CityThemes:CultureFoodHeritageSpiritual
Tamil Nadu
Chennai
Filter coffee, Carnatic ragas and a thirteen-kilometre beach
- Ideal stay
- 3 days
- Best time
- November to February
State · South India
Tamil Nadu
राज्यदक्षिण भारत
Chola bronzes, gopuram skylines and filter coffee at six
The place
Travelling in Tamil Nadu
परिचय
Tamil Nadu keeps a temple tradition unbroken for fifteen centuries: Mamallapuram's shore rock cuts, Thanjavur's Chola vimana, and Madurai's Meenakshi temple with its painted gopurams. Beyond them lie Nilgiri tea slopes, Chettinad mansions, Kanyakumari's three seas, and a Margazhi music season that fills Chennai every December.
Tamil Nadu's temples are not museums; they are the busiest buildings in every town. At Mamallapuram the Pallavas carved the Shore Temple and the Pancha Rathas out of granite outcrops in the seventh century, along with the great relief usually called Arjuna's Penance. The Cholas raised the Brihadisvara at Thanjavur in 1010, its 66-metre vimana still the tallest of its kind, and their bronzes in the Thanjavur and Chennai galleries remain the high point of Indian metal casting. Madurai's Meenakshi Amman temple has fourteen gopurams covered in painted figures, and closes each night with the god carried to the goddess's chamber. Srirangam near Tiruchirappalli is the largest working temple complex in the world. Away from stone, the Nilgiris hold Ooty, Coonoor and the World Heritage mountain railway that climbs on a rack; Chettinad's merchant mansions use Burmese teak and Athangudi tiles; and Kanyakumari watches the sun set and rise over three seas. Signature journeys run Chennai, Mamallapuram, Thanjavur, Madurai and the Nilgiris.
What it is famous for
Tamil Nadu, in three lists
पहचान
Famous for
- Meenakshi Amman Temple
- Brihadisvara Temple at Thanjavur
- Mamallapuram monuments
- Nilgiri Mountain Railway
- Chettinad mansions
- Kanyakumari
- Margazhi music season
On the table
- Idli with sambar
- Chettinad pepper chicken
- Kothu parotta
- Meen kuzhambu
- Filter kaapi
- Jigarthanda
- Adhirasam
Through the year
- Pongal
- Madurai Chithirai Thiruvizha
- Karthigai Deepam at Tiruvannamalai
- Chennai Margazhi season
- Natyanjali at Chidambaram
10 places we travel to
Places to visit in Tamil Nadu
गंतव्य
Every Tamil Nadu destination we plan journeys around, with the best months and the ideal stay for each.
City
HeritageThemes:HeritageFoodCultureOffbeat
Tamil Nadu
Chettinad
Merchant mansions, Athangudi tiles and India's boldest curries
- Ideal stay
- 2 days
- Best time
- November to February
BeachThemes:SpiritualNaturePhotographyFamily
Tamil Nadu
Kanyakumari
Where three seas meet and the sun rises and sets
- Ideal stay
- 2 days
- Best time
- October to February; the Chitra Pournami full moon in April brings sunset and moonrise together
Hill stationThemes:NatureRomanceFamilyPhotography
Tamil Nadu
Kodaikanal
Shola forests, a star-shaped lake and cliff-edge walks
- Ideal stay
- 2 days
- Best time
- October to May
TempleThemes:SpiritualCultureFoodHeritage
Tamil Nadu
Madurai
Temple city that has not slept for two millennia
- Ideal stay
- 2 days
- Best time
- October to March; April brings the Chithirai festival and Meenakshi's celestial wedding
HeritageThemes:HeritageCulturePhotographyFamily
Tamil Nadu
Mahabalipuram
Pallava seaport carved into granite beside the surf
- Ideal stay
- 2 days
- Best time
- November to February; December and January add the open-air Mamallapuram dance festival
Hill stationThemes:NatureRomanceFamilyPhotography
Tamil Nadu
Ooty
Blue Mountain tea slopes, shola forest and a rack railway
- Ideal stay
- 3 days
- Best time
- March to June for clear mountain weather
TempleThemes:SpiritualHeritagePhotography
TempleThemes:HeritageSpiritualCulturePhotography
Tamil Nadu
Thanjavur
Chola capital of bronze, granite and the Brihadisvara vimana
- Ideal stay
- 2 days
- Best time
- November to February
TempleThemes:SpiritualCultureWellness
Tamil Nadu
Tiruvannamalai
A hill of fire, a girivalam road and Ramana's cave
- Ideal stay
- 2 days
- Best time
- November to February; the Karthigai Deepam beacon is lit in November or December
Tamil Nadu tour packages
Journeys through Tamil Nadu
यात्राएँ
3 of our routes pass through Tamil Nadu. Each one is a starting point — tell us your days and we reshape it.
10 days · 9 nightsThemes:SpiritualHeritageCulture
Easy · Best Nov–Mar
Tamil Nadu Temple Trail
Ten days of Pallava granite, Chola bronze and Nayak gopurams, Chennai to Kanyakumari
Route: Chennai → Mahabalipuram → Pondicherry → Thanjavur +3 more
- Group
- 2–12 (private)
- From
- ₹89,000 pp
18 days · 17 nightsThemes:HeritageSpiritualCulture
Moderate · Best Oct–Nov
Kanyakumari to Kashmir: The Grand Trunk
Eighteen days up the spine of India, from the cape to the valley
Route: Kanyakumari → Madurai → Hampi → Hyderabad +6 more
- Group
- 2–8 (private)
- From
- ₹2,15,000 pp
21 days · 20 nightsThemes:HeritageCultureFood
Moderate · Best Nov–Feb
Grand India Odyssey: Delhi to the Coromandel Coast
Three weeks down the whole length of India, Delhi to Chennai
Route: Delhi → Agra → Jaipur → Udaipur +6 more
- Group
- 2–8 (private)
- From
- ₹2,45,000 pp
Time it right
Tamil Nadu festivals
त्योहार
Jan14–17 January. Pongal follows the sun rather than the moon, so it lands on the same dates almost every year, when the sun enters Makara and the Tamil month of Thai begins.
Pongal
Tamil Nadu's four-day harvest festival, tied to the solar calendar rather than the lunar one. Milk and new rice boil over in fresh clay pots, rice-flour kolams cover every doorstep, cattle are painted and garlanded, and the jallikattu bulls run at Alanganallur near Madurai.
Tamil Nadu · Puducherry
Eat here
What to eat in Tamil Nadu
खानपान
Non-vegTamil Nadu
Chettinad Chicken
Chicken cooked in a Chettiar masala of black pepper, fennel, star anise and kalpasi, the dark stone flower lichen that gives it a smoky edge. It is peppery rather than chilli-hot. Eat it in the mansion towns of Karaikudi and Kanadukathan with dosai, idiyappam or plain rice and a spoon of ghee.
DrinkTamil Nadu
South Indian Filter Coffee
Coffee decoction dripped slowly through a two-part steel filter, mixed with boiled milk and sugar, then pulled between a tumbler and davara until it froths and cools enough to drink. Order it degree kaapi at Rayar Mess in Mylapore or any Chennai mess at six in the morning, and drink it fast.
5 more in South India
Next door in South India
पड़ोसी राज्य
StateSouth India
Andhra Pradesh
Tirumala pilgrims, Godavari deltas and Rayalaseema's red gorges
- Capital
- Amaravati
- Destinations
- 4
StateSouth India
Karnataka
Hampi's boulders, Hoysala stone and coffee-scented Western Ghats
- Capital
- Bengaluru
- Destinations
- 10
StateSouth India
Kerala
Backwater houseboats, tea slopes and temple drums at dawn
- Capital
- Thiruvananthapuram
- Destinations
- 10
State
Union territorySouth India
Puducherry
French streets, Tamil temples and Auroville's golden sphere
- Capital
- Puducherry
- Destinations
- 1