Tamil Nadu Temple Trail

Met at Chennai airport and driven to the hotel. Begin at the Government Museum on Pantheon Road, whose bronze gallery holds the finest Chola castings anywhere, including the Nataraja and the half-male, half-female Ardhanarishvara. Walk Mylapore in the late afternoon: the tank, the flower sellers and the Vijayanagara-era gopuram of Kapaleeshwarar. Degree coffee at a Mylapore mess, then the long grey sand of Marina Beach at sunset.

Drive 58 km down the East Coast Road, about ninety minutes, past salt pans and the Cholamandal Artists' Village. Mahabalipuram is Pallava sculpture in the open air: five monolithic rathas cut from single boulders, a 27-metre bas-relief of the Descent of the Ganges with its lifesize elephants, the Varaha cave, and the twin-spired Shore Temple of about 700 CE, salted by spray ever since. Late afternoon among the stone carvers on Othavadai Street.

Continue 95 km south on the ECR, roughly two hours, with a stop at the ruined Dutch fort at Sadras. Pondicherry's White Town is a grid of ochre walls, bougainvillea and street signs still in French. Walk Rue Dumas and Rue Suffren, sit through the six o'clock meditation at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram samadhi, then take the Promenade once it closes to traffic. Dinner is Creole-French, perhaps a fish moilee.

Morning at Auroville, 12 km north, founded in 1968 by Mirra Alfassa: the Matrimandir seen from the amphitheatre beside the old banyan, with inner-chamber passes booked a day ahead. Lunch at a farm cafe in the greenbelt. Afternoon by boat to Paradise Beach at Chunnambar, or a bicycle loop through Tamil Town for the temple elephant at Manakula Vinayagar and the Gothic windows of the Sacred Heart basilica.

A long, rewarding 190 km, about five hours with stops. First Chidambaram, where Shiva dances as Nataraja under a gold roof and the sanctum keeps the Chidambara Rahasyam, an empty space behind a curtain. Then Gangaikonda Cholapuram, Rajendra I's answer of 1035 to his father's temple, its lions and Nandi facing an empty field. Finally Darasuram's Airavatesvara with its stone chariot wheels. Thanjavur by nightfall.

Be at Brihadisvara Temple by seven, before the granite courtyard gets too hot for bare feet. Rajaraja I finished it in 1010; its 66-metre vimana is still the tallest of its kind and the monolithic Nandi facing it is close to five metres long. Afterwards the Maratha palace complex: palm-leaf manuscripts in the Saraswathi Mahal Library, more Chola bronzes in the art gallery. Afternoon with a veena maker or a Thanjavur painting studio laying gold foil.

West to Tiruchirappalli, 55 km, for Srirangam: seven concentric walls, twenty-one gopurams and the 72-metre Rajagopuram, the largest working temple complex in India. Climb part of the Rockfort's 417 rock-cut steps for the Kaveri view. Continue 135 km to Madurai, timed for the 9.30 pm palliyarai, when Sundareswarar is carried in a palanquin to Meenakshi's bedchamber behind drums and a nadaswaram.

Enter Meenakshi Amman Temple early by the east gopuram: the Golden Lotus tank, the Hall of a Thousand Pillars with columns that ring when struck, and fourteen towers crusted in repainted figures, the southern one 52 metres high. Later, the 1636 colonnade of Thirumalai Nayakkar Mahal, the Gandhi Memorial Museum, and the tailors of Puthu Mandapam. Cool off with jigarthanda, the almond-gum and ice-cream drink Madurai drinks all summer.

170 km east, about four hours, ending on the Pamban crossing where the sea turns turquoise on both sides beside the 1914 rail bridge and its new vertical-lift replacement. At Ramanathaswamy Temple walk the third corridor, the longest in any Indian temple, and if you wish take the ritual bath at all twenty-two theerthams, a bucket of well water poured over you at each. Late afternoon at Dhanushkodi, emptied by the 1964 cyclone.

A 300-km, six-hour run through Ramanathapuram and the salt flats near Thoothukudi to Kanyakumari, where the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean meet at one headland. Ferry across to the Vivekananda Rock Memorial, look up at the 40-metre Thiruvalluvar statue, then take the sunset from the shore before the 90 km transfer to Thiruvananthapuram for the flight home.