ive been twice and i loved almost all of it.. it wasn't so much that every day was enjoyable, it was just the cultural experience. i hated varanasi but i'm so glad i went in hindsight. i wasn't too crazy about the far south, but i did like bangalore minus the traffic. if you want to visit a more chill india then visit the further up north (himachal pradesh), or the far east (sikkim)

Where did you go in the South? I was thinking Goa, Kerela, Madurai.

bangalore, mangalore, mysore and ernakulam/kochi