- 13 Days • Jan–Mar
- Limited to 12 Travelers
From $13895
Journey across South India from Hyderabad’s Indo-Islamic architecture and distinctive culinary traditions to the ruins of the Vijayanagara Empire at Hampi. Explore Mysuru’s palaces and centuries-old silk traditions, then enter the biodiverse Western Ghats, where tea and coffee estates, spice gardens and tropical forest surround us. Our journey concludes in Kerala’s peaceful backwaters, cruising narrow canals where daily life unfolds at the water’s edge.
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Trip Highlights
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Explore Temples, Monuments & Evocative Ruins
Trace the rise and fall of South Indian kingdoms among Hampi’s temples and royal remains, watch sunrise from Matanga Hill, take part in a puja at the active Virupaksha Temple, explore Chitradurga Fort and step inside Mysuru’s palace halls.
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Encounter Life Along Kerala’s Canals by Boat
Cruise the backwaters by traditional boat and shikkara, row alongside a local snake-boat crew to the rhythm of vanchipattu songs, meet a family that still fishes by hand, and walk the earthen bunds surrounding Kuttanad’s below-sea-level rice fields.
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Stay at a Rainforest Ecolodge in the Western Ghats
Spend two nights at CGH Wayanad Wild amid tropical wet evergreen forest. Join a naturalist-led night walk, hike beneath towering old trees and learn about the wildlife of the Western Ghats through resident naturalists and remote-camera images.
Discover South India Through Its People, Traditions & Living Heritage
South India reveals itself most fully through the people who keep its traditions, landscapes and communities connected. On this Nat Hab Cultural Journey, we go beyond celebrated monuments and scenery to spend time in private homes, village workshops, farming communities and working waterways, meeting the people who give each region its character. With a small group, an expert Expedition Leader and experiences rooted in local life, we gain deeper insight into everything from silk weaving and plantation agriculture to cultural conservation, rainforest ecology and Kerala’s backwaters. See what makes our journey so special:
Personal Connections Open Doors
Meet people in homes, gardens, workshops and farming communities rather than only at conventional visitor sites. Spend time with Shama Pawar and the Kishkinda Trust in Anegundi, cook with a Mysuru hostess in her home, and learn from Kerala families whose lives are closely tied to the backwaters.A Small Group Fits Where This Journey Goes
With no more than 12 guests, we can enter spaces larger groups cannot—from private homes and village silk workshops to narrow backwater canals and local boat clubs. The intimate group size also creates more room for conversation with artisans, hosts and community members.Our Expedition Leader Connects One Region to the Next
Travel with an Expedition Leader who provides context as the journey moves through very different histories and environments—from Deccan trade and the Vijayanagara Empire to Mysuru’s silk industry, the ecology of the Western Ghats and the water engineering of Kuttanad.Discover Artisanship & Traditions in Context
Follow local traditions from their source: see silkworm cocoons before visiting the loom, walk among coffee, pepper and cardamom at a Wayanad plantation, and stand on Kuttanad’s bunds before sharing a meal featuring rice grown in the fields below.Meet the Protectors of Cultural & Natural Heritage
Learn how conservation takes different forms across South India—from the Kishkinda Trust’s work in a 500-year-old village to the wildlife landscapes of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and the resident naturalists of the Western Ghats. In Kerala, meet farming and fishing families whose knowledge remains rooted in the working backwaters.