from $7,950* per person	15 Days	November
Boutique accommodations		Exertion level: 4
Operator: Geographic Expeditions		18 people max

Another crossing of India’s cultural heartland, this time beginning in the mid-south at Karnataka’s Bangalore, whence we fly north to Hubli and the nearby World Heritage Site of Hampi, capital of the Vijayanagar kings, who dominated southern India from 1336 to 1565, when they went the way of all empires. Next to Chikmagalur, once a major hill station of the Raj, now a beautiful coffee-growing area. We’ll make an excursion over to the fine, fresco-decorated temples at Belur and Halebid, then continue south to the Sandalwood City of Mysore and its majestic Maharaja’s Palace. Then up to Coorg, set on the edge of the Western Ghats (stopping at Bylakuppe, the oldest Tibetan community in India, where Tibetans settled in the dense, green hills in the 1950s when the Chinese began their attempt to destroy Tibetan culture). After a couple of nights in these serene highlands, we drive down to the Malabar Coast and Neeleshwar, where we’ll be whisked away to our remote bungalows on the Arabian Sea, feast on the area’s famous Moplah cuisine and witness an intoxicating regional festival. Then down-coast to Kochi (Cochin), finally ending with two nights on Kerala’s serene backwaters and the excitement of a local village festival.