South India Tours & Holiday Packages from Australia

South India is the half of the country most Australians haven't been to, and often the half they end up preferring. It is greener, slower and less overwhelming than the north — temple towns rather than Mughal forts, backwaters rather than desert, coconut and curry leaf rather than cream and cardamom.

It also rewards a different kind of trip. Where North India is a circuit of famous monuments, the south is better travelled at a gentler pace, with fewer stops and longer stays. Below is what we'd tell you before you started planning.

October to March is the main season. Days are warm rather than hot, humidity is manageable and everything is open. December and January are the most comfortable weeks of the year and the busiest.

April and May turn hot and humid on the plains, though the hill stations — Munnar, Ooty, Coorg — stay pleasant and are at their most appealing precisely when everywhere else is uncomfortable.

June to September is the southwest monsoon. Most guidebooks tell you to stay away, and for temple touring they're right. But Kerala in the monsoon is a genuine specialist's season: the landscape is spectacularly green, prices drop, and it is traditionally when Ayurvedic treatment is undertaken, because the humidity is considered to open the body to it. If a wellness retreat is the point of the trip, June to August is arguably the best time to come, not the worst.

So: temples and touring, October to March. Ayurveda and green landscapes, the monsoon. We'd ask which you're after before recommending dates.

Seven to eight days covers Kerala properly — Kochi, the tea country around Munnar, a wildlife stop at Periyar and a night on the backwaters. It is the single most popular South India itinerary we plan and it works well as a standalone holiday.

Ten to twelve days adds Tamil Nadu's temple towns, or Karnataka's palaces and ruins, to a Kerala core.

Two to three weeks is what the full south deserves: Chennai down through Mahabalipuram, Pondicherry, Thanjavur and Madurai, across to Periyar and the backwaters, finishing on the coast. Our fifteen-day South India journey follows roughly that route.

Kerala is the south most people picture — the backwaters at Alleppey and Kumarakom, the tea estates of Munnar, spice plantations at Thekkady, and Kochi's layered colonial history. It is also the easiest introduction to India for anyone nervous about the intensity of the north. Our Kerala itinerary covers it at a pace that leaves room to sit still.

And yes — Kerala is in South India, on the southwestern coast, bordering Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. It is one state of several, not a synonym for the region, and the three are quite different from one another.

Tamil Nadu is the temple heartland: Madurai's Meenakshi temple, the Chola bronzes at Thanjavur, the shore temples at Mahabalipuram, and French-colonial Pondicherry on the coast. This is the richest part of the south for anyone interested in architecture, sculpture or living religious tradition.

Karnataka brings Mysore's palace, the extraordinary boulder-strewn ruins of Hampi, and the Hoysala temples at Belur and Halebid — some of the finest stone carving in India, and far less visited than they deserve. Our Karnataka tour takes eight days over it.

For travellers who want the south without the driving, the Golden Chariot luxury train covers much of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu from a moving hotel.

Our South India itineraries run from around AUD $1,150 per person for eight days in Karnataka, or AUD $1,290 per person for nine days in Kerala, to around AUD $2,580 for a fifteen-day journey across the southern states, excluding international flights.

Included as standard: accommodation, daily breakfast, private air-conditioned transport with a driver, English-speaking local guides at each stop, and all transfers. Houseboat stays include all meals.

Budget separately for monument entrance fees, which are charged at a higher rate for international visitors, plus visas, travel insurance and meals not listed in your itinerary.

Australians need a visa for India. The e-Visa covers most tourism and is applied for online before departure — allow at least three weeks. Entry decisions rest with Indian immigration, not with us, but we'll tell you exactly what's needed and when to start.