Holidays in Southern India

Serene, scenic and slowed down to a snail’s pace – that’s the vibe on our South India holidays exploring the Kerala backwaters on houseboats. In Alappuzha, the Kerala coast divides into a labyrinth of waterways lined with little farming villages. You can cruise around at your leisure, stopping to wander a bird sanctuary here, a coconut plantation there, or perhaps set off for a bike ride along the banks.

The most popular way to explore the Kerala backwaters is on a houseboat. Opt for at least two or three nights, to escape the busiest stretches and reach villages that see far fewer tourists. Or hop into a kayak, and you can paddle along narrow backwaters that most boats would balk at.

Typical of our South India tours in the Kerala backwaters is a kettuvallam, a traditional rice barge. They come in different sizes, some carrying just two passengers and three crew, including a guide who also acts as chef. The food you’ll eat onboard will be sourced locally from villages and markets along the way, so that agricultural communities benefit financially from tourism. Fish might even have been caught that day, while don’t be surprised if your chef is using recipes handed down through their own family for generations.

The Western Ghats unfurling along Kerala’s western edge are prime trekking territory with their diverse landscapes from grasslands and cloud forests at higher elevations, to plains and rainforest further down. On our South India tours you’ll walk through fields of fragrant cardamon, over hills blanketed with deep-green tea plantations, and around lakes where elephants come down in the evening to drink, carefully watched by villagers jealous of their crops. Guides, drawn from local communities, know the area well. They can tell you the significance of a particular plant you pass, or identify a bird call, or find a tea stall tucked down a side route. If you want to experience South India well away from the more touristy areas, to encounter animals that are curious, not fearful of humans because they see so few of us, to eat meals that have been prepared using ingredients from the villages and fields you pass along the way – go on foot.

Cyclists will find plenty to love among our South India tours with some spectacular itineraries that offer camaraderie, sublime scenery, and the occasional bit of challenge. You might go coast to coast, starting in Tamil Nadu’s Chennai and finishing two weeks later in Cochin, a 700km route covered in around nine cycling days with plenty of stops to rest and explore. Or you can cycle through the Western Ghats foothills and hill stations, down to the Kerala coast and Thekkady forests, or through Tamil Nadu’s remote villages.

Our escorted small group tours are a brilliant way to explore South India. We work with local guides who have practically grown up in the saddle, and consequently know the best routes like the backs of their hands. There are also well-crafted tailor made trips if you prefer to follow your own schedule, and if you’d prefer the ease of an electric bike, just ask.

Cycling immerses you in rural communities, spreading the economic benefits of tourism well beyond the regular tourist beat. Stop off for a cheeky masala dosa at a roadside stall, soothe tired muscles with an Ayurvedic massage in a Keralan seaside cottage, and fill your saddlebags with locally grown tea and spices. Life slips gently into a lower gear with our South India holidays.

South India is wonderfully connected by trains and rail travel is so good these days that we have some fab tailor made holidays in South India using mostly trains to get around. It is great way to take in the Karnataka coast, for example, or travel between Mysore and Madurai on a sleeper train. Other memorable Tamil Nadu rail journeys include travelling from the cultural highlights of Thanjavur out to the coastal ones at Puducherry. The Nilgiri Mountain Railway, running through the Western Ghats from Ooty to Coonoor in Tamil Nadu, is a classic. And for a longer journey by rail taking in the south, start in Kolkata and end up in Cochin, the southern leg starting in Goa.

Train travel here isn’t just convenient and scenic. It’s also a wonderful cultural experience. Our South India holidays let you rub shoulders with people going about their daily lives, whether commuting to work, taking the family to a wedding, or off on their own holidays. During a typical South India tour by rail you would stay in a mix of hotels and homestays, perhaps with the occasional overnight train. All of the accommodation is run by local owners with an interest in protecting the environment so you can expect to find waste recycling, solar water heating and energy conservation in action.

The accommodation is always a highlight of our South India tours, and in Kerala especially there’s no finer way to meet local people and get to know their culture than by staying with them in their own homes. Homestays are also a fantastic way for community tourism to develop in often rural areas, increasing trade for local producers, guides and restaurants.

On a two-week trip you could stay in as many as six private residences. Sometimes you’ll stay in your hosts’ own home, sometimes in a separate building but in the same grounds. Think of them as like a bed and breakfast (and the breakfast will be excellent) with an added dose of culture. So you may be invited to take part in a cookery lesson in the family kitchen or taken out to a local performance of Indian classical dance, or martial arts. And of course, when it comes to things to do during the days and places to eat, there’s no one better placed to advise you.