Essence of Idyllic South India

Traveler Reviews

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  Peter

  January 5th, 2026
  5.0
  We are wrapping up our first ever visit to India later this morning. We chose to come to southern India as first time...
  We are wrapping up our first ever visit to India later this morning. We chose to come to southern India as first time travellers and have loved the experience. It's always concerning booking with a company you know nothing about but the positive reviews for Payless Tours and our initial contact with Neeraj were good so we took the plunge. We wanted to stay at a different hotel in Kochi than suggested, plus add additional nights at the start, the end and one more night in Kumily, and despite a couple of communication issues this was eventually sorted. It was a huge relief to see our guide Sunil's smiling face as we emerged from the airport at Kochi. As gay travellers it is always a bit daunting arriving in a new country and meeting a guide who will be looking after you for two weeks, not knowing how they will react but Sunil was brilliant. Were we friends, no we were life partners. That was it. We could not have wished for a better guide than Sunil. I am old enough to be his dad and what a great son he would be. His driving was cautious and safe at all times, even when everyone around us was not. Communication was easy. Sunil got us to everywhere we expected to get when we expected to get there. On the one occasion we mentioned something about our hotel, when we were allocation a twin room when we had requested one bed, he got it fixed straight away. Once he knew we liked a beer, we were taken to the govt stores to purchase beer for some of our stays. I would recommend Sunil as your driver if you are coming to southern India. To things outside of Sunil's control. We decided to 'upgrade' to four star hotels and this is where we possibly needed to temper our expectations. Four star is not necessarily the same as what you might think depending on where you come from or where you have been previously. The one thing that Payless Tours could be clearer about is what type of room has been booked and what facilities are offered. I get the feeling it is the lowest category in each hotel we stayed. In Puducherry I could see on our reservation slip that we were booked into an economy room. Ours was a tiny room with barely enough room for our bags, a view into a wall and directly above the kitchen exhaust. The next category was twice as big with windows to the street. In Thanjavur the Gnanam hotel is old and I would not stay there if given a choice. It had lovely staff and at least had a bar. Our room window was taped together by packing tape. This wasn't something that Sunil could fix and was not something we mentioned to him. The tour structure though was excellent. Distances between cities/towns made the tour wonderfully relaxing. The included guides and shows all excellent. The houseboat was exceptional. Crystals Cove in Kumily where we somehow ended up in a suite was excellent and our standout hotel, even if it was dry. As I've said Sunil was brilliant. We would definitely book with Payless Tours again but we would make our expectations clear - large rooms, bar if possible - so we were 100% happy with everywhere we stayed.Show more
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  Traveled in December 2025
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  Tony

  August 6th, 2025
  5.0
  Idyllic of South India was a perfect tour to explore the southern part of India. Paylesstoursindia provided us with a...
  Idyllic of South India was a perfect tour to explore the southern part of India. Paylesstoursindia provided us with a brilliant driver with a great personality and driving skills. The itinerary wss varied and gave us deep insight in the history and unique culture of Draviddians. Keralan nature with its backwaters and tea plantations impressed us a lot. We derived real pleasure from travelling across South India.Show more
  Traveled in February 2025
  

  Reply from: Payless tours india

  Thank you for rewarding words. It is extremely motivating for our Paylesstoursindia team and important. We hope that you wish to come to India again and travel with us. Thank you for trust and using our services. Best wishes from Paylesstoursindia team

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  Angelina

  April 21st, 2025
  5.0
  South India tour was customized for our small group of pensioners perfectly. We were provided with a very friendly...
  South India tour was customized for our small group of pensioners perfectly. We were provided with a very friendly and accommodating driver Mr. Sunil who comes from Kerala and knows all the local attractions and specialties of south Indian cuisine. We tried thali on a banana leave, saw local markets and had a lovely safari in National Park in Thekkaddy. We saw lots of elephants and bird species which made us very happy. Tea plantations in Munnar was great, the place is unique and it's definitely worth visiting. We had some leisure time for shopping and walking around at the market. That was an advantage of this tour. Nobody was telling up to hurry up....we were exploring India at our own peace, which was great. We have wonderful memories from that tour and won't hesitate to go with this tour operator again in the nearest future.Show more
  Traveled in February 2025
  

  Reply from: Payless tours india

  We are so satisfied to receive such a positive feedback regarding our services and Paylsstoursindia team. We are always ready to serve our Customers in case of problems or situations which sometimes happen. There is always solution which can be found. Thank you for trust, Hopefully you will come here again, All the best from Paylesstoursindia team

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  Victoria

  February 16th, 2025
  3.0
  Good itinerary, but after driving so far they rush you thru the sites. Long drives were necessary but were always in...
  Good itinerary, but after driving so far they rush you thru the sites. Long drives were necessary but were always in the morning. Would have been better if touring was in the morning, and driving in afternoon to avoid the heat. The driver John Sunil was polite, respectful, and always punctual. Essentially, he was acting as a guide, always eager and willing to help, giving us great suggestions and helping us out. He was a very good driver - route completely memorized and always provided us with water during the day. However, it was advertised as an English tour and we requested to Payless an English speaking person also before the tour began so we could understand what was going on. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen so we had difficult times not knowing what was going on. If I had questions I would google it because we could not understand each other beyond pickup time or where to meet. Two hotels they provided were good, two were well below par and the rest were somewhere in between.Show more
  Traveled in February 2025
  

  Reply from: Payless tours india

  Thank you very much for taking the time to write this review. We are sorry to hear you feel this way about the driver's English. We are normally known for our exceptional attention to detail, and we regret that we missed the mark on this occasion. We will do our best to make some changes in order to improve the services for the future clients. Anyway, we are happy for the feedback and hope to serve you again. Best regards, Ewa Lewandowska

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  Clive

  January 27th, 2025
  5.0
  A very well thought out tour of Southern India to include lots of cultural sites and wilde life. We believe it gives...
  A very well thought out tour of Southern India to include lots of cultural sites and wilde life. We believe it gives you a good taste of the best parts of Kerela and Tumil Nadu. Neeraj the organiser was very responsive and booked as very good and inexpensive hotels along the routeShow more
  Traveled in January 2025
  

  Reply from: Payless tours india

  Thank you so much for this wonderful feedback and trust. We are glad you liked our service and the driver. We hope to make another exciting tour for you. Best regards from Paylesstoursindia team

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  Thi

  October 8th, 2024
  5.0
  The drivers Shaker un Mumbai and Sunil in Kerela aère good driver professionnel and ponctually, very kìn RSS and pay...
  The drivers Shaker un Mumbai and Sunil in Kerela aère good driver professionnel and ponctually, very kìn RSS and pay attention of all our Newss ans expectation. Thé guide in Mumbai Ivy also. We are very happy to discover thís tour. The expérience with Captain and staff of Ecoboat in Alleypey was excellent, thé réception and the food and services are great. Thank you very much and particularly M. Neeraj Sharma for all your help and very quickly you do all thé best and attentions you do for our anniversary wedding. All your organisation us perfect We keep wonderful mémories of this trip. Mrs Le-Nguyen Tuyet and husbandShow more
  Traveled in October 2024
  

  Reply from: Payless tours india

  Thank you so much for your positive review! We're so glad you enjoyed South India tour. We appreciate your support and look forward to welcoming you back for your next adventure! Best wishes from Paylesstoursindia team

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  Tedy

  June 10th, 2024
  5.0
  The service of Paylesstoursindia and people who work in this travel agency are really good and highly rated. All the...
  The service of Paylesstoursindia and people who work in this travel agency are really good and highly rated. All the points of our tour were really amazing, itinerary was perfectly customised and thr driver couldn't have been better. We had a great time and holiday which will never be forgotten.Their true engagement in tour planning and engagement makes this company really worth recommending and trustworthy.Show more
  Traveled in April 2024
  

  Reply from: Payless tours india

  Thank you for your precious time which you dedicated to write this review. We appreciate your beautiful words and we hope to see you in India again soon. Maybe you will decide to visit the South, Sri Lanka or Maldives in the near future. We will be happy to serve you again. Sending you the best regards, Paylesstoursindia team

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  Risolda

  May 30th, 2024
  5.0
  One of the best travel agencies I know . An amazing customised trip for me and my family. Mrs. Eve was my tour...
  One of the best travel agencies I know . An amazing customised trip for me and my family. Mrs. Eve was my tour operator and he took care of each and everything from travel bookings to stay to keeping in touch for further changes . We had the best of times. Thank you for memorable trip and many more to come.Show more
  Traveled in April 2024
  

  Reply from: Payless tours india

  We are so satisfied to receive such a positive feedback regarding our services and Paylsstoursindia team. We are always ready to serve our Customers in case of problems or situations which sometimes happen. There is always solution which can be found. Such a beautiful review is always motivating and extremely rewarding. Thank you for trust, Hopefully you will come here again, All the best from Paylesstoursindia team

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  Susan

  May 20th, 2024
  5.0
  So many memorable and exciting parts on this holiday - Paylesstoursindia did an EXCELLENT job with the itinerary and...
  So many memorable and exciting parts on this holiday - Paylesstoursindia did an EXCELLENT job with the itinerary and with arranging everything, even the smallest details. Hard to choose the "most" memorable or exciting parts, but here are a selection of a few of our highlights: - Munnar tea plantations, tour of the organic spice farm. The owner went out of his way to take us through his farm which was absolutely stunning. One day on the houseboat in Alleppay and finally all the stunning temples of the south. Keen to book many more trips with this reliable tour operator.Show more
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  Traveled in May 2024
  

  Reply from: Payless tours india

  Thank you for your time and word of appreciation. We always try to do the best to make our guests happy and fully satisfied. We are really happy to hear that our Customers are happy with our services. Hope to see you in India again, We would like to take you further next time, Best regards from the Paylesstoursindia team

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  Monica

  August 7th, 2023
  5.0
  We came to India for the second time to explore the southern part of this fascinating country. Our feeling about the...
  We came to India for the second time to explore the southern part of this fascinating country. Our feeling about the south is totally different to the north but both parts are equally exciting and interesting. We were astonished by the colours and architecture of the temples, beautiful nature, scrumptious cuisine and lovely people. The tour operator did his best to make this journey a really nice experience by providing us with a brilliant driver Sunil and adding some attractions that made the itinerary more attractive. Sunil was always polite, friendly and helpful. We felt safe with him and really comfortable wherever we went. Houseboat in Alleppey which was a very important attraction of the tour was really charming. We asked our personal chef to make prawns for dinner and they tasted really good. Kumarakum area was fantastic since we saw so many bird species. All the temples of the south are out of this world and have energy when you enter them, this is an extraordinary experience especially during puja. In conclusion, we're very happy with our choice and we'll recommend this reliable tour operator to everyone who wants visit India.Show more
  Traveled in July 2023
  

  Reply from: Payless tours india

  Thank you for rewarding words. It is extremely motivating for our Paylesstoursindia team and important. We hope that you wish to come to India again and travel with us. Thank you for trust and using our services. Best wishes from Paylesstoursindia team

  Show more