Golden Chariot to promote 'Pride of the South', 'Southern Splendour' tours

The ongoing tour of the luxury train run by Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC) around Karnataka, billed as the `Pride of the South’ tour, and the upcoming tour of Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Kerala, known as ‘Southern Splendour’ trip have been integrated to create a unique package.  The target group of the `Jewel of the South’ is mainly tourists from abroad, who are keen on exploring as much of South India as possible in one trip. 

The package will be offered at a subsidised price at US $ 5,000, informed KSTDC Managing Director, Vinay Luthra. “The trips on the two routes if undertaken individually would cost US $ 5,660 and we are offering a discount of US $ 660 as an incentive to tourists,” he said. This two-week trip will take off after the `Southern Splendour’ trip chugs off next month.

This trip would be formally inaugurated on March 8 but the actual journey would begin on March 15. “Thirty percent of the seats have been booked for the Seven-night and eight-day trip, which will depart from Bangalore,” he said.

Southern Splendour

The itinerary for `Southern Splendour’, which costs US $ 3,150  per person ( US $ 450 per day) has also been finalised. The tour commences with an exploration of the must-visit places in Bangalore by a special bus and departure from Yeshwantpur at night. Chennai will be the first stoppage point and a day-long trip of the landmark spots here will be covered. A trip to Pondicherry and the famed Aurobindo Ashram and Auroville there figure next.

This will be followed by tours to temples during the next two days. The ancient, stunning temples in Kumbakonam and Thanjavur and the famed Meenakshi temple in Madurai are among the temples which would be covered.

From religious bliss, tourists can get heady with nature’s beauty in the beautiful sea side City of Tiruvananthapuram. A sightseeing trip to the little coastal village Poovar figures in the trip. The Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple will be a stopover point. The backwaters of Allepey and scenic spots Kochi would be touched upon the last day before the train returns  to Yeshwantpur.