Madurai, Rameshwaram & Dhanushkodi Long Weekend

• Overnight travel
• Temple visit
• Heritage walk

Board on Friday night and wake in Madurai. The day is built around the temple's hours: the great temple early, the Nayak palace and Gandhi museum through the midday closure, and the old bazaars after dark.

1. 20:30Board the Tempo Traveller (Friday night). First pickup at RMZ Ecospace, Bellandur, then Silk Board and Electronic City (near M5 Mall). Pack one set of temple-appropriate clothes at the top of your bag for the morning.

2. 21:30Introductions on board. Your trip captain runs a short round of introductions as we leave the city on the Hosur–Krishnagiri highway, then it is lights down for the night drive south.

3. 05:30Arrive Madurai, freshen up at the hotel. Early check-in to shower and change. Dress code for the temple: shoulders and knees covered, no shorts; dhotis or trousers for men, sarees, salwars or long skirts for women.

4. 06:30Meenakshi Amman temple. Walk the tank of the golden lotus, the Hall of a Thousand Pillars and the shrines of Meenakshi and Sundareswarar. Phones are not allowed inside; leave them in the vehicle or at the deposit counter.

5. 09:00South Indian breakfast. Idli, pongal and filter coffee after the temple. The streets around the east tower are already busy with flower sellers by now.

6. 10:30Thirumalai Nayak Palace. A 17th-century palace of giant white columns and stucco arches, built by the ruler who shaped much of Madurai. The courtyard is at its best while the light is still soft.

7. 12:30Lunch in Madurai. Pay-as-you-go. A banana-leaf meals plate, or kari dosai if you want to eat like the city does.On your own

8. 14:00Gandhi Memorial Museum, then rest. Housed in an old Nayak palace, it holds the blood-stained cloth Gandhi wore when he was shot. Afterwards, back to the hotel to sit out the hottest hours while the temple is closed.

9. 17:30Evening walk around the temple streets. The gopurams glow as the lamps come on. Browse Pudhu Mandapam's tailors and brassware stalls, and try a glass of jigarthanda, Madurai's cold milk-and-almond-gum drink.On your own

10. 20:00Dinner on your own. Pay-as-you-go. Madurai stays up late; parotta and salna stalls are open well into the night.On your own

11. 21:30Overnight in Madurai. We leave for Rameshwaram at 06:30, so pack tonight and keep a change of clothes handy for the temple wells.

• Temple visit
• Sunset

A morning drive to the island over the Pamban road bridge, the Ramanathaswamy temple before it closes at one, and an afternoon with Dr Kalam's memorial and the temple of floating stones.

1. 06:00Breakfast and check-out. An early breakfast at the hotel before we head east across the flat Ramanathapuram plains.

2. 06:30Drive to Rameshwaram. The land thins into palms, salt pans and fishing hamlets as we near the coast. Keep sunglasses and sunscreen close; the light off the water is fierce.

3. 10:15Pamban bridge viewpoint. A stop on the road bridge over the Palk Strait. Below runs the new vertical-lift rail bridge that replaced the century-old span in 2025, with fishing boats bobbing in turquoise water.

4. 11:00Ramanathaswamy temple. Walk the vast pillared corridors and, if you wish, take the ritual bath at the 22 temple wells (carry a change of clothes). The temple closes around 13:00 and reopens at 15:00.

5. 13:00Lunch and hotel check-in. Pay-as-you-go lunch in town, then check in, dry off and rest through the afternoon heat.On your own

6. 15:30Dr APJ Abdul Kalam National Memorial. A calm memorial at Pei Karumbu with his personal belongings, models of missiles he worked on and letters. Photography is restricted inside.

7. 17:00Panchamukhi Hanuman temple and floating stones. A small shrine where pumice-like stones float in a water tank, linked to the legend of the bridge to Lanka.

8. 18:00Sunset by the sea, evening free. Watch the sky change from the shore, or return to the temple for the evening rituals. Dinner is pay-as-you-go.On your own

9. 21:00Overnight in Rameshwaram. Alarm at 04:45 tomorrow. Keep a windcheater and a cap out; Dhanushkodi is breezy at dawn.

• Temple visit

A first-light drive to Arichal Munai, the ruins of Dhanushkodi and Kothandaramaswamy temple, then breakfast, check-out and the long drive back to Bengaluru.

1. 05:15Leave for Dhanushkodi. About 20 km on a narrow road with sea on both sides. Access depends on the police and the weather, so the exact plan is confirmed the evening before.

2. 06:00Arichal Munai, where the road ends. Sunrise over the point where the Bay of Bengal meets the Gulf of Mannar. The sea is rough here; enjoy it from the sand, not in the water.

3. 07:00Ruins of the old town. The roofless church, the railway station platform and the coral-stone walls left by the 1964 cyclone. Walk slowly; it is a strangely quiet place.

4. 08:15Kothandaramaswamy temple. A small temple on the Dhanushkodi road, the only building to survive the cyclone, tied to Vibhishana's surrender to Rama.

5. 09:30Breakfast and check-out. Breakfast at the hotel, a shower and time to pick up dried fish, shell crafts or palm-leaf baskets in town.

6. 12:00Depart Rameshwaram for Bengaluru. Back over Pamban and west through Madurai. Lunch is a pay-as-you-go highway stop along the way.

7. 20:00Dinner stop en route. Pay-as-you-go dinner at a highway restaurant near Salem, then settle in for the last stretch.On your own

• Travel day

We reach Bengaluru in the small hours and drop you at the same pickup points.

1. 02:00Arrive Bengaluru, trip ends. Drop-offs at Electronic City (M5 Mall), Silk Board and RMZ Ecospace. Timing depends on traffic and the Dhanushkodi schedule.