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Hat-trick for Tamil Nadu: Attracts most tourists for third year in a row

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Joe Shearer said:
I'm naming places and not getting into lyrical descriptions; you can add that from blogs, from travel guides (Lonely Planet is good) and whatever other sources you want to scrounge around in.

  1. You can start by travelling up to Coonoor and Ooty off Coimbatore, and that gets you a growing Tamil Nadu and its industrial look and feel, high points of the hill ranges around Ooty, with Coonoor as a bonus, and Mudumalai for wildlife (Bandipur is an extension of this forest, just across the border in Karnataka).
  2. If you are interested in history, you can take a ride in a hired car up to the Palghat Gap, that was for centuries the route from the Arabian Sea coast in Kerala, from the entrepot in Calicut (Kozhikode) across to Poompuhar on the Bay of Bengal, avoiding the very long stretch around the island of Sri Lanka. There's not much to see or to do, but when I went there, it was a thrilling moment, thinking of the huge importance of that little dip in the hills and its impact on international trade and commerce through centuries, millennia.
  3. Back to Coimbatore and you have two choices: along the road route to Kodai, and more mountain scenery, good food and clean, fresh air. The distance is about 180 kms, about three hours worth of driving in a travel service taxi.
  4. Down from Kodai, you head to Madurai. Another 3 hours away by road. The great temple is solemnly quiet, and there is a genuine something about it that gets to even agnostics such as I. There are good places to stay, as there are in Ooty and Coimbatore and Kodai, and you can chill out, soak in the temple, and eat. If you like Tamil food, this is the place.
  5. Madurai is a good place to reach out in different directions:
    1. To Courttalam and Papanasam off the little temple town of Tirunelveli;
    2. To Cape Comorin (Kanyakumari) where you have to camp overnight to watch the dawn; the main attraction is the multi-splendoured beach;
    3. To Setu Rameswaram, just to see for yourself the former land-bridge to Sri Lanka that the bhakts now insist was built by Sri Rama; at the tip, you're less than a 100 miles from Jaffna;
    4. To Tuticorin, but unless you're big time into shipping, you won't know what to do once you get there;
    5. To home stays in Chettinad, where you get Chettinad cuisine firing on all eight cylinders;
  6. That brings you to the end of Madurai as a hub, and now you have to decide between Trichy and Tanjore for the next hub. Personally I recommend Tanjore, staying at the river lodge on the Kaveri, and getting to see a half-dozen sights and a zillion temples:
    1. Vedaranyam, for the birds (actually at Point Calimere, that is the cockspur on the Coromandel Coast);
    2. The quaint and very restful Tranquebar, which now revels in the original Thamizh name of Tharangambadi. You go through an archway into the very few houses left of the Danish settlement of Tranquebar. Two old dwelling places still exist; you can stay at the exotic Residency and go and visit the Danish Fort, which is now a Museum. There was an exquisite little temple just to the left of the Residency as you look out to sea, but that crumbled and vanished over a few years; all appeals to various people and authorities were pointless. I think I still have a few pictures of it, still intact but obviously about to crumble and sink into the sea;
    3. For temple freaks and architecture enthusiasts, and those who like to winkle out details of the ethnography of the TamBrahm, the next set of derrings do has to be the incredible complex of temples around Kumbakonam. When I first came down south, my Mum (born and brought up there) warned me not to match wits with two sorts - Palghat Iyers, and the even more lethal Kumbakonam Iyengars. Warned ahead of trouble, I survived all my several stints in Chennai. This is the Kumbakonam of the temple elephant namam case, which was in court for over thirty years; look it up, it's real, and you'll split your sides laughing. You will also learn that vital ethnographic signal, how to distinguish a Vadagalai Iyengar from a Thengalai.
    4. Just across from Kumbakonam is the mysterious and awesome temple of Chidambaram. Even or a rational agnostic, a visit to that temple at midnight, when everything is shut down and not a soul is around, is an eerie experience.
    5. Tanjore itself is pretty thrilling temple wise, and to see the Maratha palace.
    6. I recommend doing Trichy and the stupendous Rock Fort temple first and go to Pondicherry from there. Sadly, most foreigners and northerners fall for the visual drama of the rock fort temple, and forget to do the Big One, the Srirangam temple. We were there at Vaikuntha Ekadasi once, early enough for the tourists not to have got there, and heard the singing from ten feet away, and it was sublime. Be warned that its a fundoo place and not much fun if you aren't a Hindu. I was walking into our caste deity Dhanvantari's little temple-let, when two baby priests decided to throw their weight around and got sceptical about my beard and lack of ear-piercing, and things were a little unpleasant until two older priests came and sorted things out and got both sides to back off.
  7. Pondicherry needs no introduction. Don't forget to try every eatery in the White Town, and don't forget to stay some of the time in the town, the rest of the time outside, in a beach resort. Some of us like Auroville; it leaves me cold.
  8. Almost the end, the second last stop: do Mahabs. It's fun and you get your fair share of touristy trinkets and more. More good food, a close look at the oldest temples in India (outside the ones cut into the original rock) and nice beaches.
  9. ...and you land up back at Chennai.
That's it then, Tamil Nadu in Nine Little Steps.
Click to expand...

Add Padmanabhanapuram palace near Kanyakumari. It belongs to Kerala State Government. It is well maintained palace.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padmanabhapuram_Palace

Joe Shearer said:
You've got me. I am beaten. I know about the attack by the German commerce raider Emden, but it wasn't a sub. You win.
Click to expand...

It was during world war one. It is amazing Indian history textbooks do not discuss this
 
.
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livingdead said:
tamilnadu gets more foreign tourist than kerala/rajasthan/delhi/goa?...
this is bs. there is nothing to see in tamilnadu.
Click to expand...

You clearly think Tamil Nadu = metropolitan Chennai. It is very far from your concept.

As a domestic tourist, I have travelled through the length and breadth of the state and seen marvels upon marvels of history, art, culture and spirituality like nowhere else.

The state has everything; wet forests, misty hills, warm and humid coast lines, beautiful islands, calm rural pains, excellent food, beautiful temples and very friendly people.

In fact, if you really want to experience the state and its offerings, you will need a lot of time; at least full 14 days, excluding arriving and departing.

livingdead said:
yeah, got any reputed news source like hindu that makes such claim?
without that its just another fake news that you believed because you are tamil... otherwise there is no way you will just accept it... :)
Click to expand...

Ministry of Tourism releases the data. If you are living in Delhi, you can walk in and request the data for your reference. I think the data book costs around Rs 100.
 
.
Joe Shearer said:
I'm naming places and not getting into lyrical descriptions; you can add that from blogs, from travel guides (Lonely Planet is good) and whatever other sources you want to scrounge around in.

  1. You can start by travelling up to Coonoor and Ooty off Coimbatore, and that gets you a growing Tamil Nadu and its industrial look and feel, high points of the hill ranges around Ooty, with Coonoor as a bonus, and Mudumalai for wildlife (Bandipur is an extension of this forest, just across the border in Karnataka).
  2. If you are interested in history, you can take a ride in a hired car up to the Palghat Gap, that was for centuries the route from the Arabian Sea coast in Kerala, from the entrepot in Calicut (Kozhikode) across to Poompuhar on the Bay of Bengal, avoiding the very long stretch around the island of Sri Lanka. There's not much to see or to do, but when I went there, it was a thrilling moment, thinking of the huge importance of that little dip in the hills and its impact on international trade and commerce through centuries, millennia.
  3. Back to Coimbatore and you have two choices: along the road route to Kodai, and more mountain scenery, good food and clean, fresh air. The distance is about 180 kms, about three hours worth of driving in a travel service taxi.
  4. Down from Kodai, you head to Madurai. Another 3 hours away by road. The great temple is solemnly quiet, and there is a genuine something about it that gets to even agnostics such as I. There are good places to stay, as there are in Ooty and Coimbatore and Kodai, and you can chill out, soak in the temple, and eat. If you like Tamil food, this is the place.
  5. Madurai is a good place to reach out in different directions:
    1. To Courttalam and Papanasam off the little temple town of Tirunelveli;
    2. To Cape Comorin (Kanyakumari) where you have to camp overnight to watch the dawn; the main attraction is the multi-splendoured beach;
    3. To Setu Rameswaram, just to see for yourself the former land-bridge to Sri Lanka that the bhakts now insist was built by Sri Rama; at the tip, you're less than a 100 miles from Jaffna;
    4. To Tuticorin, but unless you're big time into shipping, you won't know what to do once you get there;
    5. To home stays in Chettinad, where you get Chettinad cuisine firing on all eight cylinders;
  6. That brings you to the end of Madurai as a hub, and now you have to decide between Trichy and Tanjore for the next hub. Personally I recommend Tanjore, staying at the river lodge on the Kaveri, and getting to see a half-dozen sights and a zillion temples:
    1. Vedaranyam, for the birds (actually at Point Calimere, that is the cockspur on the Coromandel Coast);
    2. The quaint and very restful Tranquebar, which now revels in the original Thamizh name of Tharangambadi. You go through an archway into the very few houses left of the Danish settlement of Tranquebar. Two old dwelling places still exist; you can stay at the exotic Residency and go and visit the Danish Fort, which is now a Museum. There was an exquisite little temple just to the left of the Residency as you look out to sea, but that crumbled and vanished over a few years; all appeals to various people and authorities were pointless. I think I still have a few pictures of it, still intact but obviously about to crumble and sink into the sea;
    3. For temple freaks and architecture enthusiasts, and those who like to winkle out details of the ethnography of the TamBrahm, the next set of derrings do has to be the incredible complex of temples around Kumbakonam. When I first came down south, my Mum (born and brought up there) warned me not to match wits with two sorts - Palghat Iyers, and the even more lethal Kumbakonam Iyengars. Warned ahead of trouble, I survived all my several stints in Chennai. This is the Kumbakonam of the temple elephant namam case, which was in court for over thirty years; look it up, it's real, and you'll split your sides laughing. You will also learn that vital ethnographic signal, how to distinguish a Vadagalai Iyengar from a Thengalai.
    4. Just across from Kumbakonam is the mysterious and awesome temple of Chidambaram. Even or a rational agnostic, a visit to that temple at midnight, when everything is shut down and not a soul is around, is an eerie experience.
    5. Tanjore itself is pretty thrilling temple wise, and to see the Maratha palace.
    6. I recommend doing Trichy and the stupendous Rock Fort temple first and go to Pondicherry from there. Sadly, most foreigners and northerners fall for the visual drama of the rock fort temple, and forget to do the Big One, the Srirangam temple. We were there at Vaikuntha Ekadasi once, early enough for the tourists not to have got there, and heard the singing from ten feet away, and it was sublime. Be warned that its a fundoo place and not much fun if you aren't a Hindu. I was walking into our caste deity Dhanvantari's little temple-let, when two baby priests decided to throw their weight around and got sceptical about my beard and lack of ear-piercing, and things were a little unpleasant until two older priests came and sorted things out and got both sides to back off.
  7. Pondicherry needs no introduction. Don't forget to try every eatery in the White Town, and don't forget to stay some of the time in the town, the rest of the time outside, in a beach resort. Some of us like Auroville; it leaves me cold.
  8. Almost the end, the second last stop: do Mahabs. It's fun and you get your fair share of touristy trinkets and more. More good food, a close look at the oldest temples in India (outside the ones cut into the original rock) and nice beaches.
  9. ...and you land up back at Chennai.
That's it then, Tamil Nadu in Nine Little Steps.
Click to expand...
thanks for the comprehensive itinerary... will try some of the places next time especially the quiet ones like the night temple visit.. sounds interesting.
 
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