Five nights covers Madurai, Thanjavur and Chettinad; eight adds Mahabalipuram's shore carvings and Pondicherry's French grid. Temples are best at opening and again in the evening, so the middle of each day tends to go to Chettinad mansions, weavers or the drive.

Chettinad is the reason many guests extend. Merchant houses built on Burmese teak and Italian tile, most of them still family-owned, a few taken on as hotels, and the best food in South India served in them.

Dress codes are enforced and cameras are restricted in inner sanctums. Our guides are temple - literate rather than generalists, which changes what you see by a considerable margin.