India: Images of South India


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Overview
Highlights
- Explore southern India from coast to coast—from the spice trade of the Malabar Coast to the colonial influences on the Coromandel
- Game viewing at Periyar National Park—elephants, guar, and even the elusive tiger
- Visit Old Cochin and the temples of Madurai
- Float through the beautiful serene backwaters of Kerala, witnessing the everyday life of the local people fishing and farming
What's this trip about?
Details
Travel Themes
Destinations
Activities
Trip includes
- Expert leadership
- Accommodations as noted in itinerary (or similar)
- If applicable, tent or safari accommodations and all arrangements in the field, including camp and cook staffs,
- Comfortable and roomy two-person tents, kitchen and dining tents, and other community equipment
- Meals as noted in the itinerary
- Airport transfers
- Sightseeing as noted in the itinerary
- Ground transportation
- Additional guides and porters where necessary
- Tips for lodge, hotel, or camp staff
- Entrance fees and permits, unless noted separately in costs
- Basic medical and evacuation insurance
Itinerary
Meals: Dinner
Arrive in Cochin, India. Your guide or a representative will meet you outside the customs area at the airport. He or she will answer questions, brief you on the immediate arrangements, and escort you to your hotel. (We're holding rooms from 12 noon on Day 1.) The rema...
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Cochin was originally settled by the Portuguese and boasts a natural harbor with lagoons, canals, and fishing hamlets. One of the three biggest ports on India's west coast, it is also an industrially developed area, with the coir industry of special importance (coir i...
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
After breakfast, we drive through the Western Ghats to Kottayam, where we board private houseboats for a peaceful, scenic trip through the backwaters of Kerala. On this beautiful, serene waterway, we'll see the everyday life o...
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
We'll disembark from the boats at Kavanatinkara, from which we have a 3- to 3½-hour drive to Periyar National Park. The road leaves the coastal plain, then winds into the Cardamon Hills, which form part of the great Western Gh...
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Accommodation: The Gateway Pasumalai Hotel
In the morning, we'll take a birding walk near our hotel. Late in the morning, we'll drive to Madurai (a little over an hour), the oldest inhabited city on the Indian peninsula, and one of the country's oldest overall. Upon arrival, transfer to the hotel. The remainder of the afternoon is free to rest.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Accommodation: The Gateway Pasumalai Hotel
We'll depart on a full day sightseeing tour of the city, scenically located on the Vaigai River. Madurai was the seat of many important Tamil and Sultanate rulers and later bec...
Transfer to the airport in the late morning for the one-hour flight to Chennai (formerly Madras). Upon arrival, transfer to the airport hotel. The afternoon is free to relax before catching your flight home (you’ll have day rooms available at the hotel until 9:00 p.m....
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Dates & Availability
Price Notes Details:
2016
$5,595 (solo traveller)
$200 internal airfare – Madurai/Chennai - subject to change
2017:
$5,895 (solo traveler)
$250 internal airfare – Madurai/Chennai - subject to change
Check Current Availability, prices, specials with MT Sobek (Mountain Travel Sobek).
The total tour cost includes the tour price (regular or promotional) and the compulsory local payment. The promotional price is subject to change. Check directly with the operator for the latest price offer. The tour operator requires you to pay only the tour price to purchase your travel. The compulsory local payment will be paid when you join the trip. All prices are based on double, twin or triple share occupancy. Solo passengers will be accommodated in a double, twin or triple room according to availability with a passenger(s) of the same gender. Single supplement only needs to be paid if the passenger does not want to share and requests their own room. Discounts can only be applied at the time of booking and cannot be added at a later date, regardless of any changes made to the original booking.
Prices may vary due to local taxes and trip seasonality. Click "Request Info" to inquire directly with the tour operator for the final trip price.

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Logistics
What's excluded
- International airfare
- Meals not noted on itinerary
- Insurance other than basic medical and evacuation insurance noted above (we strongly recommend you purchase the supplementary trip insurance offered by Mountain Travel Sobek, which includes trip cancellation insurance)
- Optional tipping to leader, guides and local staff
- Excess baggage charges
- Airport taxes (international—varies by location)
- Cost of medical immunizations
- Items of a personal nature (sodas, alcoholic beverages, laundry, etc.).
Accommodation
- If written cancellation is received: Cancellation fee will be:
- 90 days prior to departure $150
- 89 to 61 days prior to departure $400
- 60 to 46 days prior to departure 50% of Land/Cruise Cost
- 45 to 0 days prior to departure 100% of Land/Cruise Cost
5 Breakfasts, 5 Lunches and 6 Dinners
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