Accommodation (Tamil Nadu)

There are all kinds of accommodation options in every major city of Tamil Nadu. Ranging from five-star hotels to affordable homestays or dharmshalas and hostels, there is everything for everyone. The main areas with popular places are a little costlier than the others. The place of stay becomes a matter of choice depending on your preferences/budget and the mode of transportation that you choose to travel across the cities.

Overall, to bring down the accommodation costs you can mix a bit of cost and convenience as per your requirements like we did. Since we had hired a taxi for our intercity transportation, we chose more comfortable and affordable hotels to stay even though slightly away from the main place of interest. More on that in this post.

We stayed at Chennai, Pondicherry, Thanjavur, Rameshwaram, Madurai and Coimbatore. Here is a description of how we chose the area to stay and how it was:

Chennai

Our arrival point was Chennai. The flight was to land at Chennai quite late in the evening. So, we decided to stay near the airport area. Also, we had to leave early in the morning for our onward trip. Since we had to travel southwards, staying near the airport reduced travel time and allowed us to avoid city traffic. The hotels/lodges/homestays near the airport were very expensive. The stays available in the city were much affordable compared to the ones near the airport. Anything which was decent enough was priced around ₹2,500 per night. If you have time at hand and want to spend a day exploring Chennai, choose to stay in the city preferably near Marina beach.

Puducherry

We stayed in the market area of Puducherry near to the Puducherry beach. Rooms in this area were fairly priced. We did not have much trouble in finding a good budget room here. There are plenty of resorts and excellent hotels on the beach road at higher prices. You will find many homestays also which add to the charm of the French colonial feel that this city has to offer. It was our cheapest stay here.

Thanjavur

Thanjavur is a big city and there is no dearth of hotels here. What we wanted was something near the Brihadeshwar temple. But nothing good came under our budget in and around the temple area. Less pricier stays had poor ratings while the ones with good ratings were costlier. So we booked an affordable stay with decent reviews, around 2-3 km from the temple. There were quite a few stays in that area and many hospitals. It lacked a decent restaurant nearby. The market was also around the temple. So we had nothing to do except relax and take a good night sleep.

Rameshwaram

Rameshwaram was the tricky one. Our main aim was to visit the temple conveniently, so we were looking for rooms near the temple. There are too many stay options near the temple area. Mostly the stays are lodge-like with crammed rooms and high prices. An average hotel room with decent reviews was anywhere between ₹3,000 – ₹4,000. There were many dharamshalas also. There is an issue with parking availability in the temple area. Most hotels have reserved areas for their parking. Maybe they factor-in the cost in room tariff. We finally booked a homestay near the temple. If staying near the temple, try to book a room near the North/East gate if you do not want to walk even slightly. Or else, you may have to walk at least half a kilometre to reach to the East Gate (main entrance of the temple). Roads are one way and you will really find it difficult to park the car. You may stay elsewhere for lesser cost but the main attraction is the temple.

Madurai

Madurai is another big city and hence, no scarcity of accommodation. However, the temple area is quite congested and even if there are multitude of stay options nearby, they might not be at par unless you are ready to shell out much more than necessary. The temple is surrounded by market alleys full of shops. So, a peaceful stay is out of question near the temple. You may choose to stay a little away and can easily travel to and from on autorickshaw. There are many hotels as you exit the temple area. We stayed slightly away around 3 km from the temple near Rajaraja Park. There are many good and fairly priced hotels in this area.

Coimbatore

We visited Coimbatore specially for Isha Yoga Centre. Therefore, we had pre booked accommodation at the centre. There are all types of room non-AC, AC, dorms, 2,3,4,6- bedded rooms available at the centre. The prices are affordable as well. If you plan to visit the centre, try to book the rooms in advance or you may also book at the reception after arriving there but, that is subject to availability. The link to booking accommodations at Isha Yoga is here.

Ooty

Our Ooty trip was separate from the other Tamil Nadu trip. We had stayed in a hotel in Church Hill road. There were many restaurants in the area. It was lively even during the nights. There are plenty of hotels in Ooty now in every budget. Try to stay in a locality which is near to important places as it saves time on travel.                                        

Kanyakumari

We had a day trip to Kanyakumari, hence, we did not book any accommodation here. However, if you plan to stay overnight, stay in the main road area which is near to the Bhagwati Amman temple. There are many lodges and hotels in around 1 kilometer of the temple. Although, the stay options do not have very good reviews. If you really have to stay, you may book an above average reviewed stay.