Places to Explore

• Chennai

  The city that the British named Madras remains a major gateway to South India. In 1640 an East India Company agent Francis Day negotiated with the Raja of Chandragiri, the last Vijayanagar ruler, for a... (more)

• Kanchipuram

  The ride from Chennai to Kanchipuram passes by newly built factories for cell phones and cars as well as by rice and sugarcane fields, both of them next to the smooth national highway, NH-4. You'll also... (more)

• Madurai

  Once the capital of the Pandya dynasty, the second-largest city in Tamil Nadu supposedly got its name from the Tamil word for honey. According to legend, when King Kulasekhara Pandya first built Madurai... (more)

• Mahabalipuram

  In the 8th century, the Pallava dynasty conducted a thriving maritime trade from this port city, sending emissaries to China, Southeast Asia, and Indonesia; carved stone is all that now remains of these... (more)

• Pondicherry

  If you want to take the pace of life down a few notches, this quiet, unusual town is ideal. A former French holding, Pondicherry still retains the flavor of its colonizers, who left as recently as 1954... (more)

• Thanjavur

  Nestled in the highly fertile delta of the Cauvery River, Thanjavur was the capital of the Cholas during their supremacy (907-1310). A fortuitous combination of flourishing agriculture, competent monarchs... (more)

• Tiruchirappalli

  The temple city of Tiruchirappalli (City of the Three-Headed Demon) was a pawn in the feudal wars of the Pallavas, Pandyas, and Cholas, which continued until the 10th century. After that, the Vijayanagar... (more)