Pack your bags and head south for a holiday

There is a wide range of destinations to choose from. Starting from coastal areas to hill stations, from waterfalls to caves, from spiritual places to historical places, one is always hard pressed for choice. And thanks to this, apart from domestic tourists, the places are invariably filled with a huge number of foreign tourists at any given point of time. 

Madurai is one of the most popular destinations in southern India and it is well connected by road, rail and air. Not only this, the district itself has a number of scenic tourist destinations like the Meenakshi Amman Temple, Thirumalai Nakayar Mahal, Tirupparankundram Murugan Temple, Azhagar Temple, Palamudhir Cholai and others. 

Surrounding Madurai are other tourist destinations such as the Keeladi Archaeological site and Kutladampatti water falls. An official attached to the Tourism Department in Madurai, on request of anonymity, said that Madurai is a hot spot and and attracts tourists from across the globe every year. 

In 2016, 1.23 crore tourists had visited Madurai which is 20 percent higher than in 2015. The total number of tourists also include 90,000 foreign tourists which amount to about 1 percent of the total number of tourists, claimed the official. Amongst one of the most sought after tourist destinations in the South is the Kodaikanal hills in Dindigul district. 

Every year, lakhs of tourists visit Kodaikanal for its serene atmosphere and climatic conditions. Kodaikanal has several tourist spots on the hills such as caves, temples, parks and lakes. The season at Kodaikanal commences on April 1, but people have already started making a beeline for the place because of the rising temperatures. 

The season for waterfalls would commence only in June when the western ghats start receiving rain during the southwest monsoon season. Maheswari, a software engineer from Chennai and a travel maniac, said that she prefers southern districts for the cuisines that are offered. She had visited various places in Madurai but for her, the best experience was taking a tour of the Keeladi archaeological site which has several artifacts that date back several centuries.