Drive southwest to Mysore (145 km, 3 hrs). The Mysore Palace (Amba Vilas) — one of India's largest and most ornate royal palaces, completed 1912 in Indo-Saracenic grandeur. Chamundi Hills for the Sri Chamundeshwari Temple and the 17th-century Nandi bull sculpture. Evening: Devaraja Market — covered 19th-century market of flowers, incense, silk, and Mysore sandal soap. If arriving on a Sunday, the palace illumination (97,000 bulbs, 7–7:45 PM) is unmissable.

Drive northwest from Mysore to Hassan (120 km, 2.5 hrs), the base for visiting the extraordinary Hoysala temples — among the greatest architectural achievements in Indian history, and among the least visited major monuments in the country.

Belur's Chennakeshava Temple (1117 CE) is covered from base to tower in an unbroken band of sculptural decoration — friezes of elephants, horses, scrollwork, scenes from the Puranas, and extraordinarily detailed figurative sculpture. Halebid's Hoysaleshwara Temple is even larger, its twin shrines divided by a processional path and their outer walls containing some of the most refined stone carving ever produced in India. Allow at least 2 hours at each site.

Drive south from Hassan to Ooty (230 km, about 5.5 hours) through the Hassan–Sakleshpur–Manjarabad route — one of the most scenic drives in Karnataka, passing coffee and pepper estates, the historic Manjarabad Fort, and the dense forest of the Western Ghats. Cross into Tamil Nadu and climb the dramatic Nilgiri Hills to Ooty at 2,240 metres. Check in to your hotel. Evening walk through Ooty's colonial-era streets and a visit to the Ooty Lake.

Morning in Ooty: the Botanical Garden (22 hectares, established 1848; 20-million-year-old fossilised tree) and Doddabetta Peak (2,637m — highest point in the Nilgiris, with views across Tamil Nadu and Karnataka). Drive to Kodaikanal (190 km, ~5 hours) through the Palani Hills. Arrive at India's 'Princess of Hill Stations' at 2,133 metres on a granite plateau. Evening walk around Kodaikanal Lake.

Full day in Kodaikanal. Coaker's Walk — a 1 km promenade cut into the cliff edge of the plateau with vertical drops of 2,000m to the plains (a telescope is stationed for panoramic viewing). Pillar Rocks — three vertical granite pillars rising 122m above the valley. Berijam Lake — 25 km through dense shola forest reserve (Forest Department permit arranged by us). Bear Shola Falls. Evening: the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory — one of Asia's oldest, with public access to the grounds at dusk.

Drive down from Kodaikanal to Madurai (120 km, about 3.5 hours) — the descent from 2,133m to the Tamil Nadu plains is spectacular, with the city of Madurai eventually appearing far below. Check in and visit the Meenakshi Amman Temple in the afternoon — one of the greatest temples in the world. This vast complex, dedicated to Goddess Meenakshi (a form of Parvati) and Lord Sundareswarar (Shiva), has been in continuous use since the 5th century BCE. Its 14 gopurams range in height from 45 to 52 metres and are encrusted with thousands of painted stucco sculptures. The 1,000-pillar Kilikoondu Mandapam and the sacred Porthamarai Kulam tank are extraordinary.

The night puja (closing ceremony) at the temple, at around 9:30 PM, when the deity is ceremonially carried to the inner sanctum, is one of the most atmosphere-laden rituals in South India — deeply worth attending.

Morning: the Thiruparankundram Murugan Temple — a rock-cut cave temple 8 km from Madurai, one of the six Arupadai Veedu (abodes of Murugan) in Tamil Nadu, and one of the oldest cave temples in South India. Drive east to Rameshwaram (165 km, 3.5 hrs) — the road ending at the extraordinary Pamban Bridge, a 2-km drawbridge over the Palk Strait to Pamban Island. Rameshwaram is one of the four dhams (sacred pilgrimage sites) of Hinduism, where the Ramanathaswamy Temple stands on the site where Lord Rama is said to have worshipped Shiva before the crossing to Lanka. The 22 theertham (sacred tank) corridor inside the temple — the world's longest temple corridor at 1.2 km — is an extraordinary procession of pilgrims and ceremonial bathing.

Morning: Dhanushkodi — the ghost town at the eastern tip of Pamban Island, accessible by 4WD along the beach, where the ruins of a 1964-cyclone-destroyed town and the meeting of the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean make for an eerie and beautiful landscape. Drive south to Kanyakumari (270 km, about 5.5 hours) — the very tip of mainland India, where the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, and Indian Ocean meet.

Arrive in the afternoon. Take the short boat ride to the Vivekananda Rock Memorial (where Swami Vivekananda meditated in 1892) and the towering Thiruvalluvar Statue (a 133-foot granite figure of the Tamil poet-saint). Visit the Kumari Amman Temple on the seafront. Watch the sunset from the famous tri-sea confluence point.

The sunrise at Kanyakumari is the reason to spend a night here: as the sun rises over the Bay of Bengal, it simultaneously illuminates the Arabian Sea to the west — one of the most genuinely moving natural experiences in India. After breakfast, continue to Trivandrum Airport (90 km, 2 hours) for your departure flight, or continue on to Kerala for further exploration. The tour concludes here at the tip of India.