Periyar and Madurai: Spice Forests to Temple City
Route Covered
Overnight stops in day orderOverview
This Periyar and Madurai tour package is a private five-day, four-night trip from Madurai Airport. You spend two nights in Thekkady, Kerala, for Periyar Lake and the spice hills, then two nights in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, for the Meenakshi Temple and the Nayak palace. December to February suits it best.
For those wanting lakeside and plantation days, then a temple city, and happy with two drives near 3 hours each
Highlights
Good to know
Two border crossings
Day 1 and Day 3 each cross between Kerala and Tamil Nadu by road, roughly 3 hours eachForest bookings
Boat trips and other activities in the tiger reserve go through its official online booking, so times are fixed closer to travelTemple etiquette
Shoes come off at temple entrances, and shoulders and knees are coveredCool mornings
In December and January Thekkady can drop to about 13 C, so pack a light jacketDay-by-Day Itinerary
- Road into the Cardamom Hills
Madurai Airport to Thekkady, Kerala
- 1Meet your driver at Madurai Airport
- 2Drive west into Kerala, about 136 km
- 3Check in near Kumily
- 4Evening at leisure, with a stroll past the spice shops if you have the energy
- Periyar Lake boat trip
- Mullaperiyar Dam story
- Spice plantation walk
- Kumily spice shops
Periyar Lake and a spice plantation walk
- 1Morning cruise across Periyar Lake within the tiger reserve, where deer, bison or elephants may appear along the shore
- 2Hear how the 1895 Mullaperiyar Dam created this lake and also feeds Madurai
- 3Spend the afternoon strolling a spice estate near Kumily
- 4Bamboo rafting or a forest trek can replace the cruise, if the reserve offers it
- Drive through Cumbum and Theni
- Thirumalai Nayakkar Mahal
Back into Tamil Nadu: Thirumalai Nayakkar Mahal, Madurai
- 1After breakfast, set off from Thekkady for the roughly 139 km run east via Cumbum and Theni
- 2Check in to your Madurai hotel
- 3In the afternoon visit the Thirumalai Nayakkar Mahal, 2 km south-east of the Meenakshi Temple
- 4Free evening, perhaps with a glass of jigarthanda
- Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple
- Thousand-Pillar Hall
- Gandhi Memorial Museum
- Keezhadi excavation site (optional)
- Evening palanquin ceremony
Meenakshi Temple, Gandhi museum and the evening ceremony
- 1Morning at the Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple: gopurams, the Thousand-Pillar Hall and its museum
- 2Midday at the Gandhi Memorial Museum in Rani Mangammal's old palace
- 3Optional afternoon at the Keezhadi dig site and museum, about 13 to 15 km away
- 4Return to the temple in the evening for the nightly palanquin ceremony
- Vandiyur Mariamman Teppakulam
Teppakulam tank and departure from Madurai Airport
- 1If your flight leaves late enough, see the Vandiyur Mariamman Teppakulam first thing, roughly 2 km from the Meenakshi Temple
- 2Go back to the hotel
- 3Then ride to Madurai Airport, which sits about 12 km south of the city centre
Indicative — varies with season and hotel category.
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Trip Facts
Local Activities & Events
Updated Oct 3, 2026Tamil Nadu — across your trip
Kanda Sashti and Soorasamharam
festivalSix days of fasting and worship at Tiruchendur's Murugan temple lead to Soorasamharam, the re-enactment of Murugan's victory over the demon Surapadman.
Karthigai Deepam
festivalArunachaleswarar temple in Tiruvannamalai holds a ten-day festival that ends with a flame lit on Arunachala hill at dusk and an overnight walk around it.
Kerala — across your trip
Vettukadu Feast
festivalMadre de Deus Church in Thiruvananthapuram marks the feast of Christ the King over ten days, with worshippers of several faiths attending.
Champions Boat League: Kayamkulam
sportsA snake-boat race at Kayamkulam in Alappuzha district, a round of the 2026 Champions Boat League.
Kalpathy Ratholsavam
festivalChariot festival in Kalpathy, Palakkad, where decorated chariots are pulled through the village streets from the Viswanatha Swamy Temple.
Sabarimala Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrim season
festivalPilgrim season at the Ayyappa temple in Pathanamthitta district, from the Mandalam opening through Mandala Pooja and Makaravilakku to closing in January.
Champions Boat League final and President's Trophy Boat Race
sportsThe league's closing round on Ashtamudi Lake in Kollam, held together with the President's Trophy Boat Race.
Guruvayur Ekadasi
festivalEleventh-day observance at the Guruvayur Sree Krishna Temple in Thrissur, with strict fasting and elephant processions.
Events are reviewed by our team before publishing and drop off after they end. Please confirm timings and availability with us before your trip — local schedules can change without notice.
What's Included & Excluded
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