South India Luxury Private Tour with 5 Star Hotels

Your flight lands at Kempegowda International Airport, around 35 km north of the city, and our representative meets you outside the arrivals hall with a name board and chilled towels. Your chauffeur loads the bags into the car, hands over a local SIM card if you have requested one, and runs through the next two weeks while you settle in. The drive to central Bengaluru takes about an hour, longer at rush hour, along the elevated Hebbal flyover and past the leafy army cantonment. Check-in at the hotel is pre-arranged, so you go straight to your room without waiting at the front desk, and our team confirms your breakfast and dining preferences for the stay.

Our usual choice in Bengaluru is the Taj West End, a Victorian-era property spread over twenty acres of rain trees and lawns, or the Leela Palace on Old Airport Road, subject to availability. Either hotel suits a quiet first evening: a swim, a massage to shake off the flight, and dinner at the hotel's South Indian restaurant where you can try a first plate of appam with vegetable stew or a Mangalorean ghee roast. If you arrive early in the day and feel lively, the driver can take you for a short sunset walk around Cubbon Park and the red Gothic front of the State Central Library.

Overnight stay in Bengaluru.

The morning begins with a proper Bengaluru breakfast at MTR, the vegetarian institution on Lalbagh Road that claims to have invented the rava idli during a wartime rice shortage. Your guide joins you there and walks you next door into Lalbagh Botanical Garden, laid out by Hyder Ali and finished by Tipu Sultan. The glasshouse, modelled on London's Crystal Palace, hosts flower shows twice a year, and nearby an outcrop of Peninsular Gneiss counts among the oldest exposed rocks on Earth. From there you drive north past the granite Vidhana Soudha, seat of the Karnataka legislature, which is photographed from outside only, and the High Court's red Attara Kacheri.

After lunch the car heads to Bangalore Palace, built for the Wodeyar family in the style of Windsor Castle, with Tudor arches, fortified towers and a ballroom of Belgian glass. An audio guide is included in the entry and adds amusing family stories. Late afternoon is free for the Commercial Street and UB City boutiques, where Karnataka silk, sandalwood and handwoven cotton are sold at fair fixed prices. In the evening your chauffeur can drop you at one of the city's craft breweries or at Karavalli, the well-known coastal restaurant at the Taj on Residency Road, for crab sukka and neer dosa.

Overnight stay in Bengaluru.

After breakfast you leave Bengaluru on the new access-controlled expressway, which has cut the old Mysuru road journey by almost an hour. Your first stop is Channapatna, the toy town, where families have turned ivory wood on lathes for over two centuries and coloured the pieces with natural lacquer. A small cooperative workshop lets you watch a spinning top or a set of nesting dolls being shaped and painted in minutes. The next halt is the Kamat Lokaruchi roadside restaurant near Ramanagara, popular for its thatched dining hall and the ragi mudde, a finger millet ball eaten with spicy saaru, which Karnataka farmers have relied on for generations.

You reach Mysuru by mid-afternoon and check into the Lalitha Mahal Palace, a white wedding-cake mansion built in the 1920s for the Viceroy's visits, or a comparable five-star property, subject to availability. The palace hotel's Italian marble staircase, ballroom and stained-glass dome make the evening tea feel slightly ceremonial. If today is a Sunday or a public holiday, your chauffeur drives you to the main palace at 7 pm, when nearly 100,000 bulbs light up its facade for 45 minutes, a sight that draws locals and visitors in equal numbers. On other days, dinner on the hotel terrace with views of Chamundi Hill rounds off the day nicely.

Overnight stay in Mysuru.

Your Mysuru guide meets you early so you reach Chamundi Hill before the tour buses. The road climbs past the 4.8-metre Nandi, carved from a single piece of black granite in the seventeenth century and still dressed with flowers and oil by local devotees. At the summit, the Chamundeshwari Temple has a seven-tiered gopuram and a colourful statue of the demon Mahishasura outside. Back in town, Mysore Palace opens at 10 am; inside, the Kalyana Mantapa has a peacock-patterned stained-glass ceiling brought from Glasgow, and the Durbar Hall overlooks the parade ground used during the Dasara festival. Shoes are left at the counter near the entrance, and the halls are walked barefoot on cool marble.

The afternoon takes you to the Karnataka Silk Industries factory, where you see mulberry silk thread wound, dyed and woven into Mysore crepe saris on Jacquard looms, followed by the government sandalwood oil factory showroom. Devaraja Market comes next, a covered maze of jasmine garlands, betel leaves, kumkum powder piled in perfect cones and bananas in a dozen sizes. Before heading back, stop at Guru Sweet Mart, run by descendants of the palace cook said to have created Mysore Pak, the rich gram flour and ghee fudge. Dinner tonight can be a thali at RRR or a quieter meal back at the Lalitha Mahal.

Overnight stay in Mysuru.

The road west from Mysuru runs through sugarcane fields and coconut groves before reaching Bylakuppe, one of the largest Tibetan settlements outside Tibet. Namdroling Monastery, known locally as the Golden Temple, has three gilded Buddha statues nearly 18 metres tall, and if you arrive before noon you may hear the young monks chanting in the main hall. The neighbouring cafes serve thukpa noodle soup and steamed momos, a pleasant early lunch. Your chauffeur then continues through Kushalnagar to the elephant camp at Dubare on the Cauvery river, where forest department mahouts bathe and feed their elephants each morning; on a late arrival you watch them resting on the riverbank instead.

Coorg, officially Kodagu, is a district of steep coffee estates shaded by silver oak and rosewood, with pepper vines climbing the trunks. Our usual choice is the Taj Madikeri Resort and Spa, set in a 180-acre rainforest, or the Evolve Back resort at Siddapur on a working coffee estate, both subject to availability. Afternoon tea arrives with local coffee and Coorgi bakery treats, and the rest of the day is for the infinity pool, the spa, or a walk along the property trails with a resident naturalist who points out Malabar whistling thrushes and giant squirrels. Dinner introduces pandi curry, slow-cooked pork darkened with kachampuli vinegar.

Overnight stay in Coorg.

A private coffee estate visit begins after breakfast, led by a planter whose family has grown arabica and robusta here for generations. You walk between the bushes to see the berries, the drying yards and the pulping sheds, and the visit ends with a cupping session comparing washed and natural coffees. Your chauffeur then drives you into Madikeri town for Raja's Seat, a garden on the ridge where the old Kodava kings watched the sunset over the valleys. The nearby Omkareshwara Temple is an unusual mix of Islamic domes and Hindu temple layout, built in 1820 by Lingarajendra II with a water tank full of fish.

After lunch you head to Abbey Falls, a short descent through coffee and spice estates to a hanging bridge that faces the cascade; the falls are fullest from July to October. The afternoon finishes back at the resort, where a Kodava cooking demonstration can be arranged for akki roti, rice flour flatbreads, kadambuttu rice dumplings and the bamboo shoot curry that local households prepare during the monsoon. Coorg is also famous for its homemade wines from passion fruit, ginger and gooseberry, and the hotel shop usually stocks a few bottles. Ask your chauffeur to stop at a spice outlet in Madikeri for cardamom, pepper and fresh coffee to carry home.

Overnight stay in Coorg.

Today is the longest road day of the tour, and the scenery justifies it. You leave Coorg after an early breakfast, drop south past Gonikoppal and Hunsur, and enter Bandipur Tiger Reserve on the national highway, which passes straight through the forest. Gates close to traffic at night, so morning timing is important. Spotted deer, gaur, langurs and wild elephants are regularly seen beside the road, and lucky travellers spot a tiger or leopard crossing. The highway continues into Mudumalai in Tamil Nadu without a break in the trees, and your driver knows the safe pullover points where stopping is allowed for photographs.

The final stretch is the Kallatti ghat, a steep climb of 36 hairpin bends that lifts you from the forest floor to more than 2,200 metres in under an hour. Cooler air and eucalyptus smell tell you that you have reached the Nilgiris. Our usual choice in Ooty is the Taj Savoy, a colonial hotel from the 1840s with log fires, cottage-style rooms and a flower garden, subject to availability. After the drive, an evening by the fireplace with a pot of high-grown Nilgiri tea is the obvious move. The hotel restaurant serves Anglo-Indian dishes such as mulligatawny soup and pepper chicken, a nod to the town's old club life.

Overnight stay in Ooty.

This morning your chauffeur drops you at Udhagamandalam station for the Nilgiri Mountain Railway, a UNESCO World Heritage line built by the British and still running through tunnels, viaducts and tea gardens. The section from Ooty down to Coonoor takes around an hour and a half, and reserved first-class seats are booked for you in advance; tickets are limited, so booking well ahead is essential. In Coonoor you visit Sim's Park, a sloping botanical garden with rare Australian and Japanese trees, then drive out to Dolphin's Nose viewpoint above the Catherine Falls gorge. A tea factory visit shows the withering, rolling and drying stages behind the Nilgiri leaf.

Your car brings you back up to Ooty for the afternoon. The Government Botanical Garden, laid out in 1848, has a fossilised tree trunk said to be twenty million years old and a sloping lawn where local families picnic. Next comes St Stephen's Church, whose timber beams were reportedly taken from Tipu Sultan's palace at Srirangapatna, and then a stroll along Commercial Road for homemade chocolates, eucalyptus oil and Ooty varkey, a crisp layered biscuit sold warm from the bakery. If you have energy left, Doddabetta, the highest point in the Nilgiris at 2,637 metres, gives a view on clear days across three states.

Overnight stay in Ooty.

Today you say goodbye to your Karnataka chauffeur after a final drive down the Coonoor ghat road to Coimbatore, which drops through tea gardens, banana groves and areca palms over about three hours. Coimbatore is a textile city, and if time allows you can stop at a handloom showroom for Kanchipuram or Coimbatore cotton saris before heading to the station. The express train to Ernakulam takes around three and a half to four hours, running through the Palakkad Gap, the only major break in the Western Ghats. Reserved executive or first-class AC seats are included, and our staff help with luggage on both platforms.

At Ernakulam Junction your Kerala chauffeur is waiting on the platform with a name card and the car parked close by. The drive to Fort Kochi takes about 40 minutes across the Venduruthy bridge and Willingdon Island. Our usual choice here is Brunton Boatyard, a restored Victorian shipyard on the harbour where cargo ships and dolphins pass the windows, or the Taj Malabar on Willingdon Island, subject to availability. Dinner at Brunton's History restaurant is themed around the Portuguese, Dutch, Jewish and Syrian Christian families who shaped Kochi cooking, so you might try a Dutch-style beef smoore or a Syrian Christian duck roast.

Overnight stay in Kochi.

Your Kochi guide begins at the Chinese fishing nets on the Fort Kochi waterfront, cantilevered timber frames lowered and raised by teams of fishermen using counterweights of stone. Nearby stands St Francis Church, the oldest European-built church in India, where Vasco da Gama was buried before his remains were returned to Lisbon. Santa Cruz Basilica, a short walk away, has painted ceilings and Gothic arches in pale cream and white. You then drive to Mattancherry Palace, gifted by the Portuguese to the Raja of Kochi and known for its wall murals from the Ramayana; it closes on Fridays, so the guide arranges your day accordingly.

Close by is Jew Town, where the Paradesi Synagogue of 1568 has a floor of blue-and-white hand-painted tiles from Canton and a clock tower with numerals in Hebrew, Latin and Malayalam. The synagogue closes on Fridays, Saturdays and Jewish holidays. The narrow lane outside is lined with antique warehouses and ginger godowns still smelling of spices. Lunch is fish moilee and appam at a heritage cafe, after which you visit the Kerala Folklore Museum at Thevara, a private collection of masks, costumes and woodcarving set in a traditional three-storey building. Late afternoon is free for the art galleries along Burgher Street before a sunset harbour cruise.

Overnight stay in Kochi.

You leave Kochi after breakfast and head east through Perumbavoor and Kothamangalam, where pineapple farms and rubber trees line the road. The ghat road begins after Neriamangalam, a small town with a granite bridge built by the British in 1935 across the Periyar river. Along the way the driver stops at Cheeyappara and Valara waterfalls, which spill straight onto the roadside rocks during and after the monsoon. Spice gardens appear near Pallivasal and Kallar, and a short guided walk lets you see cardamom pods, black pepper and nutmeg growing on the shrubs and trees, before the road climbs into the green carpet of tea gardens that wrap every hill around Munnar.

Our usual choice in Munnar is Windermere Estate, a planter's bungalow turned boutique hotel on a cardamom estate, or the Blanket Hotel near Attukal waterfall, subject to availability. Both have rooms that look straight across the hills, so spend the late afternoon on your balcony watching clouds drift through the valleys. As evening falls, temperatures drop quickly, especially between November and February, so a jacket is handy. The resort kitchen prepares Kerala dishes such as kappa and meen curry, tapioca with spicy fish, along with continental options. Ask the front desk to schedule a private tea tasting tomorrow at one of the boutique estates nearby.

Overnight stay in Munnar.

Morning starts at Eravikulam National Park, 13 km from town, home to the endangered Nilgiri tahr, a sure-footed mountain goat that grazes close to the visitors' path. Forest department buses take you from the entry point to the Rajamala section, and the park usually closes for calving from February to March. Neelakurinji shrubs, which flower only once every twelve years, cover these slopes in blue when in bloom. Your next stop is the Tata Tea Museum in town, which shows the history of tea in the High Ranges, including a working mini factory and early equipment; the museum closes on Mondays, and the guide sets your schedule around that.

In the afternoon you drive the scenic road to Top Station, around 32 km away near the Tamil Nadu border, passing Mattupetty Dam, Echo Point and Kundala Lake. On clear days Top Station gives deep views down into the plains of Theni district. Earlier generations of planters used a ropeway here to send tea down the slopes, and the old station platform still stands. On the way back, the driver can stop at a roadside stall for hot banana fritters called pazham pori, and spiced tea poured from a height to cool it. The evening is free for a spa session at the resort.

Overnight stay in Munnar.

The drive west from Munnar descends through Adimali and Kothamangalam, then turns south toward Kottayam through rubber estates and paddy fields. The landscape changes quickly: hills give way to flat green farmland, coconut palms and canals that run beside the road. Your chauffeur stops for lunch at a family-run restaurant serving a Kerala sadya on banana leaf, or at a toddy shop known for karimeen fry, pearl spot fish coated in red chilli masala. You reach Kumarakom by mid-afternoon, a quiet village on the eastern shore of Vembanad Lake, the longest lake in India and a protected Ramsar wetland that supports thousands of migratory water birds each winter.

Our usual choice in Kumarakom is the Kumarakom Lake Resort, with traditional Kerala villas brought from older homes and reassembled with their carved teak ceilings, or the Taj Kumarakom, a restored Dutch manor on the lakeshore, subject to availability. Many villas have private plunge pools or canal-facing verandas. After check-in, take a short sunset cruise on the lake in the resort's country boat, watching cormorants and egrets return to roost. Dinner can be set up on the lake jetty with lanterns and seafood such as tiger prawns, crab and the local karimeen. The resort usually hosts a short Mohiniyattam dance performance in the evenings.

Overnight stay in Kumarakom.

The Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary opens at 6 am, and the first hours are the best for sightings, so a naturalist collects you early for a walk along its 14-acre trail of mangroves and lagoons. In winter the area receives migratory birds such as the Siberian stork and the garganey, while resident species include darters, kingfishers, purple herons and the Indian pond heron. Bring binoculars or borrow a pair from the resort. After returning for a late breakfast, the rest of the morning is free for swimming or simply watching the lake traffic from your veranda as fishermen in narrow canoes pass by.

In the afternoon a signature Ayurveda treatment is booked at the resort's spa, usually an Abhyanga full-body massage with warm herbal oils, followed by a steam bath. A qualified doctor checks your constitution first and adjusts the oils to suit you. Later, a guided village walk introduces you to coir rope making, toddy tapping on coconut palms and the duck farmers who herd hundreds of birds through the canals. You can join a cooking demonstration of Kerala fish curry with kudampuli, or Malabar tamarind, in the evening. Ask the resort for a canoe ride along the narrow canals at dusk, when the waters glow orange.

Overnight stay in Kumarakom.

A short drive brings you to Alleppey, where your private premium houseboat waits at the jetty around noon. These kettuvallams were once rice barges, built from jackfruit wood planks stitched together with coir rope, and today they have air-conditioned bedrooms, sun decks and an open dining area. Your crew includes a captain, a cook and a deckhand. Lunch is served once the boat leaves the jetty and moves into the canal network, usually rice, fish curry, thoran made with vegetables and coconut, avial, pappadam and fresh fruit. The afternoon cruise passes village churches, temples, schools and families washing clothes on the banks.

The houseboat moves through Kuttanad, a region known as the rice bowl of Kerala, where farming happens below sea level behind clay dikes. In the afternoon you can stop at a village for fresh coconut water or step ashore at a farm. As evening comes, the houseboat anchors at a quiet spot, since government rules limit cruising after dark, and the cook prepares dinner, often with prawns or local fish from the morning market. The quiet sounds of frogs and paddling canoes make it easy to rest well. Breakfast tomorrow is served on board as the sun rises over the canals.

Overnight stay in Alleppey on board your private houseboat.

The houseboat returns to the jetty by around 9 am after a breakfast of puttu, steamed rice cakes, with banana and kadala curry made from black chickpeas, or eggs if you prefer. The crew helps carry your bags to the car, and your chauffeur takes you north on the coastal highway toward Kochi. Depending on your flight time, there may be a chance to stop at a cashew shop, a coir handicraft outlet or a spice store in Ernakulam for last purchases. The drive takes roughly two hours, but traffic around Kochi can be heavy, so we allow extra time when scheduling the departure transfer.

Your chauffeur drops you at Cochin International Airport, the world's first fully solar-powered airport, in good time for your onward flight. If your departure is in the late evening, a day-use room near the airport can be arranged on request. Before leaving, take a minute to fill out our short feedback form, which helps founder Magan Singh and the team refine the trip for future travellers. We hope the mix of royal palaces, coffee country, hill stations and backwaters has given you a fresh view of South India, and that we will see you again for a trip to Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu or the Himalaya.