Places to Visit in Nagercoil

Unique temple dedicated to serpent deity Nagaraja that gives Nagercoil ('town of the serpent') its name, blending Hindu and Jain architectural elements.

Nagaraja Temple, Nagercoil is best understood through its defining feature, its relationship with Nagercoil and the evidence that survives at the site today.

Site of one of India's largest onshore windmill farms, with hundreds of turbines lining the ridges near the Kerala border — a scenic drive-through attraction.

A white gopuram rises over a temple town near Nagercoil, where the presiding deity is not one god but three — Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma joined as Sthanumalayan.

This 17th-century fort was rebuilt between 1741 and 1744 by Maharaja Marthanda Varma under the Flemish commander Eustachius De Lannoy, and served as Travancore's chief military barracks and gun-casting foundry. De Lannoy, his wife and son are buried in a ruined chapel inside the fort, marked by a bilingual Tamil-Latin tombstone. The 90-acre granite-hillock site is now managed as a biodiversity park by the Tamil Nadu Forest Department.

Also called Thomayar Kovil or Amalagiri Church, it is traditionally believed to have been founded by St. Thomas the Apostle around AD 63, making it one of the oldest church structures in India. The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church proclaimed it an international St. Thomas pilgrim centre in 2007. Its oldest sections date to the 17th century and it has never been fully reconstructed.

Two well-paced days at the southern tip of India, from sunrise over three seas to Asia’s largest wooden palace.

From the gopurams of Madurai to the three-ocean tip at Kanyakumari — a pilgrim-friendly five-day road trip with real distances and drive times.

One unhurried week from Chennai to Kanyakumari, taking in Pallava rock temples, the Chola heartland, Madurai and India’s southern tip.