17 Seater vs 19 Seater Tempo Traveller: Which One Your Group Actually Needs
Rs 3,300 a day against Rs 4,600 a day. Two seats apart on paper, but the 17 and 19 seater tempos suit different groups. Here is how to pick honestly.
Two vans. Two seats apart. Roughly Rs 1,300 a day apart. That is the whole difference on paper, and it tells you almost nothing about which one to book.
We run both Executive Tempo models out of Aluva, and the split between them rarely comes down to seat count. The 17 seater is our workhorse. The 19 seater is what a group takes when people need to walk down the van instead of climbing over each other to reach the back.
So here are the numbers side by side, and then a plain answer on which group should take which.
The money, laid out
- Executive Tempo 17 — Rs 3,300 per day, Rs 25 per extra km, driver allowance Rs 700 per day
- Executive Tempo 19 — Rs 4,600 per day, Rs 28 per extra km, driver allowance Rs 700 per day
Both include 100 km per day. Both count kilometres from the garage and back to the same garage, and parking and tolls inside Kerala are free on both.
Package billing makes the gap widen. Package days are nights plus one, so a one-night trip is two package days.
- 17 seater, 1 night: 2 × Rs 3,300 = Rs 6,600 with 200 km
- 19 seater, 1 night: 2 × Rs 4,600 = Rs 9,200 with 200 km
That is Rs 2,600 more for a single overnight, before the driver allowance. Stretch it to three nights and the difference crosses Rs 5,000.
What the extra Rs 1,300 actually buys
The 19 seater is not a stretched 17 seater. It is the model we send when the group has to move around inside the van. Spacious aisles, two more seats, and a cabin that stays civil when sixteen people board it.
That matters on a specific kind of trip. Corporate groups arriving at Cochin Airport, transferring between sites and needing to talk. Pilgrimage groups where older passengers want to stand and stretch without waiting for a stop. Both of those are why the 19 seater exists in our fleet at all.
For a family on holiday, honestly, it usually does not matter. Everyone stays seated between stops anyway.
Where the 17 seater wins
Most of our bookings, by a wide margin.
Sixteen passengers, push-back seats, a large luggage hold behind the rear bench. It takes the hairpins after Adimali on the climb to Munnar exactly as well as the bigger van does — both are tempo travellers, narrower than a bus, and both fit the road a full-size bus cannot.
On the routes we run, 111 km to Munnar, 95 km to Vagamon, 158 km to Thekkady, the 17 seater does the job at Rs 1,300 a day less. If you are fifteen people or fewer and nobody needs to pace the aisle, booking the 19 seater is just paying more for seats you will not use.
Where the 19 seater earns it
Fill it, or need the aisles. That is the rule.
Nineteen passengers at Rs 4,600 works out to about Rs 242 a head per day of vehicle cost. The same trip on a 17 seater with sixteen aboard is roughly Rs 206 a head. That is the trade: the 19 seater costs more overall, but it is not outrageous per person once it is full.
For a long multi-night run, say Kovalam at 245.7 km and three nights, or Kanyakumari at 335.6 km and four nights, the 19 seater’s cabin stays comfortable far longer. Four nights is a lot of hours in a van.
There is one more case for it. Pilgrimage groups. We run plenty to Thekkady, 158 km and two nights, where the party is mixed ages and people want to stand, stretch and move about between stops. On a 17 seater that means climbing over knees. On the 19 seater it means walking. For that group the Rs 1,300 is not a comfort upgrade. It is the difference between a manageable journey and a cramped one, and no one has ever regretted it after the second day.
The honest close on picking
If your group fits in seventeen seats, take the 17 seater. You lose nothing on the road and you keep Rs 1,300 a day.
If you are pushing toward nineteen, or the group is elderly, or it is a corporate run where people need to move, take the 19 seater and stop second-guessing it. Splitting the difference does not exist here — you either fit in the 17 or you do not.
One more thing. The back row of any van sits over the rear axle and rides harder than the rest of the cabin. On the 19 seater with seventeen or eighteen people, someone has to sit there. Put the person who does not mind.
To book, call +91 70343 01815 or book online with your dates and numbers and we will confirm the van. Rates above are indicative and can change on festive-season days, and anything crossing into Tamil Nadu carries an interstate RTO permit we arrange and show separately. Your final quote is confirmed by our team against your actual itinerary.
Common questions
- Is the 19 seater tempo traveller just a bigger 17 seater?
- No. Both are Executive Tempo models with push-back seats and a large luggage hold, but the 19 seater carries spacious aisles, so people can move down the van instead of climbing over knees. That is what the extra money buys.
- What does a 17 seater tempo cost per day in Kochi?
- Rs 3,300 per day with 100 km included. Extra kilometres are Rs 25 each, and driver allowance is Rs 700 per day extra. Parking and tolls inside Kerala are included.
- What does a 19 seater tempo cost per day?
- Rs 4,600 per day with 100 km included. Extra km is Rs 28, and driver allowance is Rs 700 per day extra. The 19 seater is the one we send on corporate and pilgrimage runs.
- Which is better for a Kochi to Munnar trip, 17 or 19 seater?
- For a group of twelve to fifteen, the 17 seater. Munnar is 111 km and one night, and both vans take the ghat roads fine. The 19 seater only makes sense if you are filling it or you need aisles.
Book this trip
Send us your dates and group size and we will confirm the van and the rate.