We would like to travel to Southern India for 2 weeks next March. We will be flying round trip into Mumbai. I am overwhelmed with the information that is available and need some intinerary advice. We have already traveled the tourist triangle in Northern India and enjoyed it very much. We like big cities, shopping, cultural sites, and beaches. We don't want to move around too much and would like to stay in 3 to 4 areas with our last stop being a beach destination before we have to get back to Mumbai. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

South India is very large areawise & 2 weeks is too little time to do even one of the provinces.It comprises of Tamilnadu,Kerala,karnataka,Goa & Andhrapradesh.The big cities in the south have nothing or little to offer,apart from restaurants & pubs.Would recommend that you use it as transit.Other than that it would be a waste of time.Outside of this there is lots to do.Temples,beaches,wildlife and so on.
Suggest you do Kerala for 10 days.Soak in all you can.Its facinating.Sign off in Goa for a couple of days.

Thanks for the info. Anyone with other suggestions?

As you have been to north India, you have an idea of what India and travel in India is like, and that given the distances and some of the logistics, 2 weeks is not a lot of time, so 3-4 places is a good itin, IMO. I think you may also be aware that merely concentrating on the big cities may not give you an accurate picture of India, nor be as interesting, as much of the charm of India is found in the much smaller village areas. I think this is even more true of south India, especially the coastal areas, which have a completely different, more laid-back feeling than the north, IMO.

However, if you like “big” cities, then I would suggest Kolkata, which is the cultural centre of India (although it really is not considered the “south”, however, it’s just not as north as say Delhi). There is music, dance, art and literature there, although it is quite a crowded and congested city. Lots of British colonial history as well. For the more true south, I would say to think about Chennai and also consider Hyderabad. Of the two, I actually prefer Hyderabad because it has a Muslim influence you don’t get elsewhere, unusual sights like Golconda fort and its very colourful past with the Nizams. A good place for pearl and other jewelry shopping. But Chennai is on the coast and offers beaches, and from Chennai there is a nice drive of 2 days or so down to Madurai. So you will have to pick and choose rather carefully.

While Bangalore is a very pleasant green city, it does not offer a lot to see for the tourist (it does have many pleasant pubs, and perhaps that is what the poster above is referring to). It is a good jumping off point to see Mysore, so can be useful from that standpoint. Pune, another good-size city with a pleasant climate, also offers little for a tourist and would not be on my list, esp. for someone with only 2 weeks.

Mumbai of course is a great, huge, groaning city and I personally don’t think it’s a great place for a tourist, esp. a first-time tourist with only 2 weeks. However, if you really profess to like big cities, and want to shop, then Mumbai may have to be on your list. Bring patience for sitting in traffic and some money for hotels.

Other than that, you really won’t find a lot of “big cities” in the south. I also see from your other posts that you like fishing, so Goa and esp. Kerala may fit your interests better than larger inland cities.

I would absolutely include Goa, as there is a lot of cultural and historical interest there, and you can also use that as a beach destination and also go to the flea market in Arjuna if you like shopping. I would also include Kerala with Cochin or Trivandrum as part of that. (Cochin probably offers more.) However, neither Panjim (the major city in Goa) nor Cochin or Trivandrum would qualify as “big cities”. But they do have a good bit of historical sights to see, and then you can access beaches, and in the case of Kerala, take a houseboat around the backwaters of Kerala.

So if this were my trip, I would include the following:

Fly to Mumbai – shopping, sightseeing, more upscale restaurants
Hyderabad – sights, food, pearl and jewelry shopping
fly to Trivandrum or Cochin – beach and backwaters, fishing, food
Fly or train to Goa – shopping, beach, sightseeing, food – connect via Mumbai for home

You could also consider going to Hyderabad first, as it might be an easier arrival city than the craziness of Mumbai. You could either try to get a flight into Hyderabad from outside India (say via Emirates) or when you arrive into Mumbai from the US (are you taking the United/CO code share flight?) at 10 pm or so, just overnight at an airport hotel and head out early the next morning to Hyderabad on something like the 6:30 or 7:30 am Jet flight. It is only an hour to Hyderabad and there are many flights a day on Jet Airways or Kingfisher.

There are also options like taking Emirates from Cochin or Trivandrum back to the US via a stop in Dubai, so you could do an itin on Emirates that goes to Mumbai first and puts you in Kerala last. (I like doing a beach at the end of a holiday for relaxing at the end.) There are lots of ways to do this, and going in and out of Mumbai would not really be necessary. Hyderabad and Bangalore are somewhat major international airports, and the coastal areas of south India have fairly good flight service to Europe and the Middle East, so you do not have to think only of using Mumbai as your entry and exit point. (Unless you are using miles or something and have to do that.)

You would have to work out how much time you want to spend in each place. You could reverse Kerala and Goa if the flea market day works out better, as the flea market in Goa is only on Wednesdays. If you are Catholic or Christian, it can be interesting to be in Goa or Kerala to attend a mass on Sunday as well. (The Bom Jesus cathedral in Goa esp).

Note that the above leaves out really major sights in the south like Madurai temple, Periyar national park, and the Mysore temples outside Bangalore. Not sure if that is what you want to do. You also are not including sights like the Ajanta and Elora Buddhist cave areas which are near to Mumbai (need to fly or train there). Again, a major cultural sight. I was only addressing what you profess to be your interests.

I definately have beach time in Kerala on my list. Goa sounds interesting. I'm also looking into an area or natural preserve where we can do some safari type activities. We don't need luxury but we would like to be comfortable. I have much to think about. Unfortunately I'm somewhat limited in my choice of airline. I recently made a major score after volunteering to be bumped (2 times) while in Barcelona and now have $2000 in Delta Dollars to use. Thanks so much for the valuble info.

Delta is an airline partner with Jet Airways and Kingfisher, both excellent private air carriers with service from the US (NYC only) as well as within India, so consider using them. Delta is also partner with KLM, which has pretty good service to India, so a non-stop from NYC to Amsterdam and then non-stop to Hyderabd (or vice versa) may be a good option. Or connect in Amsterdam to a Jet Airways flight to Kochi (or vice versa.) Delta is also partners with Singapore Air which has service to India, generally via Singapore. Air France may also be a good choice. Not sure if these partners would work with whatever restrictions you have on the $2,000 voucher, but don’t limit yourself to Delta if you don’t have to.

For hotels, a very useful website is at http://sawdays.co.uk/, click on the book for India. You can also buy the book, but the website will give you a very long list of hotels to start with. The vast majority of these hotels are not in the luxury range and some are in the budget range, but all look interesting and several, like the Imperial in Delhi, are outstanding. A good source to start. The best Indian hotel operator IMO is oberoi (www.oberoihotels.com), also try neemranahotels.com as they run interesting hotels, and tajhotels.com which is another good Indian operator.

Delta is no longer code share with Jet Airways (flew Mar/Apr 2010 with both)

I was in Kerala in February for two weeks. Loved it! Compared to northern India, laid back and lovely. Spent time in the Backwaters (including a night on a houseboat - heavenly), Kumily (Periyar Tiger Reserve - good walking but no tigers), Munnar (tea plantations and mountains), finished up in Cochin (interesting historical areas, Chinese fishing nets). Here are some photos, if you're interested: http://jmstudio.fotopic.net/c1820343.html

Flew in and out of Cochin from Dubai on Emirates. I'd be happy to answer questions if you have any.

Wonderful photos, Julia1. Thanks for sharing. i wanna go back!!! Yours is a trip I'd recommend for Lilypoo-for braches, there are those in either Goa or the Kerala coast ( which would involve less travel from other points in Kerala, of course).

Thanks, CaliN. I wanna go back too!

Great photos Julia1. What camera were they taken with? I am trying to decide if I should take my 'big' camera to India or just my new fantastic point and shoot.

They were taken with my new love, an Olympus Pen E-PL1, 12.3MP Micro Four Thirds with interchangeable lenses. I decided to leave my 'big' cameras at home, for the first time ever, and travel light with just the PL1 and a small collection of (small) lenses: two primes (a 20mm f1.7 and 65mm f1.5), and two zooms (small slr equivalents of 28-45mm f3.5-5.6 and 90-400mm f4-5.6.)

I set myself the challenge of composing mainly in 6x6 square format. I was shooting RAW+jpg and I did crop a few in camera. The jpgs on my website are just as they came out of the camera, no Photoshop or Lightroom.

The great thing about this camera is, with the right adapters, it will take just about any of my older lenses, including my Olympus OM 50mm f1.4, my Leica 14-50mm f2.8, and my Zuiko 11-22mm f2.8-3.5. I've also picked up on Ebay a small collection of the jewel-like lenses from the old Pen film cameras of the 1950s-60s, which are a real delight to use.

Here's more info on the camera, if you're interested: http://blogbeebe.blogspot.com/2010/0...al-review.html

I'm off to Italy Wednesday to help lead a photography workshop in Val D'Orcia and the E-PL1 will be my only camera again.

Julia1 your picutres are awesome. Did you plan this trip yourself or use travel agents/guides etc.? Where did you stay in Kumily and Munnar?

Julia, your pictures are stunning !! Thanks for sharing...makes me remember my origins with nostalgia..

I think 2 weeks are not enough but ok to visit south india trip. kerla backwaters are great attraction of south india. Don't forget to see that. south india is all about its beaches there.
ancient temple "tirupati" is very famous don't forget it