Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka Temple Tour

Tamil Shaiva worship did not stop at the shoreline. The same hymns sung in the great Chola temples of the Kaveri delta were sung in Jaffna and on the cliffs of Trincomalee more than a thousand years ago, and the poet-saints who composed them praised shrines on both coasts. Our Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka Temple Tour follows that shared tradition over fourteen days, from the towers of Kanchipuram, Chidambaram, Tanjore and Madurai across the strait to Nallur, Koneswaram and finally the Buddhist Temple of the Tooth in Kandy.

In India you travel south by road in short hops, the longest of them around four and a half hours, and stand inside each of the three Chola shrines that UNESCO lists together. From Madurai you fly via Chennai on the daily direct service to Jaffna, a short hop that lands you in the Tamil north of Sri Lanka. Three nights in Jaffna allow time for temple rituals, the island shrine of Nainativu and the springs of Keerimalai before you cross the island to the east coast and the hill capital of Kandy.

This Tamil Nadu temple tour with a Sri Lanka extension suits Hindu travelers and NRI families tracing roots in the Jaffna or Tamil Nadu diaspora, as well as anyone curious about South Indian sacred architecture. All transport and guiding are private, Tamil-speaking guides can be arranged, and your guides explain etiquette at each shrine, from shirt removal for men at Nallur to rules on cameras at Madurai. Temple festival dates can be built in on request, and November to March is the most comfortable season.