Trip to Southern Tamil Nadu – Madurai, Rameswaram and Kanyakumari
This holiday season of 2010, I was planning a trip of 2 – 3 days. I checked for couple of options like Vishakapatnam (vizag) in Andra Pradesh or Thanjavur, Madurai and Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu. First went to check train tickets for Vishakhapatnam but no tickets were available. Then we were left with the option of Madurai. My research shown that it is not possible to cover Madurai, Rameswaram and Tanjavur in 3 days. So we restructured our plan for only Madurai and Rameswaram. Please note that, Tanjavur has many places to see and you must give time at Breehadeshwara temple to enjoy its architectural beauty. There are also many places around Tanjavur like Kumbakonam. There are direct buses from Bangalore and Chennai to Tanjavur and Kumbakonam.
Train tickets for Madurai were not available. So if you are going for holiday then plan early. Fix the date as soon as possible and execute it as early as possible too in terms of buying travel tickets, booking hotels etc. However, I was lucky to get tickets on KSRTC bus on 29th December 2010. But I had to cancel the ticket as my friend could not come on that day. The cancellation cost me Rs 90. So while booking ticket on KSRTC make sure about your date of journey and book the ticket. I booked tickets for 30th December 2010, 9 pm and return ticket from Madurai on 3rd January, 2011, 9.45 pm.
Ticket cost Bangalore to Madurai per person is Rs 312. If you purchase return ticket at the same time, you will get around 10% discount. All KSRTC Tamil Nadu buses these days leaves from Shanti Nagar bus stand platform # 4. On 30/12/2010 I left home around 7.15 pm and reached the bus stand in time. The Rajahamsa bus left around 9.10 pm.
Route taken was: Shanti Nagar bus stand – Dairy circle – Madiwala – Hosur road – Krishnagiri – Salem – Dindigul – Madurai
The bus given stoppage at Hotel Poli near Krishnagiri. Very tasty food there. After pet puja (stomach service) I slept on our onward journey to Madurai. Road is very good and saw a couple of toll gates on the way.
I will be giving the details of the trip on a day by day basis:
Day 1 – Madurai
Day 2 – Rameswaram
Day 3 – Kanyakumari
Day 4 – Madurai
Remaining details coming soon…..