, Chowpatty Beach, Crawford Market, Bombay High Court and India Gate.

Day 9: Mumbai - Chennai
This morning visit Elephanta Caves and in the afternoon transfer to the airport to board your flight to Chennai

Day 10: Chennai
Half day city tour of Chennai. Overnight at hotel.

Day 11: Chennai - Kanchipuram ( 78 Km. ) - Mahabalipuram ( 58 Km. )
Full day sight seeing tour of Kanchipuram and Mahabalipuram.

Kanchipuram - known as the Golden City of a Thousand Temples, is one of the oldest towns in India. It is famous for both its temples, many of them remarkably well preserved and for its hand-woven silks. Kanchipuram is one of the seven sacred cities of India and it is the only one associated with both Shiva and Vishnu. Visit Ekambareshwar Temple, Kailashnath Temple, Kamakshi Temple, the Vaikunthaperumal Temple, all built in the 7th and 8th centuries. With a weaving tradition dating back to the Pallava era (when silk was the royal cloth), Kanchipuram is justly famous for its particularly fine silk saris, embellished with stunning patterns. Visit the local homes of the weavers and watch them create magic out of silk thread into saris.

Mahabalipuram - 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 famous seaport in the 1st century AD. This, town was a workshop for temple building. Visit the seven pagoda-style shore temples, lashed by the waves of the sea and the seven rathas or temple chariots, a group of monolithic monuments & animal figures carved out of solid rock, the earliest known examples of Dravidian architecture. They were constructed in a single century-long burst of creative enthusiasm, starting in the reign of Narasimhavarman 1 (AD 630-68). End the visit with photography of the beautiful Shore temples at sunset.

Overnight at hotel.

Day 12: Mahabalipuram - Pondicherry ( 120 Km. )
After breakfast drive to Pondicherry

Pondicherry, the former French colony setteled in the 18th century is so different from the rest of Tamil Nadu that one feels that one has entered another country! This busy coastal town is divided roughly into two: the old White Town of elegant French houses, restaurants & administrative buildings and the Black Town west of the canal where India takes over again.

Tour of Pondicherry - visiting Botanical garden, Eglise De Sacre Coeur De Jesus and Sri Aurobindo Ashram. Later visit township of Auroville or the city of Dawn. Designed by a French architect Roger Arger, it is an entirely new concept in education and urban living. Overnight at hotel.

Day 13: Pondicherry - Tanjore ( 140 Km. )
After breakfast drive to Tanjore

Upon arrival at Tanjore - check into hotel.

Afternoon sightseeing tour of Tanjore which - was the capital of the Chola Empire from the tenth to the fourteenth centuries. A Chola king, Raja Raja Chola, who held the throne from 985 to 1016, built the greatest of the empire's 74 temples, the Brahadeeswarar, with its soaring tower over the inner sanctum. This tower rises more than 62 meters (200 feet). On its dome rests a single block of granite weighing 80 tons.

Overnight at hotel.

Day 14: Tanjore - Trichy ( 56 Km. )
After breakfast drive to Trichy.
City tour of Trichy - visit the 'Rock Fort Temple' which rises abruptly to a height of 273 ft. A steep staircase cut into the rock leads upto the Fort. At the first level are the remnants of a huge hall blasted into ruins in 1772. The next storey is the Mathrubhuteshwarer Shrine dedicated to Shiva. Finally at the top of the hill, the 'Uchhi Pillayar Koil' is a Ganesh Temple offering a commanding view of the city.

Day 15: Trichy - Madurai ( 135 Km. )
Upon arrival at Madurai - check into hotel.
Evening visit the Meenakshi temple - by cycle rickshaws. At 9 PM, attend the night ceremony at the temple. This is a ceremony that takes place every evening when the temple bronze of Lord Shiva is carried to the bed chamber of Parvati. The procession is accompanied by religious prayer and temple music.

Overnight at hotel.

Day 16: Madurai - Thekkady ( 160 Km. )
Enjoy a drive through the scenic places that are dotted with plantations of rubber, cardamom, cocoa and green pepper.

Day 17: Thekkady
Enjoy an early morning nature walk into the forest to see wildlife. Afrernoon go for a boat cruise on Lake Periyar to see wild elephants in their natural habitat.

Day 18: Thekkady - Alleppey ( 143 Km. )
Drive to Alleppey to board the houseboat for overnight and cruise the backwaters.

Day 19: Alleppey -  Cochin ( 54 Km. )

Day 20: Cochin - Mumbai
Transfer to airport to board a flight for Mumbai. Upon arrival in the afternoon , transfer from domestic airport to international airport for onward destination.

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