Private tour of Madurai city with guide for a cultural immersion

4.8 (37 reviews) 8 hours Free cancellation Private tour

out of 5

37 reviews

4.8

Madurai Meenakshi temple — Photos: the activity supplier, via Viator

Thirumalai Nayak Hall — Photos: the activity supplier, via Viator

About this activity

Experience cultural immersion in Madurai with its 2500 year old heritage at Meenakshi Temple, architectural marvel of Thirumalai Nayakar Palace, the charm of a Potters village, the Gandhi Museum, and a local bazaar walk.

Our company is committed to strengthening local communities. We help train and employ local guides and support local businesses to ensure travel dollars stay where they are spent.

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At a glance

Duration: 8 hours
Confirmation: Instant confirmation
Ticket: Mobile or paper ticket accepted
Group: Your group only
People per booking: 1–15
Guide: English
Operated by: 5 Senses Walks

Ages: Infants (0–2 years) · Children (3–12 years) · Adults (13–99 years)

What is included

Included

Included: Private car
Included: Entrance charges
Included: Guide

Itinerary

Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple

2 hours

We visit the Madurai Meenakshi Temple, one of the largest Temples of the World and an Architectural marvel. Over the last 2500 years Madurai Meenakshi Temple has been the lifeline of the City of Madurai. Madurai Meenakshi Temple has played a crucial role in promoting Tamil Art, Music, Dance & Culture. In fact, Madurai Meenakshi Temple is supposed to have been the host of the third assembly of Tamil Sangam, the ancient Literature Meet. As many as 30000 sculptures can be found in the Madurai Meenakshi Note that the following items are not allowed inside the Meenakshi temple. You can leave these either in the hotel itself or in the car.

Mobiles, sharp metallic objects, perfume/sprays and lip sticks.
Thirumalai Nayakar Mahal

1 h 30 min Admission included

We visit the magnificent Thirumala Nayakar Palace. This was build by the Nayak Kings in 1636. The building we see today was the main Palace where the King lived. The original Palace Complex was four times bigger than the present structure and had a royal residence, theatre, shrine, apartments, armoury, palanquin place, royal bandstand, quarters, ponds and gardens.

Its architecture inspired a whole genre of Indo-Saracenic style of buildings during British India.
Gandhi Memorial Museum

45 min Admission included

Gandhi Museum is located the old palace of Rani Mangammal. The museum brings alive the freedom struggle. The Gandhian movement is well depicted as a picture gallery.

Madurai was chosen for this museum as Gandhiji took important decisions during his visits to Madurai. in 1921 he decided to give up his rich dressing pattern when he was visiting Madurai. The doors of Meenakshi Amman temple were thrown open to Harijans in Madurai and the battle against untouchability had a win. Gandhiji visited the temple in 1946 along with the Harijans and that was a defining moment in this struggle.
Stop 4

45 min

Vilachery is a potters village near Madurai. Over 200 families live here and most are into pottery. They make dolls for scores of festivals round the year. The paper mache dolls made here adorn South Indian homes during the 9 day festival of Navratri.
Stop 5

30 min

We end the Madurai tour with a bazaar walk. Madurai has a famous wholesale market for bananas. We will walk past many different varieties of Bananas. The tour ends with a sip of Jigarthanda , the most famous local cold beverage of Madurai!