Old Goa

is the Portuguese legacy at its most complete — a capital city that was once compared to Lisbon, now mostly vanished except for the churches, which survive as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Basilica of Bom Jesus holds the body of St Francis Xavier, the Jesuit missionary who died in 1552 and whose remains are venerated as incorrupt. They are brought down for public veneration in an Exposition held roughly once a decade, which draws vast crowds; in the years between, the casket rests in its silver reliquary above the tomb. The Sé Cathedral next door is among the largest churches in Asia.

Velankanni

, on the Tamil Nadu coast, is India''s foremost Marian shrine — the Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health, often called the Lourdes of the East. It grew from apparitions and a healing tradition dating to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and it has become something genuinely remarkable: a Catholic shrine whose pilgrims are overwhelmingly not all Catholic. Hindus and Muslims come in enormous numbers, make the same offerings, and describe the same expectations of Our Lady. The eleven-day feast ending on the Nativity of Mary in early September is one of the largest gatherings in southern India.

Malayattoor

, in Kerala, is a hilltop shrine on Kurisumudi — "the mountain of the cross" — where St Thomas is said to have prayed. It was recognised by the Vatican as an international shrine, one of a small number in Asia. Pilgrims climb the hill on foot, many barefoot, calling out to the apostle as they go.

Old Goa is a morning

Go early, before the heat and the tour buses. The churches are cool inside and mostly empty at eight; by eleven the coaches have arrived. Mass is celebrated in several of them and visitors are welcome to attend, quietly, at the back. Give yourself three hours to walk between Bom Jesus, the Sé Cathedral, St Cajetan and St Augustine''s ruined tower, and then be somewhere shaded by noon.

Velankanni runs around the clock

The basilica is open through the day and much of the night, and pilgrims arrive at every hour. Masses are said in Tamil, English and other languages through the day. Many pilgrims walk the last stretch to the shrine on foot from the town, carrying candles; a great many complete a vow by having their heads shaved, or by crawling the final approach. The beach is a few minutes away and pilgrims go there too, because the sea is part of the story here. If you come during the September feast, expect a town of a million people and plan nothing precisely.

Malayattoor is a climb

The shrine sits on a hill of several hundred metres and the path up takes an hour or two depending on your pace, on stone and packed earth through forest. Pilgrims start early. The great season is Malayattoor Perunnal, in the week following Easter, when the hill is a continuous river of people ascending barefoot and calling out "Ponnum Kurishu Muthappa" — a sound that carries a long way through those trees. Outside the feast it is quiet and lovely and you may have the summit almost to yourself.

Across the circuit, Sunday mornings mean Mass

, and shrines will be full of worshipping congregations rather than visitors. Plan accordingly — or better, go and sit at the back.

Old Goa

is about ten kilometres from Panaji and around forty minutes from Goa''s airport at Dabolim, with the newer Mopa airport further north. The whole heritage complex is walkable once you are there — the churches stand within a few hundred metres of each other along a single road. Half a day covers it comfortably.

Malayattoor

is in Ernakulam district, Kerala, roughly an hour and a half from Kochi by road, near Kalady on the Periyar. Kochi is the airport and the base. It combines naturally with the rest of Christian Kerala — the churches of Kodungallur, where St Thomas is said to have landed, and the old Syrian Christian churches around Kottayam and Chengannur.

Velankanni

is on the Tamil Nadu coast near Nagapattinam, about four hours from Thanjavur or Tiruchirappalli and around seven from Chennai. Trichy is the nearest useful airport; there is a railway station at Nagapattinam and special trains run for the feast. It sits well alongside the great Chola temples at Thanjavur, Gangaikondacholapuram and Darasuram — a very good pairing, because within two days you can see the temple architecture of the eleventh century and a basilica drawing a million people, and understand something about how Tamil Nadu holds both.

A natural extension

San Thome Basilica in Chennai, built over the tomb traditionally held to be St Thomas''s — one of only a handful of churches in the world built above an apostle''s grave — and St Thomas Mount nearby, where he is said to have been killed. If you are going to Velankanni, add Chennai.

A shape that works

Kochi and Malayattoor for two days, fly or drive across to Trichy, Velankanni and the Chola country for three, and treat Goa as a separate trip on the west coast. Or do Goa alone, in a morning, as part of any Goa holiday — it is that accessible.

Come between October and March

, when the coasts are dry and bearable. April and May on both coasts are hot and very humid; the south-west monsoon soaks Goa and Kerala from June, and the north-east monsoon hits the Tamil Nadu coast around October and November, when Velankanni can get heavy rain and occasionally worse.

Decide whether you want the feast or the quiet

These are two entirely different journeys.

For Malayattoor, expect a real climb

— several hundred metres of ascent over an hour or two, on stone and earth through forest. Ordinary fitness is enough, but wear something you can walk in and start early. Many pilgrims go barefoot; you are not required to.

Dress for a working church, not a monument

Shoulders and knees covered at all three. This matters at Velankanni and Malayattoor in particular, where you are among devout pilgrims.

Carry small candles or buy them at the shrine

if you want to make an offering; the candle stands at Velankanni are part of the experience.

Learn the shape of a Catholic Mass

if you have never attended one, and go to one. All three shrines celebrate Mass daily, visitors are welcome, and sitting quietly at the back of a Malayalam or Tamil Mass tells you more about Indian Christianity than any museum.

Take the usual food and water precautions

, and note that Velankanni during the feast is a town of temporary stalls feeding a million people — be sensible.

And read a little about the St Thomas tradition beforehand

Without it, Malayattoor is a pleasant hill with a church on top. With it, you understand why people have been climbing it for a very long time.

Cotton and linen

Shoulders and knees covered at all three shrines — for men that means trousers rather than shorts, for everyone it means sleeves. A light long-sleeved shirt is more comfortable in that sun than a vest anyway.

A scarf or stole

Useful for covering shoulders, for the sun, and for women who wish to cover their heads in church, which is customary for many Indian Catholic women though not required of visitors.

Slip-on shoes

Footwear comes off at Malayattoor''s shrine and at some Kerala churches, and it is simply easier everywhere else.

For Malayattoor, shoes you can climb in

— trainers or walking shoes with grip. The path is stone, earth and tree root, and slippery after rain. If you intend to climb barefoot as many pilgrims do, carry your shoes in a bag for the way down.

Sun protection

Hat, high-factor sunscreen, sunglasses. Old Goa''s heritage complex is walked in the open between churches, and the Velankanni approach and beach have no shade at all.

An umbrella

On this circuit it is genuinely useful — sun in the day, and sudden rain at any time on either coast.

A water bottle

and rehydration salts. Coastal humidity takes more out of you than the temperature suggests.

Small change and a lighter

for candles at the Velankanni candle stands.

Insect repellent

Backwater Kerala and the Tamil coast both warrant it, especially at dusk.

Basic medical kit

and your own prescriptions.

If you are travelling during a feast

, add: a lot of patience, a small torch, a bag you can keep in front of you in a crowd, and the acceptance that you will not move quickly anywhere.

Leave behind

anything heavy or formal. This is not that kind of trip.

Dress modestly

Shoulders and knees covered, for everyone. Nobody at Old Goa will turn a tourist away, but at Velankanni and Malayattoor you will be conspicuous and it will be noticed.

Remove your footwear where others do

At Malayattoor and at many Kerala churches shoes come off; at Old Goa they generally stay on. Look at what everyone else is doing at the door — this is the reliable rule everywhere in India.

Silence inside, always

Phones off or silent. If Mass is being said, either join it properly or do not walk about — moving around the nave with a camera during a service is the discourtesy visitors most commonly commit.

Photography

generally permitted in the Goan churches, though flash is not, and never during a service. At Velankanni and Malayattoor, be very careful about photographing pilgrims — people completing vows, having their heads shaved, weeping, or crawling the last stretch are at a private moment in public. Do not photograph them. If you would not do it in a hospital, do not do it here.

Do not receive Communion unless you are a Catholic in good standing

If a Mass is happening and you are not, simply remain seated; nobody will mind, and it is the correct thing to do. If you wish, you may go up with your arms crossed over your chest to receive a blessing instead — this is normal and understood.

Genuflection and crossing yourself are not expected of you

Standing quietly when the congregation stands is more than enough.

Do not touch the relics, the tomb or the images

At Bom Jesus the casket of St Francis Xavier is above the tomb and behind glass, and that is as close as anyone gets outside an Exposition.

At Velankanni, understand what you are watching

The head-shaving, the candle offerings the length of a person, the crawling approach, the vows fulfilled after years — these are among the most intense expressions of devotion in India, and they cross religions. Many of the people doing them are Hindu. Watch with respect and without commentary.

Offerings

are made at the candle stands and in the boxes inside; there is no expectation on a visitor. Do not hand money to individuals.

Be careful with the word "conversion"

Missionary activity is a sensitive subject in parts of India and it is not a topic to raise casually with strangers. You are there to see, not to discuss.

And go to a Mass, once

Sit at the back, stand when they stand, sit when they sit, and let a Tamil or Malayalam liturgy wash over you. It is the best forty minutes on this circuit.

Old Goa in the morning, not the afternoon

The coaches arrive around eleven and the churches go from cool and empty to shoulder-to-shoulder. At eight you can stand alone in the Sé Cathedral, which is one of the largest churches in Asia and which very few people have experienced in silence.

Do not treat Old Goa as a photo stop between beaches

It was a city — a capital that people once compared to Lisbon — and what remains is only the churches, because the rest was abandoned to disease and silt. Walking between Bom Jesus, the Sé, St Cajetan and the single surviving tower of St Augustine, with jungle where the streets used to be, is a genuinely strange and moving hour if you slow down for it.

Know whether it is an Exposition year

The relics of St Francis Xavier are brought down for public veneration roughly once a decade. In those weeks Old Goa is transformed and the queues are enormous. In every other year the casket stays in its reliquary — still worth seeing, but a completely different visit. Check before you build a trip around it.

At Velankanni, arrive with no schedule

Especially during the September feast. The town does not run on timings and you will not move quickly. Give it a full day and a night; the shrine after dark, with the candle stands burning and pilgrims arriving off the trains, is when it is most itself.

Do not be startled by the syncretism

Your first sight of a Hindu family making an offering to Our Lady of Good Health, or a Muslim woman lighting a candle, can be disorienting if you have only encountered Christianity elsewhere. This is entirely normal here and has been for centuries. It is, in fact, the most interesting thing about the place.

At Malayattoor, start early and take the climb seriously

An hour or two uphill through forest is not hard, but it is hot by mid-morning. Many pilgrims go barefoot; you do not have to, and there is no judgement either way. The view from Kurisumudi over the Periyar valley is the reward.

Go during Malayattoor Perunnal if you possibly can

— the week after Easter, when the hill path is a continuous procession of people climbing barefoot and calling out together. It is one of the great sounds of Indian pilgrimage.

Add San Thome in Chennai

If you have come this far for the St Thomas tradition, the basilica built over his supposed tomb is where the story ends. Few travellers make the connection, and it completes the circuit properly.

Eat the food

Goan Catholic cooking and Kerala Syrian Christian cooking are two of India''s great and least-known cuisines, and both are inseparable from the communities you have come to see. Have a proper Goan fish curry, and in Kerala find a Syrian Christian meal — beef, duck, appam, stew.

And do not expect it to feel foreign

That is the surprise of this circuit for most visitors. The vestments and the liturgy may be familiar, but the coconut oil lamps, the flower garlands on the statues, the barefoot climb, the shaved heads — this is Christianity that has been Indian for as long as anyone can trace, and it looks it.