🇮🇳 Karnataka · Kerala · Tamil NaduInteractive itinerary
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Bengaluru (Bangalore)
Landing in Bengaluru, India's tech capital and gateway to the South. First encounter with the traffic and the cuisine of the South: dosa, idli, and filter coffee. An ideal base to start the loop towards Mysuru.
Ordered chaos everywhere. First dosa and first filtered coffee: let's go.
Mysuru · Mysore Palace
A day in Mysuru: Mysore Palace by day with its Indo-Saracenic red towers and domes, and in the evening the illumination with almost 100,000 light bulbs (Sundays and festivals). Devaraja Market and Chamundi Hill are recommended.
The palace at night is pure magic, it looks like a funfair. Family photo in front of the lights.
Mandya → Kerala · in strada
Transfer towards Kerala: the red KSRTC buses are cheap and authentic, and the roads climb through forests and villages. Sacred cows everywhere and pickups loaded with workers along the hairpin bends: the real India outside the tourist circuits.
Bus KSRTC Mandya–Mysuru overflowing, a cow posing nearby. On the hill, the orange pickup truck full of people with helmets.
Munnar · piantagioni di tè
Munnar, among the Western Ghats: endless hills of brilliant green tea, fresh air and morning mist. Perfect for walks among the plantations and spectacular views.
A green ocean as far as the eye can see. It's almost cold after the heat of the plain.
Thanjavur · Tempio di Brihadeeswarar
Closing in Tamil Nadu with the Brihadeeswarar Temple (UNESCO, 11th century), a masterpiece of Chola Dravidian architecture. At sunset the granite tower turns gold and pink: a must-see at blue hour.
The temple at sunset with the pink-orange sky was one of the most beautiful moments of the trip.
South India: The Grand Loop
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