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Chaufyr
A temple gopuram in the Kaveri delta

Circuits

Planned around the temples,
not around the map.

Anyone can drive you between nine shrines. The value is in knowing which ones close at half past twelve, which have a kilometre of walking between the car park and the sanctum, and which are worth reaching before the coaches do.

Two days · about 320 km

The Navagraha nine

Nine shrines to the nine planetary deities, scattered across the delta around Kumbakonam. It is a genuinely demanding circuit — the driving between them is the easy part, and every shrine closes for three and a half hours in the middle of the day.

We build the two days around those closures rather than against them: the long drives happen while the shrines are shut, and the car is air-conditioned and waiting when they are not. Most families do Suryanar Kovil, Kanjanur, Vaitheeswaran Kovil and Thiruvenkadu on the first day; Alangudi, Thirunageswaram, Thirunallar, Keezhperumpallam and Thingaloor on the second.

Elderly guests: several of these shrines involve a long walk from the nearest vehicle access. Tell us and we will plan the drops accordingly.

Plan this circuit

One day · about 320 km return

Velankanni and the coast

The Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health, three hours east of the airport on the Coromandel coast, with the Nagore dargah on the road in.

Comfortable as a single long day from Trichy, or as an overnight if you want the morning mass. During the September festival the roads and the town both tighten considerably, and we cap the number of cars we commit to that fortnight so that the ones we do commit actually arrive on time.

Frequently combined with Thanjavur or Kumbakonam on the way back.

Plan this circuit

One or two days · about 270 km return

Madurai and the Meenakshi temple

Two and a half hours south on good highway to one of the great temple cities of India, and the evening ceremony that is worth planning the whole day around.

Leaving Trichy by three in the afternoon usually makes the evening ceremony. Guests who want the temple properly — the thousand-pillar hall, the Pudhu Mandapam, the tank — should take two days rather than one, and we will hold the car overnight.

Often extended to Rameswaram, which is a further four hours south-east.

Plan this circuit

Something else in mind?

Chettinad mansions, the Kodaikanal ghat road, a family temple nobody has heard of that your grandmother insists on. Tell us the places and the dates and we will build the days around them.

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