We planned for a 7 days trip to South India, particularly to visit Madurai, Rameswaram, Kerala, and Kodaikanal. The plan was started two months back when my mother, who is around 75 years old, wanted to visit Rameswaram - one of the Four Dhams in India. The four Dhams are Badrinath, Dwarka, Puri, and Rameswaram. Every Hindu wants to visit the Char Dhams during one's lifetime. She has already visited two dhams like Puri and Dwarka. Now we plan to visit Rameswaram.
It was August when I found there are a couple of holidays
like Raksha Bandhan, Janmasthami, and Independence Day. I planned to bundle these
holidays along with Saturday and Sunday for a 7 days trip. The plan was to start
the journey by train from Pune. Since we are visiting temple darshan, Madurai
is the direct and first stop for us. I searched a lot to understand the places
to visit in Madurai but did not find the right answer that satisfies my queries.
I will discuss the places I visited in Madurai and other places. It will help the
upcoming tourist to take a decision to visit those places well prepared before
even starting planning for the trip.
We planned our tour from Madurai. For Madurai, we planned to
stay only one day, since I did not find much to visit there from a web search.
One day was planned for Rameswaram and One day for Kanyakumari. Since Kerala
was near Kanyakumari, I planned to visit Padmanav Temple at Trivandrum. So kept
one day for Kerala visit.
Now, I thought if I am traveling to the end of India, let me
try some hill stations there. But I was in a dilemma between Kodaikanal and Munnar.
Both are beautiful hill stations and have their respective unique features. However,
I decided to visit Kodaikanal due to its proximity to Madurai, from where I started
my return journey.
Finally, it was a nice trip of 7 days. I enjoyed it thoroughly.
The best part of the tour was the timing. August month considered off-season in
South India and hence traffic was less. Subsequently, fewer queues in temples
for Darshan and lower prices for hotels and vehicles. It was really easy for me
to enjoy except for the hot climate of the region. However, I am not advising you
to visit in the off-season, but that saves a lot of time and money. If one can
afford the hot climate of the South Indian region just after the rainy season,
it is good to visit. Hill stations are really beautiful after the rainy season
and sometimes you can find the top of the hill station without even bothering
about the fog around.
I will discuss the details of my trip to each place
individually, the challenges I faced there and the spots that I witnessed or
visited. This is exciting to share one’s own experience to help visitors. Let
us continue.
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