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19 places to explore — hand-picked across Tamil Nadu.
19 places
Tamil Nadu
Chettinad, centred on Karaikudi in Tamil Nadu, is a region famous for the grand mansions of the Nattukottai Chettiar merchant community and for one of India's most celebrated cuisines. The palatial…
Chidambaram is an ancient, vital pilgrimage town near the coastal plains of the Cuddalore district in Tamil Nadu. The destination is known for hosting the Thillai Nataraja Temple, a multi-acre temp…
Dindigul Fort is a hilltop fortress rising about 900 feet above Dindigul town in Tamil Nadu, with a fortification circumference of about 2.75 km enclosing 48 rooms, arsenal depots, stables, and can…
Fort St George, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, was built in 1644 as the first British garrison settlement in India, marking the start of British colonial presence in the subcontinent. The complex today ho…
Gingee Fort stands in Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu, about 160 km from Chennai, built across three hills with roughly 13 km of fortification walls up to 20 m thick and a moat 80 feet wide. It is …
Kanchipuram, the 'City of a Thousand Temples', is one of Hinduism's seven sacred Sapta Puri cities and a great centre of Dravidian temple architecture. Famed for the Kamakshi Amman, Ekambareswarar …
At the southernmost tip of mainland India, Kanyakumari is famous for sunrises and sunsets over three converging seas, the Vivekananda Rock and the Thiruvalluvar statue. The best months to visit ar…
The Meenakshi Amman Temple is a historic Dravidian temple complex located in the heart of Madurai, an ancient city on the banks of the Vaigai River. Dedicated to Goddess Meenakshi, a powerful form …
Mahabalipuram, also historically known as Mamallapuram, is an extraordinary coastal heritage destination perched peacefully along the Bay of Bengal coastline, roughly 55 km south of Chennai, known …
One of the world's longest urban beaches, Chennai's Marina is a vast city shoreline of promenades, statues, sunrise crowds and street food along the Bay of Bengal. The best months to visit are rou…
Namakkal Fort sits on a single massive rock rising sheer from the middle of its namesake town. Fortified by the Madurai Nayaks in the 17th century and later contested by Hyder Ali and the British, …
Ooty sits at 2,240 metres and was built by the British as a hot-weather escape, which is still exactly what it is used for — and why April and May are the months to avoid, when the plains empty int…
Srirangam is a temple town on an island between the Kaveri and Kollidam rivers near Tiruchirappalli. It is built around the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, one of the largest functioning Hindu temple c…
Thanjavur, once Tanjore, sits in the fertile Kaveri delta and is dominated by the Brihadeeswarar Temple — the 'Big Temple'. Commissioned in 1010 CE by the Chola emperor Raja Raja I, it is one of th…
Thirumayam's ring fort was built in 1687 by Vijaya Raghunatha Sethupathi of Ramanathapuram and later held by the Tondaiman rulers of Pudukkottai. Its concentric walls wrap a rocky hill in the heart…
A former Danish colonial town on the Tamil coast, Tharangambadi pairs a quiet beach with the seafront Dansborg Fort and atmospheric colonial streets. The best months to visit are roughly November …
Velankanni, the 'Lourdes of the East', is the largest Christian pilgrimage centre in India — home to the Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health on the Bay of Bengal coast. Drawing millions of devotees…
Vellore Fort is a granite fortress in the center of Vellore town, Tamil Nadu, spanning about 133 acres and surrounded by a wide moat that once held crocodiles. It is best known as the site of the 1…
Rameshwaram sits at the very tip of a slender island connected to the Tamil Nadu mainland by the Pamban Bridge, looking out across the Palk Strait toward Sri Lanka. At its heart is the Ramanathaswa…
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