Ezhimala

Madai Sree Vadukunda Siva Temple is the Shiva shrine beside the laterite plateau and sacred pond at Madayipara, near Pazhayangadi in Kannur. It is distinct from Thrissur’s Vadakkunnathan and from nearby Madayikavu.

A vast laterite plateau near Pazhayangadi that bursts into wildflower bloom after the monsoon, with the Madayi Kavu, an old mosque and a temple pond — a botanist’s and birder’s hill.

An ancient Shiva temple at Taliparamba, one of the 108 Shiva temples and the Dwadasha Shivalayams of old Kerala; men remove their shirt to enter and photography is restricted.

A Bhagavathy temple near Valapattanam regarded as the mother shrine of Kalaripayattu — Kerala’s martial art — where Theyyam is performed; the goddess is guardian of the kalari.

On the Valapattanam river, the temple of Muthappan — where the Muthappan Theyyam is performed morning and evening on nearly every day of the year, and where entry is open to all castes and religions; a snake park is nearby. The exception is the six weeks from the first of Thulam to the fifteenth of Vrischikam, when it stops, and the ritual year begins again with Puthari Thiruvappana around the first of December.

The ritual season of north Malabar, in which a man of the Vannan or Malayan community is dressed, painted and crowned until the shrine treats him as the deity itself. It runs from the tenth of Thulam, about mid-October, to the middle of Edavam at the end of May, at kavus and household shrines rather than on any stage, and the peak is January to April. Outside the season the kavus are quiet — the exception is Parassinikkadavu, north of the city, which performs Muthappan on a fixed daily schedule and is the anchor this page is pinned to.

Kannur city’s main beach, with a landscaped garden, the mother-and-child sculpture and long sunset walkways.

A small rocky beach in the Kannur cantonment, an extension of Payyambalam and within a few minutes of St Angelo’s Fort and the Kannur lighthouse. Not a swimming beach — the draw is the rocks, the quiet and the lighthouse beam after dark.

The Arakkal Kettu (palace museum) of the Arakkal Ali Rajas — Kerala’s only Muslim royal house, matrilineal so ruled at times by a Beevi (queen).

Sea-facing laterite fort built by the Portuguese in 1505, later held by the Dutch, the Arakkal royal house and the British — Kannur city’s great coastal landmark overlooking Mappila Bay.

Adikadalayi Beach, also called Kadalayi Beach in Kerala’s coastal tourism study, is a Kannur shore with sandy pockets, exposed red coastal rock and palms above the water. It belongs to the Adikadalayi locality, not the separately named Thottada, Kizhunna or Ezhara beaches farther along the coast. Use the mapped public steps from Tippu Sulthan Beach Road as the arrival reference. Nearby cliff-side homestays have their own entrances and facilities, and should not be used as assumed public access.

A quiet, unspoilt cove-and-stream beach south of Kannur city, known for its homestays and calm, uncrowded sands.