How to Reach South India

Goa

Goa is a state rather than a town, and its coast runs about a hundred kilometres — where you stay decides which Goa you get, and a car is what joins the two ends of it.

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Karnataka

Gokarna is a temple town on the Karnataka coast whose beaches are strung south of it along the headlands — the town and the sand are two different places, and only one has a road to it.

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Karnataka

Murudeshwar is a temple town on a headland in the Arabian Sea, and the statue on it is visible from the highway long before you arrive.

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Puducherry

Pondicherry is a former French territory on the Coromandel coast, and the part people come for is a grid of streets a few blocks deep behind the seafront.

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Tamil Nadu

Mahabalipuram is an hour down the coast from Chennai, and its monuments are a UNESCO group carved out of the granite where it stands rather than built on it.

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Tamil Nadu

Kanyakumari is the southern tip of the Indian mainland, where three seas meet, and the reason to be there is what happens at the horizon at either end of the day.

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Tamil Nadu

Ooty sits at about 2,240 m in the Nilgiris, and there is no mainline station at the top — however you come, the last stretch is a climb.

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Karnataka

Coorg is a district rather than a town — Madikeri is its centre, and most of what people come for is spread across the hills around it, so a car is the practical way to see it.

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Kerala

Munnar is tea country in the Western Ghats, about 1,600 m up, reached by a climb from whichever side you approach.

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Tamil Nadu

Kodaikanal is a hill station around 2,100 m in the Palani hills, built around its lake and reached by a long climb from the plains.

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Kerala

Wayanad is a district of hills and plantations in northern Kerala, entered through one of the ghat roads, with its sights spread out rather than gathered in a town.

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Karnataka

Hampi is the ruined capital of Vijayanagara, spread over a boulder landscape on the Tungabhadra — a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a large one to cover on foot.

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Kerala

Thekkady is the settlement at the edge of the Periyar reserve, in the hills near the Tamil Nadu border, and is reached by road only.

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Kerala

Alleppey — Alappuzha — is the backwater town on the Kerala coast, where the houseboats start and where the canals run through the town itself.

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Karnataka

Chikmagalur is coffee country below the Baba Budangiri range, and the town is a base for the hills rather than the destination itself.

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Tamil Nadu

Rameswaram is an island town reached across the Pamban bridge, and one of the Char Dham — a pilgrimage town first and a coastal one second.

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Andhra Pradesh

Tirupati is the town below Tirumala, where the Venkateswara temple stands on the hill — one of the most visited places of worship anywhere, and busy accordingly.

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Kerala

Guruvayur is a temple town in Thrissur district, built around the Krishna temple, and most visits are arranged around its darshan times.

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Karnataka

Mysuru is a city rather than a retreat — the palace, the hill and the gardens are all inside or beside it, which makes it one of the easier trips from Bengaluru.

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