By road
~90 km from Madurai
South India · Tamil Nadu
Chettinad, Tamil Nadu
Mansions, antiques and pepper-hot kitchens · ~90 km from Madurai
Getting there
By rail
Chettinad railway station (CTND), on the Tiruchirappalli-Karaikudi line
By air
Madurai Airport, ~90 km
Best time to visit
November to February — mansion courtyards stay cool
Don't miss
Chettinad mansions of Kanadukathan
Athangudi Palace
Local temples
Things to do
Mansion tours
Antique-market hunting
Cooking classes
Where to eat
Sources: wikimedia, Photo: Joelsuganth · CC BY-SA 3.0
What to pack
Light cottons, appetite — this is a food pilgrimage
A quieter corner
Athangudi tile workshops, where the mansion floors are still handmade
About Chettinad
- Inland
Where it is
Chettinad is a region of dry plains in southern Tamil Nadu, spread across Sivaganga and Pudukkottai districts and centred on the town of Karaikudi, south of Tiruchirappalli.
History
Chettinad is the homeland of the Nattukottai Chettiars, or Nagarathars, a merchant and banking community whose business spread in the 19th and early 20th centuries to Burma, Ceylon, Malaya, Singapore and Vietnam. With their wealth they built grand mansions across dozens of villages, many of which now stand largely empty.
People
The Nagarathars are a Tamil-speaking community known for building and endowing temples, for elaborate weddings held in their ancestral mansions and for a cuisine rich in black pepper and freshly ground spices. Other villagers farm the dry land and make Athangudi tiles and Kandangi saris.
Known for
- Palatial Chettiar mansions
- Fiery Chettinad cuisine
- Handmade Athangudi floor tiles
- Kandangi cotton saris
- Antique shops of Karaikudi
Did you know?
Chettinad's mansions were built with materials from across the world, including marble from Italy, teak from Burma, crystal from Europe and mirrors from Belgium.
We haven't written a guide for this place yet — you can still plan a trip here.