Golden Chariot Jewels of South with Pondicherry

Day 1 Arrival in Chennai on the Bay of Bengal

Our representative meets you at Chennai International Airport, south of the city, and drives you to a luxury hotel in about 30 to 45 minutes. Many flights from Europe and the Gulf land late at night or around dawn, so you can rest first and keep the sightseeing for the afternoon. Chennai, the former Madras, is the capital of Tamil Nadu and one of India's oldest colonial cities, founded as an English trading post in the seventeenth century. It is warm all year, around 29 to 31 degrees Celsius in the winter months, with humid air off the sea.

After lunch, your private guide takes you to Fort St. George, the first English fortress in India, where St. Mary's Church is the oldest Anglican church east of Suez and the small fort museum holds old coins, uniforms and portraits. From there you drive to Mylapore, the oldest neighborhood in the city, to see Kapaleeshwarar Temple, dedicated to Shiva, with a gateway tower crowded with painted figures. Shoes are left outside, and light clothing that covers the shoulders and knees is the right choice for temple visits.

Late afternoon is the best time for the San Thome Basilica, a white neo-Gothic church built over the tomb traditionally associated with Saint Thomas the Apostle. A short drive along Marina Beach, one of the longest urban beaches in the world, shows families flying kites and vendors selling roasted corn and green mangoes with chili. Swimming is not safe here because of strong currents, so enjoy it on foot. Dinner can be at your hotel or at a restaurant serving Chettinad and coastal Tamil dishes.

Day 2 East Coast Road to Pondicherry

After breakfast, set off south along the East Coast Road, which runs parallel to the sea through fishing villages, casuarina groves and salt pans. The drive to Pondicherry covers about 150 kilometers and takes roughly three hours with stops. Your first stop, a short way out of the city, is DakshinaChitra, a living museum where traditional houses from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have been dismantled and rebuilt, with potters, weavers and puppeteers at work. Allow about an hour and a half, as the houses are spread across a shaded campus.

We deliberately skip Mahabalipuram today, since the train takes you there later in the week. Instead the driver can pause at a quiet beach for coffee from a flask, or at Crocodile Bank, a conservation center run by the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust that holds many species of crocodiles and turtles. Lunch is at a seafood restaurant along the road. The scenery shifts slowly as you go south, with backwater lagoons on one side and glimpses of fishing boats pulled up on the sand on the other.

You reach Pondicherry in the afternoon and check in to a heritage hotel in the French quarter, known locally as White Town. Pondicherry was the main French settlement in India for close to three centuries, until the mid-twentieth century, and the quarter still feels distinct: clean streets in a neat grid, high walls painted yellow and white, shuttered windows and French signs. As the sun drops, walk the sea-front promenade, Goubert Avenue, which is closed to traffic in the evening and fills with families, joggers and couples.

Day 3 Pondicherry Quarters and Auroville

Start early with a guided walk through the French quarter while the air is still cool. Your guide shows you the Church of Our Lady of Angels, the French consulate, the old lighthouse and Bharathi Park with its white colonial monument, then crosses the canal into the Tamil quarter, where houses have deep front verandas and carved wooden pillars. The contrast between the two halves of the town tells the story of a place where French and Tamil culture existed side by side. Stop for coffee and a croissant at a bakery on the way.

Late morning, drive about 20 minutes north to Auroville, an experimental township founded in the late twentieth century with the aim of a community beyond nationality and creed. A short film at the visitor center explains its ideas, and a garden path leads to the viewing point for the Matrimandir, a giant golden sphere surrounded by gardens. Entry to the inner chamber is limited and must be booked in person well ahead, so most guests see it from the viewpoint. The cafes and boutiques nearby sell organic food, handmade paper and incense.

The afternoon is free to rest at the hotel or browse the town. Pondicherry is known for handmade leather sandals, cotton clothing and soaps. The Sri Aurobindo Ashram in the center welcomes quiet visitors at set hours. For dinner, the French quarter has excellent restaurants mixing Tamil spices with French techniques, often in courtyards lit by candles. Try a Creole-style fish stew or a simple crepe. The evening breeze from the sea is pleasant in winter, though light rain is possible in November and early December.

Day 4 Back to Chennai and Fly to Bengaluru

After breakfast and a last walk along the promenade, your driver takes you back up the coast to Chennai airport. The direct route by the East Coast Road takes around three to three and a half hours, so we time the departure to your flight. On the way, you can stop for a South Indian lunch of crisp rice crepes, steamed rice cakes and filter coffee at a well-known roadside restaurant. Remember that liquids bought in Pondicherry, such as wine or perfume, need to go in checked bags for the flight.

The flight from Chennai to Bengaluru takes a little under an hour. Economy checked baggage on domestic routes is usually about 15 kilograms, so let us know if you need extra allowance before we book, as it is far simpler to add in advance than at the counter. At Kempegowda International Airport, our representative meets you and drives you to your luxury hotel, about an hour away depending on traffic. The temperature drops noticeably, since Bengaluru sits around 900 meters above sea level, and evenings in winter can be as cool as 15 degrees Celsius, so keep a light jacket in your hand luggage.

Use the evening to prepare for the train. The Golden Chariot asks guests to arrive with their luggage early in the morning, so repack what you need for five nights, including sandals for temple visits, a light shawl to cover shoulders, sunscreen and a hat. Bengaluru has a lively food scene, and the hotel concierge can recommend a restaurant or a microbrewery if you want to go out, though most guests choose a quiet dinner and an early night before boarding tomorrow, with the car booked for an early pickup.

Day 5 Golden Chariot Boarding and the Palace of Mysuru

Your driver brings you to Yeshwantpur station for registration at about 08:30. The Golden Chariot Jewels of South journey begins with a welcome on the platform and a quick check of passports, after which staff show you to the cabin while your bags follow. The train leaves at about 09:45, heading south-west toward Mysuru. A briefing over high tea in the lounge covers the program, the dress code for temple visits and the times for each excursion. Lunch is served on board as fields of sugar cane and coconut slide past.

The train reaches Mysuru in the afternoon, and a coach takes you to Mysuru Palace, the home of the Wadiyar dynasty. Your guide focuses on the Durbar Hall with its painted ceilings and rows of carved pillars, the Kalyana Mantapa with its peacock-patterned stained glass and the long portrait gallery of the royal family on the upper floor, where the guide explains the dynasty's history. Late afternoon is a good time to visit, as the light softens on the honey-colored stone and the crowds of day visitors begin to thin out.

Back on the train, you have time to freshen up before dinner. This is the first evening to try the spa, where Ayurvedic massages use warm herbal oils and the therapists explain each treatment. Dinner tonight leans toward Karnataka flavors, though continental choices are always available and the chefs adjust spice levels on request. The train then runs east through the night toward Chengalpattu in Tamil Nadu, a long stretch that most guests sleep through. Keep the curtains slightly open if you want to wake to the first glimpse of the Tamil plains.

Day 6 Silk City and the Shore Temple

You wake near Chengalpattu, and breakfast is served on board. At about midday an optional excursion visits Kanchipuram, one of the seven sacred cities of Hinduism and once the capital of the Pallava kings. Its skyline is a forest of temple towers, and the Kailasanathar Temple, built of sandstone in the early eighth century, is one of the oldest in South India. Kanchipuram is equally famous for heavy silk woven with gold thread, and a visit to a weaving family shows how a single piece can take weeks on a hand loom.

Lunch is back on the train, followed by an afternoon at Mahabalipuram, the Pallava port on the Bay of Bengal. The Shore Temple stands on the water's edge, its granite worn smooth by centuries of wind and salt spray, and nearby lies Arjuna's Penance, a giant relief carved into a rock face with elephants, gods, sages and a cat standing on one leg. The Five Rathas, monolithic temples each cut from a single rock, show the experiments of early South Indian architects. Wear a hat and comfortable shoes, as there is little shade.

As the heat eases, you are taken to a beachfront hotel in Mahabalipuram for dinner, with the sound of the waves close by. Seafood is usually on the menu, prepared in coastal Tamil style with tamarind and fragrant leaves. After dinner you return to the train, which sets off overnight toward Thanjavur, the old Chola heartland in the fertile Kaveri delta. Having already seen Chennai and the coast during your private days, this stretch completes the picture of Tamil Nadu's long and gracious history, from Pallava stone carvers to colonial traders.

Day 7 Thanjavur's Great Temple and Chettinad Mansions

Breakfast is served as the train pulls into Thanjavur, and at around 09:00 you set out for the Brihadeeswarar Temple, built by the Chola king Rajaraja I in the early eleventh century. Its main tower rises about 66 meters, topped by a stone capstone believed to weigh around 80 tonnes. Your guide explains the theories about how it was lifted into place and points out the giant stone bull facing the shrine. Inside the corridors, faded Chola frescoes and later paintings survive on the walls. Morning light on the granite is warm and golden.

The train then heads south toward Chettinad, and lunch is served on board. In the afternoon you reach the Karaikudi area, home of the Chettiar merchant community, who grew rich through banking and trade across Southeast Asia in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They poured their wealth into vast family mansions with Burmese teak pillars, Italian marble, Belgian glass and Japanese tiles. A guided visit inside one of these homes shows the scale of their courtyards, some large enough to host hundreds of wedding guests.

Next comes a workshop in Athangudi, where artisans make colorful cement floor tiles by hand, pouring pigments into molds on a glass plate and letting them dry in the shade. It is a simple, fascinating craft, and the tiles are often found in heritage hotels across South India. Chettinad is also famous for its fiery, aromatic cuisine, rich with black pepper and roasted spices, and dinner may introduce some of these dishes. The train continues west overnight, crossing the southern hills into Kerala while you sleep in your cabin.

Day 8 Fort Kochi and the Spice Port

You wake to a different coast: the Arabian Sea and the old port of Kochi, where traders from China, Arabia, Portugal, the Netherlands and Britain all left their mark. After breakfast on board, a coach takes you to Mattancherry Palace, a sixteenth century building often called the Dutch Palace, though it was built by the Portuguese and later renovated by the Dutch. Its murals, painted in deep reds and greens, show scenes from the Ramayana and are among the finest in Kerala. Photography is not allowed inside the palace galleries.

The tour continues through Fort Kochi, a compact quarter of colonial houses, rain trees and art cafes. A cultural performance of traditional Kerala dance is often part of the morning, with dancers in elaborate makeup and costumes. Lunch is served on board. The optional afternoon visit takes in St. Francis Church, whose floor once held the grave of the navigator Vasco da Gama before his body went home to Portugal, and the cantilevered Chinese fishing nets at the water's edge, which are lowered and lifted by teams of fishermen using counterweights of stone tied to ropes, a technique believed to have arrived with traders from China.

Early evening is the best time to stand by the fishing nets as the sun sets over the harbor, with fishermen selling the day's catch on the spot. Nearby lanes are full of antique shops, spice warehouses and galleries, and the Jewish quarter in Mattancherry has a small synagogue with hand-painted Chinese floor tiles, though it closes on Fridays and Saturdays. Kochi is humid, so cotton clothing is best. Dinner is on board, and the train moves a short way south toward Chertala, ready for tomorrow's day on the water.

Day 9 Backwaters near Alleppey

After breakfast you leave the train at Chertala, near Alleppey, and drive a short distance to the water's edge. A traditional houseboat waits for a cruise on the Kerala backwaters, a network of lagoons, rivers and canals that stretches along much of the coast. These boats were once rice barges, built of jackwood planks tied together with coconut fiber rope, and are now fitted with shaded decks and comfortable seating. You glide past paddy fields lying below the water level, palm-lined banks and villages where life happens along the canal.

Watch for kingfishers diving from the palms, herons stalking the shallows and women washing clothes or brass pots at the water's edge. Children wave from small country boats, and fishermen cast nets from narrow canoes. The pace is deliberately slow, and there is little to do except watch the scenery and enjoy a Kerala lunch served on board, often with fish fried in a spiced coconut paste, vegetables in coconut milk and red rice. Keep insect repellent and sunscreen handy, as the sun on the water is strong.

In the late afternoon you return to the Golden Chariot and have time to rest or book a final spa treatment. The farewell dinner on board is a cheerful evening, and many guests exchange contacts with fellow travelers they have met over the week. The train then begins its long overnight journey back across the hills to Bengaluru. If you would like to stay longer in Kerala instead of returning with the train, let us know in advance and we can arrange a hotel in Kumarakom and a later flight home.

Day 10 Arrival in Bengaluru and Onward Journey

Breakfast is served on board as the train approaches Bengaluru, and it arrives at Yeshwantpur station in the morning. Settle any extra bills for the spa or the bar before disembarking. The crew line up on the platform for a farewell, and our driver meets you with the car to take your luggage. Depending on your flight times, you can head straight to Kempegowda International Airport, which is about 45 minutes to an hour from the station, or to a hotel for a day room.

If your international flight leaves late at night, as many from Bengaluru do, we can arrange a half-day city tour with a private guide. Options include the Lalbagh Botanical Garden with its glass house, the summer palace of Tipu Sultan built of teak, and a walk around the historic market streets of the old city, where flower sellers trade jasmine by the kilogram. A late lunch at a contemporary Indian restaurant rounds off the day before your transfer to the airport, with the car waiting outside throughout.

Until your boarding pass is in hand, the Top Indian Holidays team, a government-recognized independent operator, can be reached at any hour of the day or night. Over ten days you have seen the French streets of Pondicherry, the royal halls of Mysuru, the temples of the Pallavas and Cholas, the mansions of Chettinad and the quiet canals of Kerala. If this has whetted your appetite for more of India, the Maharajas' Express through Rajasthan or a palace hotel stay in Udaipur would make an excellent next journey.