RutzIndia.com has five chauffeur-driven tour packages for Bangalore travellers: Karnataka in 5 or 6 days from your door, Kerala in 5 or 6 days from Kochi, and a 6-day Tamil Nadu temple circuit from Chennai. One car and chauffeur for the trip; fare is the larger of driven km or 250 km a day, times the per-km rate.
Why Bangalore works as a base for the south
Bangalore sits on the Deccan plateau at about 900 metres, roughly equidistant from three very different holidays. Head south-west and you are in Mysore in three hours and in Coorg's coffee country by evening. Keep going south and the road climbs into the Nilgiris. Kochi and Chennai are each a short flight or a long day's drive away, and from them Kerala's backwaters and Tamil Nadu's temple towns open up. The five packages on this page follow those three directions.
The practical upshot: the two Karnataka packages leave from your home, office or hotel in Bangalore and return there. The Kerala pair and the Tamil Nadu circuit begin at Kochi and Chennai respectively, where a car and chauffeur meet your flight or train. You can have one car do everything from Bangalore if you prefer, and we explain the trade-offs further down.
Getting out of the city
From the airport. Kempegowda International is at Devanahalli, about 35 to 40 km north of MG Road, and Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 serve different airlines; the airport's site lists them. From the arrivals kerb to Mysore Road is a long cross-town drive, so on a Karnataka package that starts with a flight in, the chauffeur often skips central Bangalore entirely and uses the peripheral roads to reach the Mysore expressway. The usual free waiting applies: 60 minutes after an international arrival, 30 after a domestic one. For the arrival only, see our Bangalore airport taxi.
From home. Bangalore's peaks are roughly 8 to 11 in the morning and 5 to 9 in the evening, and leaving the southern and western suburbs before 7 am makes a real difference. The Bengaluru–Mysuru expressway has cut the run to Mysore to around 145 km and under three hours once you are on it; see Bangalore to Mysore. Chennai-bound trips leave by Hosur Road or the new expressway corridor, about 345 km in total.
Stations. KSR Bengaluru (City), Yesvantpur, SMVT Baiyappanahalli and Bangalore Cantonment are all routine pickups; give us the train number so the chauffeur waits at the right exit.
Picking between the five circuits
Karnataka, 5 days. Srirangapatna on the way out, two nights around Mysore for the palace, Chamundi Hill and the Devaraja market, a night on a Coorg plantation near Madikeri, then north to Hassan for the Hoysala temples of Belur and Halebidu, now on the UNESCO list as part of the Hoysala sacred ensembles. It is a loop, so you finish at home. Good for anyone interested in carved stone and good coffee.
Karnataka, 6 days. The same Mysore and Coorg days, but instead of the Hoysala temples you drop south through Bandipur and Mudumalai to Ooty, ride the Nilgiri mountain railway down to Coonoor and return through the reserves. Better for families and anyone who wants a cool hill night. The Bangalore to Ooty and Bangalore to Coorg routes show the individual legs.
Kerala, 5 or 6 days. Both start at Cochin International Airport: Fort Kochi, the climb to Munnar's tea estates, then down to the Alleppey backwaters for a houseboat or lakeside night. The six-day version adds Thekkady and the Periyar lake. Choose six if you want wildlife and spice gardens; choose five if the backwaters are the point. The open-ended Kerala tour by car page covers custom routes, and a seven-day one-way circuit ending in Trivandrum is the Kerala package, 7 days.
South India, 6 days. Chennai to Madurai along the Coromandel coast and through the Kaveri delta: Mamallapuram, Puducherry, Chidambaram, Thanjavur, Srirangam, Madurai. It is one-way, so you fly home from Madurai. The Chennai origin page explains the Chennai end in more detail.
Driving the whole way from Bangalore
If you would rather keep one car from your gate, the desk can add the connecting drives. Bangalore to Kochi is about 550 km through Salem and Coimbatore, a full day; Bangalore to Chennai is about 345 km and six hours. Both are billed at your class's per-km rate and add a day each way, so a Kerala six-day becomes eight. It is worth it for families with a lot of luggage or anyone who wants to stop at Coimbatore's Isha centre or the Palakkad gap on the way; otherwise a one-hour flight and a car waiting at Kochi is simpler.
Forest roads, ghats and hill rules
Two rules shape these routes. First, the national-highway stretches through Bandipur and Mudumalai are closed to most traffic at night, from about 9 pm to 6 am, to protect wildlife. The Coorg to Ooty day is therefore timed to clear the reserves in daylight, and the return from Ooty leaves after breakfast. Second, the Nilgiris district has in recent seasons required visiting vehicles to register for an e-pass before entering Ooty; the desk checks the current rule and registers the car for you. The climb into the Nilgiris is a proper ghat road with tight bends, and the chauffeurs who run it do so regularly. Coorg's roads are narrow and wet in the monsoon, so plantation homestays down unpaved drives are best reached in an Innova or SUV.
Weather across three states
Karnataka is pleasant from October to March, and Coorg is also popular in the June monsoon when the estates are drenched and misty. Mysore's Dasara falls in September or October; the palace is illuminated for the ten days and hotels fill well ahead. The palace is also lit on Sunday evenings year-round. Kerala's main season runs from September to March; the south-west monsoon from June to August is quieter and suits Ayurveda stays, and Onam in August or September brings the snake-boat races. Tamil Nadu is best from December to February, after the north-east monsoon that soaks the coast in October and November. The Karnataka tourism portal and Kerala Tourism both publish festival calendars.
Where you will sleep along the way
Each package page lists its overnight towns, and the choice of district within each town changes the trip more than people expect. In Mysore, hotels near the palace and Nazarbad put you within a short walk of the evening illumination, while resorts out on the Ooty or Hunsur road are quieter but mean a drive back in. Coorg is mostly plantation homestays and estate resorts scattered around Madikeri, Virajpet and Kushalnagar; many are down narrow estate lanes, which is one reason we suggest an Innova rather than a sedan there. Ooty offers colonial-era cottages and hill resorts, and Coonoor is the calmer alternative a few kilometres down the line.
On the Kerala side, Fort Kochi has heritage bungalows and small boutique stays among the old warehouses, whereas Ernakulam's Marine Drive area suits business travellers and late arrivals. Munnar's estates have everything from tea-bungalow stays to large hill resorts, Thekkady's hotels cluster around Kumily near the Periyar gate, and at Alleppey you choose between a private houseboat and a lakeside resort with an evening cruise. The travel desk can hold rooms in the category you prefer and add them to one written quote; we do not claim special partner rates, only honest options.
Which car to book
A compact sedan at Rs 72 per km is ideal for two people on any of these circuits. The Ertiga at Rs 84 per km takes three or four with medium luggage. For four to six people, and for Coorg homestay tracks and the Nilgiris climb, we suggest an Innova Crysta at Rs 114 per km. A Fortuner at Rs 168 per km gives more ground clearance; an E-Class at Rs 330 per km suits corporate guests on the Mysore run. Groups of 9 or more should look at a Tempo Traveller (Rs 156 per km) or Urbania (Rs 204 per km); the Bangalore Tempo Traveller page lists seat plans. The fleet page shows every class, and every car is within four model years.
What the package fare includes
The card fares are the car and chauffeur for the whole trip, worked out on the larger of the itinerary's kilometres or 250 km for every day, times the per-km rate. The driver's night allowance is Rs 3,000 a night. Tolls on the Mysore expressway, interstate permits for Kerala and Tamil Nadu, forest-road entry fees and parking are billed at cost, and 5% GST is added. Hotels, houseboats, breakfasts, park safaris and entry tickets are quoted separately by the travel desk if you want an all-inclusive price in writing. Card and UPI payments go through the web booker, which issues a GST invoice.
Weekend trips that are not packages
Not every Bangalore break needs five days. A single outstation hire covers Nandi Hills at dawn, a Chikmagalur coffee weekend, Kabini for the elephants or Hampi's boulder-strewn ruins over three days. City driving and airport runs are on the Bangalore taxi service and car rental with driver pages.
Booking and cancellation
Choose the package and class on the web booker and the car fare is fixed before you pay; ask the travel desk for the all-inclusive version. Cancellation is free until 72 hours before pickup, 10% within 72 hours, 50% within 48 hours and 100% within 24 hours or on a no-show; see the cancellation policy. Packages from other cities are on the tour packages hub.
