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The Travel Edit
South India
Coastlines, temple towns, green hills and a slower rhythm.
From the backwaters and tea hills of Kerala to the temple cities of Tamil Nadu, the ruins of Hampi, the old city of Hyderabad and the French-era streets of Puducherry, South India is five states and a union territory, each with its own languages, food and pace. These guides help you choose where to go, how to get around and when to travel.
Different landscapes.
The same sense of wonder.
Find your kind of trip
Explore the destinations
Five states and a union territory, each with its own landscapes, stories and ways of life. Start with a destination, then follow the guide into its places.
Two coasts, one long peninsula.
Puducherry
Union territory. The French-era streets of White Town, the seafront promenade and nearby Auroville.
LegendState: Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, TelanganaUnion territory: Puducherry, in four separate districts (Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam)
Choose by what you want
Backwaters and coast
Houseboats and canoes on the Kerala backwaters, the cliffs of Varkala and the beach road of Visakhapatnam. Best from October to March.
Tea and coffee hills
Munnar in Kerala, Kodagu and Chikkamagaluru in Karnataka, the Nilgiris and the Araku Valley. Cool when the plains are hot.
Temple towns
The Pallava carvings of Mahabalipuram, the living temple city of Madurai, the Chola temples of Tamil Nadu and the Kakatiya temples of Telangana.
Ruined capitals and palaces
Hampi, the royal city of Mysuru and the Qutb Shahi forts and tombs of Hyderabad.
Food
Hyderabadi biryani, Kerala sadya, Chettinad cooking and a proper filter coffee. Our state-by-state food guide explains what to look for.
Old ports and colonial quarters
The French-era White Town and Tamil Quarter of Puducherry, a union territory, with a day in Auroville; and the Portuguese and Dutch past of Fort Kochi.
How to plan a South India trip: regions, gateways and pacing
Find your kind of trip
Browse by travel mood
Six ways into the region, each linking to the guides and stories that fit.
Featured story · Kerala
A slow day in Fort Kochi and Mattancherry
Fishing nets, Portuguese churches, palace murals and the oldest active synagogue in the Commonwealth, in one unhurried day.
Latest from South India
Andhra Pradesh
Visakhapatnam and the Araku Valley
Plan a little better
Before you go
Practical starting points for a short break or a longer journey.
Two monsoons, two coasts: check the season.
When to visit
Two monsoons reach the two coasts at different times. Compare the coast, the hills and the Deccan month by month.
Getting around
Trains, flights, state buses, Kerala’s ferries and the Nilgiri mountain railway, with rough journey times.
Food and etiquette
What to eat in each state, how to eat a banana-leaf meal and how to dress for temples, mosques and churches.
Build your itinerary
Four suggested routes, from a week in Kerala to two weeks from Chennai to Kochi.
The Lifelately Travel Guides
Good trips begin with good plans.
Digital guides with routes, day-by-day plans and the practical details that make a trip easier. Our South India guides are still being written, so none are on sale yet.
We will only list a guide once it is finished and checkout works.
Lifelately Travel Guide
Kerala, slowly
Backwaters, tea hills and the old port of Kochi
In the Works
Lifelately Travel Guide
The temple trail
Mahabalipuram to Madurai, with Puducherry
In the Works
Lifelately Travel Guide
Karnataka
Palaces, coffee country and Hampi
In the Works
The Lifelately Edit
Ways into South India
Editor’s picks drawn from our own guides and stories.
From the travel journal
Stories from the road
Original Lifelately guides, researched and written for planning a real trip.
Karnataka
Hampi: how to explore the ruins of Vijayanagara
The Virupaksha and Vittala temples, the Royal Centre and the boulder hills of the Tungabhadra.
Kerala
Munnar’s tea country
Tea estates, the Nilgiri tahr of Eravikulam and the slow hill roads to Top Station.
Karnataka
Mysuru beyond the palace
The palace by day and lit at night, Dasara, Devaraja Market and Srirangapatna.
Image credits · Via Unsplash, under the Unsplash License: Faraz Ghori (Varkala), Melissa Kumaresan (Meenakshi Amman Temple), P Mantha (Hampi), Ravi Pinisetti (Munnar), Brijender Dua (Shore Temple), Abdullah Azeez (Mysore Palace; White Town, Puducherry), Kaushik Dey (Araku Valley), Its me Pravin (Charminar). Via Pexels, under the Pexels License: Ravi Kant (Kerala backwaters), Gladin Joseph (chai, Alappuzha), Akshata Bablad (filter coffee). Via the WordPress Photo Directory, CC0: Jose Varghese (Fort Kochi fishing nets), Makarand Mane (Vittala Temple, Hampi). Stock images, not the author’s own. Map drawn by Lifelately from DataMeet India state boundaries (CC BY 4.0).
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