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The Chettinad Heritage and Cultural Festival will return for its fifth edition from September 18 to 22, 2026, bringing five days of conversations, concerts, meals and storytelling to Karaikudi, the capital city of Chettinad. The annual festival, held in an effort to spotlight the region's extraordinary culture, food and architecture, will offer an immersion into ‘life as it used to be,’ bringing together historians, architects, musicians, dancers, textile scholars and chefs.
You can expect talks by eminent public personalities including Dr Shashi Tharoor and author Manu Pillai, concerts of classical Carnatic music, and a Bharatnatyam recital inside a century-old ancestral home. There will also be scheduled tours – led by architect and historian Madhusudhanan Kalaichelvan – of temples including Avudaiyar Kovil, Vijayala Choleeswaram and the Ayyanar temples of Aranthangi and Naarthamalai, alongside exhibitions of Chettinad sarees and jewellery. A variety of heritage properties, including The Bangala, will serve as accommodation partners.
Delhi already had a taste of what's on offer: The Bangala recently did a pop-up at Draavin Canteen in Gurugram, serving up an Elai Sappadu with 21 dishes unique to the region on a banana leaf. Vegetarian standouts included the capsicum peanut mandi, vathal kuzhambu rice, okra more kozhambu and pineapple rasam, with jackfruit biryani the toast of the evening; carnivores, meanwhile, tucked into chicken kozhambu, crab masala, prawn mango curry and mutton biryani. The meal closed with a musk melon payasam worth crossing the earth for.
More about Chettinad
Hear the name Chettinad and the cuisine is probably the first thing that comes to mind: bold spices which have a cult following across the globe. But a couple of Wikipedia rabbit holes in, and it's clear there's far more to this corner of Tamil Nadu than its lipsmackingly good food.
Chettinad translates to ‘the land of the Chettiars,’ and encompasses roughly 70 villages and towns along the arid southeastern coast of Tamil Nadu. The Nattukottai Chettiars were a community of seafaring merchants known for trading salt, precious jewels and textiles. During the colonial era, their business acumen carried them into banking, with moneylending taking them as far as Burma, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam, and bringing considerable wealth back into the region. The Chettiars knew how to spend it: the area is home to nearly 15,000 mansions built by the community, all palatial, ornate and opulent, featuring Belgian glasswork, Venetian crystal chandeliers, Burmese teak pillars and finely detailed Italian tiles, with some boasting upwards of 50 rooms. Over time, however, most have fallen into disrepair.
The first hotel in the region was The Bangala, the passion project of Ms. Meenakshi Meyyappan – fondly known as Aachi – who transformed her husband's ancestral property, Senkai Bangala (once an elite gentlemen's club), into a boutique hotel. Alongside it came a vision to turn Chettinad into a tourist destination, and the Chettinad Heritage and Cultural Trust was born.
All in all, the Chettinad Festival promises a rare intersection of travel, heritage, food, fashion, classical arts and living history; a glimpse into one of Tamil Nadu's lesser-explored regions and the secrets held in its houses, its trading legacy, and its food.
The details
When: September 18-22
Where: The Bangala, Devakottai Rd, Senjai, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu 630001