Kerala & Tamil Nadu--Dogster said "same old, same old"--true?
 

I am in the midst of planning a six week trip to the south and was searching through some old posts. I found this quote from the now departed Dogster. "Neither Tamil Nadu nor Kerala are particularly thrilling destinations unless you've never seen a palm tree, a beach or a hill."

If you've been there, comments please. Is this the same old cynicism he often expressed, or is there more than a grain of truth here?

I loved reading Dogster's writing, but must have missed that one, so I'm not sure why he'd have said that.

But if you have any interest in some truly exceptional temples, with all the art and culture that accompanies them, Madurai, Tanjore and Trichy are just 3 of many places in Tamil Nadu to experience them. There are many more all over the region. And Tamil Nadu is much less heavily touristed than most of India.

(I probably should have said "And Tamil Nadu is much less heavily touristed by westerners than most of India.")

Julie - this was my concern as well, but others have said that southern india is very different than the north, and not at all like florida. I have not progressed further in my own trip planning as we bought tickets to Europe for the summer and I have been busy planning that. Look forward to seeing what you plan.

There must be some misunderstanding. I was in brief contact with Dogster, when he was planning his next trip (which he never got to do) and he was planning to go to Chettinad.
I will try to write ideas in your tread about South India

k44skov and rje--

I'm glad to hear that you disagree with the quote. One thing he also said in one of the old threads I was reading is to choose your place to stay first because that will set the tone for your entire experience in that area. I thoroughly agree with the concept, and I'm trying to plan much of my trip based on that idea. We'll see how it works out.

And, of course, I am having some of the usual India travel woes. I'd planned to book a SpiceJet flight that was critical to my itinerary, and the flight was cancelled/discontinued due to SpiceJet's financial problems. So, I am back to the drawing board and throwing out a lot of what had been planned because of the domino effect caused by the lack of a flight.

dgunbug--Where are you going in Europe? With the current strength of the dollar, Europe is looking more attractive every day.

Julie - Europe does look attractive, however, a large portion of this trip was to be spent in Switzerland which is looking a bit less attractive as we speak. We will fly into barcelona - a city which we missed during our three weeks in Spain. We will spend 4-5 days there and then head to Switzerland, Munich and Salzburg. For this trip, we will likely just wing hotels when we get there. We fly out of Milan and may or may not have time for a return trip to Venice. I suspect with 3 1/2 weeks we will run out of time.

What are your thoughts on your india trip at this time?

For us Barcelona was okay, but we don't have rave reviews as so many others do.

My Barcelona tip though is to spend a night at Montserrat and don't just do a day trip there. Once the hordes have left, it is an entirely different place. We had a rental car, and it was an easy drive.

I don't remember that quote from dogster, but I would say it would be more applicable to Kerala, or at least some parts of Kerala, than to Tamil Nadu. Kochi, for instance, was fairly heavily touristed even in 2001, when I was there, and from what I have read is more so now, along with the backwaters. Tamil Nadu much less so, and Chettinad as well (although as rje implies, plenty of Indian tourists). Dogster got seriously sick in the south, which may have colored his reaction.

I would like to see Hampi and the Meenakshi temples.

Dogster often parked himself for long stretches of time to absorb the local culture. Most of us don't have that much time or money

Hi julie,
Matt and myself spent about one months travelling thru Tamil Nadu from the furthest South to the North. We liked it very, very much! In some cities we were the only Westerners, people were greeting us on the streets by handshake! The beauty and spirit of the temples was overwhelming, and the colors were great. Now it’s difficult for me to recommend places. Pls have a look at our travel notes. I’ll give you just two links, but you’ll find much more descriptions and pictures close by: http://konniandmatt.blogspot.com/201...meshwaram.html http://konniandmatt.blogspot.com/201...idambaram.html
Happy travels!
Cheers, Konni, www.konniandmatt.blogspot.com