South Tamil Nadu Trip - 7 days (Madhurai - Rameshwaram - Kanyakumari)

People say that visiting a temple is more of a destiny than a choice. It seems true in our case too where we had no plans of travel and suddenly a sweet family friend in our society has benevolently invited us to join them in the car for the trip where the tedious work of selecting hotels and making itinerary was already done. We had to just book the hotels and pack the bags 😊

The biggest motivator is our son who is more excited than any of us as the host family's son is his bestie and he started counting down every day. The shopping, packing, and planning were very excitingly done by both the families together and the trip was also successfully completed covering much more than what we had thought and enjoying much more than the initial expectations. 

The only surprise element is the tyre burst & a dent on the car at the same location in Rameshwaram on different days, otherwise, it was a pretty smooth and fun trip. 

I have shared the places visited, attractions that could have been covered, and hotel names we stayed so that others than plan better and avail much more fun than ours. We went in the 3rd week of December 2021 but Sun in Kanyakumari is blazing. You might need to carry some extra sunscreen lotion to avoid tanning. 

Hope you have a safe vacation!

Day 1:

• Bangalore to Madhurai (Car) : Hotel: Astoria by Sparsh (2200 w/o Breakfast) 
• Nayakar Palace/Mahal (erstwhile king) - Maniratnam songs shot (Bombay Kannanule)
• Famous Jigar Thanda (Jigar Thanda & Basanti drinks) - Must drink
• Nayakar light show (quality not great) 
• Traditional dress shopping at Ramraj for Meenakshi Temple
• Paruthi Paal (Cotton Seed Milk)
• Theppakulam street food - Nice sightseeing of the temple in the middle of a vast tank

(Meenakshi Temple at night)

Day 2: 

• Meenakshi Temple (Shivan Temple & Meenakshi) - Need not take the guide
• Start to Rameshwaram
• Pamban Bridge cool breeze

Can cover in Madhurai:

• Gandhi Museum (Sunday closed)
• Alagar Kovil (Lil away)

       (Train crossing the Pamban bridge near Rameshwaram)

Day 3: 

• Rameshwaram - Hotel KNP Nest - 2000 w/o bf - Can try at Kashi mutt for Rs 700 near temple (1-week adv Phone booking)
• Agnitheertham ocean bath (No waves, Lil dirty)
• 22 kund bath (Rs 25 for General, Rs 250 for special service with full bucket (small) water @ each kund for each person). Take 25 rs ticket unless huge crowd
• Change clothes at the designated place inside the temple, as wet clothes are not allowed inside main temple
• Siva and Parvati temple visit (Gen tckt good enough) 
• Train to Mandapam at 2:30PM to see Pamban Bridge
• Return to Rameshwaram by bus
• Abdul Kalam house - Place where he grew up. An inspiring place where a lot of his awards and space work are put on display. Didn't like the usage of the top floor for the commercial activities of selling souvenirs. 
• Beachside relaxation in the evening
• Laxman Kund, Sita Kund, Krishna temple (can skip or see from outside) - All of them are next to each other
• Gurdwara visit

1212 pillars like this are situated in Aralmigu Ramanathaswamy Temple (Jyotirling)

Day 4:

• Attempt for Spatika Darshan - in the same temple (4-5 AM), due to rush couldn't see. Visited temple again
• Ram Kund, Panchmuki hanuman, Floating stones (sample stones used by Lord Rama for the bridge) , Ramar Paadam (good view @ Hilltop), Sugreeva Theertham
• Dhanush Kodi last point, Ghost town (Church, Rly station got washed in 1964 cyclone)
• Villondi Theertham (Sweet water well in the middle of the ocean, by Rama to quench Sita's thirst)
• Checkout and start to Kanyakumari (Patches were not good)

Can cover:

• Tirunelveli temple on the way to Kanyakumari & famous Halwa in darkroom shop

(Dhanushkodi endpoint where Ram Sethu bridge continues till Srilanka)

Day 5: 

• Kanyakumari - Hotel Ocean Heritage - Rs 1900 with Breakfast. Take **4 & **5 series but not **6 & **8 series rooms as they are very congested). Can try at Vivekananda Ashram too.
• Triveni Sangam bath (3 oceans meet, Lil rocky but water is clean with fewer tides) 
• Vivekananda rock memorial (last boat @ 4PM) - Inspiring to know that a follower of Vivekananda Swami - Eknath Ranade from Maharastra was determined to build a memorial for Vivekananda for his contributions to humanity and India
• Sunset Point (not clear due to pollution) 
• Market visit on road
• Huge market area with a lot of gift options (shop we liked the most) at dead cheap price

Day 6:

• Kanyakumari Amman temple near Sangam beach (remove shirt for men & women in traditional dress)
• Sankaracharya temple, 16 pillar mandap, Tsunami Memorial - same  place, Gandhi Memorial (Ashes), Kamraj (ex-CM) Memorial, Acqua world (aquarium for kids), Kids park (water sports)
• Vattakottai Beach (Lil dirty) & adjacent to it there is a nice freshwater stream, Fort (closed at 4 30pm), Lady of Ransom Shrine church - Gothic Architecture (Close at 8 PM) 

Day 7:

• Second-time visit to Sangam for sightseeing, Rock memorial, Thiruvallur statue (Couplets are motivating)
• On the way to Nagercoil Rly station, visit Thanumalayan Temple (Suchindram) - Must visit due to the famous story of Astri and Anasuya and temple size. Anasuya made trimurti into babies with her chastity power. 
• Return Train to Blr at 7:10 PM

Can cover in Kanyakumari:

• Sunrise from Kanyakumari Pier
• Vivekananda exhibition, Bharat Mata temple, Wax Museum, Fort, Padmanabha Swamy temple /fort (120kms)

(Deer set bought in the market road near Amman temple for 30 Rs only)

Our friends went further in the car to Kodaikanal and we wanted to end the trip after Kanyakumari, thus returned to Bangalore in train. Hence you see the start was in Car and the return was in train.