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Comment by cholantesh | Hacker News Reader

This is fortuitous as I'm planning a trip back to the motherland. I'm Tamil by birth, but my mom's side of the family traces their ancestry to Kerala, and a few generations back they were based in Palakkad. Any recommendations for a temple-lite itinerary?

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I would not miss Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. You could look at the Gopurams alone for hours.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meenakshi_Amman_Temple

It's just beautiful. I don't think pictures do it justice. It's an experience. That would also put you in striking distance of Kerala or it could be made as an easy side trip from Kerala.

Edit: I didn't read closely enough that you said temple-lite. But I think its still a good suggestion :)

I'm definitely a fan of the Madurai Meenakshi temple, and the Kapaleeshwarar Temple in Chennai (partly because it's so close to my grandparents' home). But at this point, most of my trips back home have been spent in temples, and I'd like to have a more, shall we say 'secular' experience. :)

I am a Christian from Kerala but I think the below temples are the most visited in Kerala. I wouldn't know deep about the reasons on why they are popular.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabarimala (This one is famous for the seasonal pilgrimage)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vadakkunnathan_Temple (350 years old, famous for the architecture)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guruvayur_Temple (A lot of people gets married in this temple)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padmanabhaswamy_Temple

(Now famous for the recent discovery of huge gold stash)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padmanabhaswamy_Temple#Temple_...

To visit these temples, you would start your trip from Thrissur district all the way down south to Trivandrum district. All of the places near to the temple has got 3 star hotels for stay and all the cities are easily accessible by train except Sabarimala. Almost everyone in Kerala can satisfactorily converse in English and all routes and signs are written in English too. Kerala is a tourist friendly state.

I think the parent commenter was requesting an itinerary without many temples ("temple-lite" → "light on temples"), rather than suggestions of temples to see!

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