Itinerary & Budget (Tamil Nadu)

Tamil Nadu is a big state. And, as we mentioned in previous posts, it might not be practical to cover the entire state in a single trip unless you plan to stay for nearly 15-20 days with constant travelling. However, you may cover most of the popular places in 7-10 days itinerary. As far we are concerned, we have covered the places mentioned in this page in 3 trips, yet, there are many more to be covered. The following itinerary and budget for Tamil Nadu corresponds to our recent 8 day trip . Please be aware that we have taken 2 trips to Tamil Nadu.

Itinerary

Here is a sample 8-9-10 days itinerary and budget through Tamil Nadu in a taxi. You may add or subtract a a few days to modify it or change some of the destinations as per your choice and the same would be equally viable.

Chennai – Day 1:

  • Arrive at Chennai.
  • Explore Chennai’s Marina Beach, Fort St. George Museum, San Thome Church, Kapaleeshwar Temple etc
  • Stay overnight in Chennai

Mahabalipuram – Day 2:

  • Take a day trip to Mahabalipuram.
  • Explore Shore Temple, Arjuna’s Penance Rock, Butter ball, Panch ratha monuments etc. Shop some stone sculpture from nearby market.
  • Explore Auroville on the way to Pondicherry.
  • Take a walk on Pondicherry beach.
  • Stay overnight at Pondicherry

Pondicherry – Day 3:

  • Explore Pondicherry in the first half
  • Have breakfast in the iconic “The Coffee House”. Take a walk through White Town, go to Our Lady of Immaculate Church, explore Aurobindo Ashram, spend some time in Bharati Park after seeing French War Memorial and Mahatma Gandhi statue. If time permits, you may visit the Naval Museum also.
  • In second half depart to Gangaikonda Cholapuram. Explore the beautiful temple with the huge Nandi statue
  • Proceed to explore Airawateshwara Temple. Spend the evening in the surrounding park.
  • Stay overnight at Thanjavur.

Thanjavur – Day 4:

  • Explore the Brihadeshwara Temple.
  • Visit Maratha Palace and Saraswati Library
  • Leave for Rameshwaram.
  • Stay overnight at Rameshwaram

Rameshwaram – Day 5

  • Visit Ramanathaswamy temple in the morning.
  • Go to Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam’s House.
  • Visit the Agni kunda, Sita Kunda, Lakshman Kund, Panchmukhi Hanuman Temple etc
  • In the afternoon before 5:00 PM, go to Dhanushkodi beach.
  • Stay overnight at Rameshwaram.

Kanyakumari – Day 6:

  • Leave for Kanyakumari in the morning.
  • Explore Vivekananda Memorial and saint Thiruvalluvar statue. Visit the Kanyakumari Bhagwati Amman temple.
  • Either stay in Kanyakumari or leave for Madurai same day.

Madurai – Day 7:

  • Visit the Meenakshi Amman temple
  • Do some shopping at the nearby market
  • Stay overnight at Madurai

Coimbatore – Day 8:

  • Leave for Coimbatore in the morning.
  • Explore Kumarswamy. Selvampathy and Narsampathi Lake.
  • Arrive at Isha Yoga Centre. Visit the Ling Bhairavi, Dhyanlingam and the Nandi statue.
  • Watch the Adiyogi Divya Darshanam (light show) at 7 PM.
  • Stay at Coimbatore.

Ooty – Day 9:

  • Depart from Coimbatore.
  • Arrive at Ooty. Explore the tourist spots like the Wenlock Down 9th mile shooting point, Pykara waterfalls & lake, Emarald Lake, Rose Garden, Botanical Park, dodabetta peak, tea museum.

Coonoor – Day 10:

  • visit Coonoor
  • Explore Dolphin’s nose, tea plantations, lamb’s rock viewpoint etc.
  •  Return to Ooty for overnight stay. Or depart for your flight or train for return journey.

The above itinerary covers all important places popular in Tamil Nadu. It is a good plan if you want to cover most places in only 8 days. There are a few places left after following the above itinerary like Kodaikanal, Kanchipuram, Thiruchirapally and Chidambaram. Remember, this is a sample itinerary. You may follow this as is or add or remove places from the above itinerary and plan according to the available days.

Budget

The budget is a very important part while planning a trip. The entire itinerary and budget will affect your trip to Tamil Nadu. It varies depending on the type of traveller you are or whether it is an exploration trip or a leisure trip and several other factors. We are explorer cum traveller kind, so our trips are mostly super packed as we travel on a medium budget. Major part of our budget goes towards stays especially in India.

The food was really affordable considering you stick to local dishes specially sadhya meals in regular restaurants, nothing very fancy. We had booked rooms for 3 people. The highest tariff was at the homestay in Rameshwaram. More details in this post. There are hardly any tickets to any temple. If you want special darshan (quick darshan) tickets then only you have to pay. Our taxi was reserved for 6 days only from Chennai to Coimbatore.

Hereunder, we are listing out our specific expenses towards various segments so that you may get an overall idea for planning your budget.

  • Flights: ₹16,000 per person
  • Accommodation: ₹19,000 (3 persons)
  • Food: ₹400 per meal (3 persons)
  • Taxi: ₹3,500 per day (sedan-all inclusive)
  • Tickets: ₹1,000 per person (including special darshan tickets for some temples)
  • Total: ₹95,800 (for 3 persons for 6 days)
  • Cost per head: ~₹32,000 (50% flight tickets)

The above costs are higher only because of the flights we took which were slightly pricier than usual. Depending on which part of India you are travelling from, this cost can become lesser. Learn more about how to reach Tamil Nadu in this post. Excluding the flights, the cost comes down to a meagre ₹16,000 per head. Had we had more time at hand, we would have surely chosen trains as the mode of travel. Overall, the expenses were average compared to the comfortable trip we had. Hope this inspires you to embark on the journey to Tamil Nadu.