Me and my friend had a really good experience with this tour and our guide: the driver came pick us up at the hotel on time, water was available and he was very welcoming and helpful when we asked questions about the city. Our tour guide was extremely prepared and gave us a lot of information both from the mythology and religion and from the historical and anthropological perspective which we really appreciated. He was also available to guide us to gift shopping when we asked. The tour comprised two main temple sights in Madurai, the raja palace and Gandhi museum, but also few quick stops at the fruit and banana market and the terra cotta artigianal shops in the outskirts of the city. Lovely experience!

My guide, Muthu was a very kind man with a deep knowledge about the history of Madurai. We started by the visit of the main temple, the Meenakshi Amman temple, later we were in the Nayakar Mahal palace, water tank, etc. We tasted local specialities like jugarthanda, ref bananas in the local banana market, and had a good vegetarian thali for lunch. It was a highly interesting visit, thank you!

This enjoyable, informative tour introduced us to many facets of Madurai, ranging from its ancient temples to its vibrant banana markets. Our guide - Meenakshi - was kind, knowledgeable and tuned into our needs. I did have a couple of reservations, however. Meenakshi’s storytelling style wasn’t always the clearest, and the Gandhi memorial museum was closed for renovations, weakening the second half of the tour. That said, it was still a very positive experience!

Just back from a wonderful tour of Meenakshi Temple & Thirumalai Nayak Palace with our guide Mutha. Mutha was punctual, well organised, knowledgeable and friendly. We were picked up from our hotel in an A/C taxi at 8am taken on a well planned and informative tour of Meenakshi Temple. Mutha arranged for safekeeping of our valuables such as phone & smart watches during our visit as they are not permitted inside the temple. From there we went to the Palace. Again Mutha was knowledgeable about the history. Next we visited the Gandhi Museum (housed in a temporary building during renovation) and purchased Gandhi's autobiography for rs. 80. The stop at the market selling bananas was enjoyable, tasty & great photo opps. After that we ate a thali for lunch at Amman restaurant which was delicious and patiently explained to us by Muthu. The staff were efficient and polite and the restaurant & washroom were clean. After lunch we drove out to the pottery village about 7 km outside of Madurai. We heard from some of the women working there and found it interesting. Overall I would totally recommend this immersive cultural tour.

Experienced the culinary delights of Madurai. Took the Bazaars of Madurai walk. Visited the church and palace. Overall a great trip.

Our Madurai tour took us to experience some truly amazing places from the grandeur Meenakshi temple to the Gandhi museum . Our tour Guide Kannan enabled us to appreciate the true glory and bask ourselves in traditional architecture, religion and Indian culture . We also got to sample some local delicacies of Madurai . It’s a foodies heaven and Kannan helped guide us through authentic resteraunts.

So when you're in a foreign country searching TripAdvisor for tours in south India, or any place in India for that matter, the tour guides such as Five Senses, will literally provide you with anything and customize any package for you. Don't just think about the tour as described, think about the tour you would want to have and have them customize that for you. I would say the itinerary for me, for this particular tour was almost perfect. It had a good mix of the Meenakshi Temple which is a must-see and interaction with the local community via markets, villages and schools which is my personal favorite. We did two tours with Five Senses and they worked to get to know us and improved based on our personal preferences, providing not only an excellent tour but also on-demand ground transportation. Guides Misters Kannan, Meenakshi and our driver Mr. Bhasker were all excellent. I highly recommend them.

Madurai is famous for Meenakshi Temple. It's huge and has beautiful architecture. Expect a minimum waiting line of 2-3 hours to visit the main sanctum but we were lucky enough to visit it in the fast lane. Our darshan was very good. Our guide : Mr. Meenakshi explained in detail about the Temple. He also took us for a good south Indian meal. The food was served in banana leaf and the good part of that restraunt was to sit and interact with locals at one table. They explained us the way a South Indian meal should be had. We also had madurai famous drink called jigar thanda which you get in a local shop. But anyone visiting south India, pls have rose milk and their paneer soda (recommended to us by our Tanjore guide- Mr.Kannan). It is really good for digestion and cools down the body system in scorching heat. We visited this beautiful palace called Thirumala Nayakkar Palace. The stuco architecture is inspired by Italy. The best part of this trip was visiting Rameshwaram Temple and Danushkodi. When visiting Rameshwaram, we visited important sites such as Arichalmunai which is the last point jutting out of India and afte 15 kms is the starting point of Srilanka. It is the confluence of a sea and an Ocean - Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean. The green and blue colours of water can be seen distinctly apart. Our guide- Mr. Meenakshi informed us about main temple in Rameshwarm called Sri Ramanathswamy Temple. The corridors of this temple were huge and carvings were beautiful. The best part of the tour was to stand in the place where Ram Setu( Adam's Bridge) was built. The coral stone which was approx 92 kgs was floating in the water and we could take photographs with it. We visited Vilundi Teertham. It's a walkway in the middle of ocean where the water was drinkable and has a mythological significance to it. All these were explained well by our guide - Mr.Meenakshi. We thank 5 Senses and their team for the wonderful tour. Thanks, Pooja & Kush Bajaj

Brilliant tour that was very kindly split over 2 days due to the main temple of Madurai being closed on the day that we booked. Our guide Meenakshi was great company and very knowledgeable and ensured that we got to see everything from temples and palaces to local villages and markets and a final stop at the Gandhi Museum. A fantastic evening and day and well worth it to check out all of the must-see sights of Madurai.

An excellent and fascinating tour. The Meenakshi Temple site was of course the highlight, but other parts of the tour delved into everyday life in the city, the banana and vegetable markets, the Sanskrit school were all really interesting too. My guide, Meenakshi Sundaram, was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic and spoke excellent English. He was a real gentleman. Special mention too to our patient and careful driver. Highly recommend the tour

This was the second part of our trip to visit the world heritage temples over south India, Tamil Nadur state, and Madurai was the largest city we were in. Nice hotel British style at the Heritage, and a magnificent Hindu temple to continue the splendid visit. This was very much alive temple, a bit crowded by locals making long ques to move around, but for us Europeans, a unique flavor of what is the faith and costumes of Hindu religion nowadays

This was a memorable day made so by 5 Senses Tours. True to their name they curated a sensorial extravaganza for me in Madurai! I did not know the ancient roots of this city and it was an enriching experience looking at the fine architecture of ancient India. Meenakshi Temple is mesmerizing with sculptures which are dreamlike. Our guide was passionate as well as knowledgeable. The AC car picked me on time and they also arranged an unforgettable local lunch in a banana leaf. During the tour we also spoke to a few local people as well as a priest. All this made it an authentic experience rather than a typical tour. Very highly recommended.