Thirumohur Kalamegaperumal Temple

Yanaimalai, the 'Elephant Hill', is a large monolithic granite hill east of Madurai near Othakadai, shaped like a crouching elephant and stretching roughly 3 km. A protected monument, it holds ancient Jain rock-cut beds and bas-relief carvings of tirthankaras high on the hill, with the Narasingam Yoga Narasimha cave temple at its foot.

A Pandya-era rock-cut cave temple at the foot of Yanaimalai near Narasingam/Othakadai, about 8 km east of Madurai, dedicated to Vishnu as Yoga Narasimha. Its main image is carved from the living hillside, and the cave carries historic inscriptions in Tamil-Brahmi and Vatteluttu recording gifts by Pandya kings, making it a small but revered Vaishnava shrine.

A Saivite shrine near Melur revered as the birthplace of Manikkavasagar, the 9th-century Nayanmar saint who authored the Tiruvasagam and Tirukovaiyar. The temple honours Shiva as Thirumarainathar, said to have been worshipped by the four Vedas in personified form. It is an important pilgrimage stop for followers of Tamil Saivism.

One of the largest temple tanks in Tamil Nadu (roughly 24 acres, about 300 by 290 metres), built in 1645 CE under Thirumalai Nayak in the Vandiyur area of Madurai. A central island holds the Maiya Mandapam with a Vinayaka (Ganesha) shrine, and the tank was historically fed from the Vaigai through underground channels. It is famous for the annual Teppam (float) festival in the Tamil month of Thai (Jan-Feb), when temple deities are floated on decorated rafts.

Housed in the historic Tamukkam palace, this memorial museum opened in 1959 and tells the story of India's freedom struggle alongside a biography of Mahatma Gandhi. Among its most moving relics is part of the blood-stained garment Gandhi was wearing when he was assassinated; Madurai is also where, in 1921, Gandhi first adopted the simple loincloth.

A state government museum set on the historic Tamukkam grounds in Tallakulam, holding collections of archaeology, sculpture, bronzes, coins, paintings and natural-history exhibits from the Madurai region. It offers a compact survey of the district's Pandya and Nayak-era heritage and complements the memorial museums on the same campus.

A 17th-century summer palace built around 1670 for the Nayak queen Rani Mangammal, in Indo-Saracenic style with tall pillars and a series of large domes. Historically used for royal ceremonies and elephant parades, the heritage complex today serves as government museum grounds in the Tallakulam area of Madurai.

An old Shiva temple in the Sellur locality of Madurai, also known as the Thiruvappanur temple, dedicated to the deity Thiruvappudaiyar. It is one of the city's lesser-known but historically layered shrines, valued for its stone inscriptions and traditional Tamil temple architecture within an urban neighbourhood.

The largest mosque and dargah in Madurai, enshrining the tombs of two 13th-century Madurai sultans and Sufi saints, Hazrat Sultan Alauddin and Hazrat Sultan Shamsuddin. The single dome over the tombs is said to have been carved from one massive block of stone. A major centre of Islamic pilgrimage, its annual urs festival draws devotees across faiths.

The mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Madurai, tracing to a mission church built in 1841 and rebuilt into its present large form, completed and blessed in 1916. It is the seat of the diocese, noted for its twin Roman-style bell towers and Romanesque-Gothic architecture with pointed arches and stained glass.

This 17th-century palace, built in 1636 by King Thirumalai Nayak, is a striking blend of Dravidian and Indo-Saracenic style. Only about a quarter of the original complex survives, centred on the grand Swarga Vilasam (celestial pavilion) courtyard with its massive granite-and-stucco columns and domes, and an evening sound-and-light show tells its story.

Puthu Mandapam (also spelled Pudhu or Vasantha Mandapam) is a large 17th-century pillared hall built by King Thirumalai Nayak just east of the Meenakshi Amman Temple's eastern gopuram in Madurai. Its rows of carved stone pillars, including sculptures of the Nayak kings, now shelter a busy covered bazaar of tailors and textile shops.