South India Tourism

South India is surrounded by water on three sides. The Vindhya mountain range separates South India from North India. People in southern India are from Dravidian race with unique culture and traditions.

Climate
South India has the tropical climate which is less harsh compared with Northern States. The states bears lush green tropical vegetation in the coastal areas.

Where to go?
The beauty of south India extends from the back waters of Kerala to exotic coral islands and lush green hill stations in Tamil Nadu. South India has excellent beaches with coconut tress. The golden Marina beach in Chennai is one of the longest beach in the world. One can even enjoy peace and greenery of places like Ooty.

Southern region has been attracting most of foreign investment in the recent times.

Kerela: Famous for its festivals that are celebrated year round, Kerela has multi culturism. Kerela's culture is distinct and unique and that has made it popular to tourists from around the world.

One of the major celebrations is Onam, which is Malayali's favourite and most colorful festival, heralding the harvest season in the months of August- September. Also is famous for dance, which is a beautiful blending of color, dance, music, drama, and expressions.

Lakshadweep: Very similar to the Kerela, people follow conservative customs and traditions but are liberal in approach. They posses friendly and honest attitude.

Karnataka: The sixth largest state of India, Karnataka is a unique blend of a glorious past and a rich present. It is the only state in India where gold is found. It is the land of silk and sandal, of coffee and cardamom. To the composite culture of India, the contribution of Karnataka, is in no way inferior to that of any other region of India. In fact, in many fields, Karnataka's contribution far exceeds that of the other regions individually.

Bangalore, the Capital city of Karnataka, has a charm of its own. Bangalore city, the software hub of the world can match any other city in the west. Popularly called the garden city, Bangalore is one of most jazzy places in India.

Tamil Nadu: Tamil Nadu, lies around and south of the curve of the Eastern Ghats as it goes to merge with the Western Ghats in the Nilgiris. Tamil Nadu has some of the oldest prehistoric settlements of India. This is a land of innumerable, incomparable temples and is famous for the Bharatnatyam, the traditional dance of Tamil Nadu.

Pondicherry: Pondicherry offers lovely beach, stately buildings, ornate temples, churches, and , of course, the very famous Aurobindo Ashram. This is the largest French bastion on the sub-continent before independence, and is located 162 km south of Chennai. Major dance forms are Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi while Carnatic style of music is the prevalent musical tradition.

Andhra Pradesh: Andra Pradesh is rich in natural resources, cultural heritage, and history. The official language of Andra Pradesh is Telugu, which is highly influenced by Sanskrit. The dance styles in the State are based on the standard treatises - Abhinaya Darpana and Bharatarnava of Nandikeshwara, which is sub-divided into Nattuva Mala and Natya Mala.

Kuchipudi, a blend of music and abhinaya, is Andhra Pradesh's unique contribution to dance.

Hyderabad is also a fast growing city that is making its mark in software industry. Hyderabad is the second place in India which has a cyber city.

Culture and Traditions
The racial, cultural and linguistic similarity among four major states makes visitors perceive that these states together simply as 'south India'. Though the states are seemingly similar but there exists variations in terms of culture, traditions, festivals, and scenery.

Pondicherry and Lakshadweep are again quite different from the four traditional States - Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala. The dominating feature of southern culture are the magnificent temples and their architecture that goes back to the 6th century, the unaltered traditions of food, religion and lifestyle, handicrafts, heritage of sandalwood, silk, rosewood and brass, and classical dance and music.