South India/Tamil Nadu Tour in 2017!

I trust you've had restful holidays and made sensible New Year resolutions like will eat more chocolate, will suffer fools less gladly, will go to South India with Peta...
 
India is such a vast and varied country, and many of my India gastronomads have expressed an interest in returning.  The result of my recce, much research, kind connections and the sight of all those luxury hotels is my first South India / Tamil Nadu tour 14 – 25 January 2017.

This tour is 11 nights with no internal flights. All travel between the four destinations is by luxury bus. I can take a maximum of fourteen gastronomads and our wonderful tour manager Diggi from Rajasthan will be joining us. We meet you at Chennai Airport and escort you to the Taj Fisherman’s Cove Hotel for drinks and our welcome dinner – from then on you are in our hands. We overnight in Chennai then head down to the Bohemian-chic French-influenced Independent Union Territory of Pondicherry. From there we drive inland to Chettinad – famous for its cuisine and palatial 19th century mansions. Following that we visit Madurai, a lively, busy temple city considered to be the soul of Tamil Nadu. Our last three nights are spent in the heavenly tranquility of Rajakkad Estate in the Western Ghats – drinking coffee straight from the estate, bird watching and picnicking by waterfalls. After breakfast on the last day we deliver you back to Madurai Airport. 

My Tamil Nadu tour is all about heart-stoppingly beautiful Hindu temples, rich spicy tantalising food, silk textiles, French influenced cuisine in Pondicherry and cool relaxing coffee and spice hill plantations in the interior. The best time to visit is January, it will still be hot but not desperately so. In terms of cuisine think yoghurt, tamarind, lots of vegetables, pomegranates, feasts on banana leaves, black pepper chicken, fish curry, coconut pancakes and smashing sour chutneys. They drink their coffee with milk, sugar and chicory and are very into yoga and meditation, in which we will partake.

So what are you waiting for??! Get in touch via the website if you'd like to see the tour schedule. First in, best dressed!! 

Peta