Vembar Beach

A major Catholic basilica in Tuticorin whose statue of Our Lady is paraded in the Golden Car festival; elevated to minor basilica status by Pope John Paul II in 1982.

This Shakti shrine about 6 km from Ettayapuram is regarded as the foremost among the district's Shakti Peedams. It is famous for a roughly 42-foot-tall open-air statue of Vekkali Amman, worshipped with no roof overhead. The peedam was established by Sri Ramamoorthy Swamigal and draws devotees for its towering goddess figure.

A memorial fort on the site of the stronghold of 18th-century Polygar chief Veerapandiya Kattabomman, an early rebel against British rule who was hanged in 1799; murals depict his life.

A memorial at Ettayapuram commemorating Umaru Pulavar, the 17th-century Tamil Muslim poet who composed the epic Seerapuranam on the life of Prophet Muhammad. Ettayapuram is celebrated as the birthplace of both Umaru Pulavar and the revolutionary poet Subramania Bharati. The memorial marks the town's literary heritage.

The most popular beach in Tuticorin city, adjacent to the port, a favourite evening spot for locals and departure point for island boat trips.

Vast coastal salt-evaporation flats around Tuticorin, a major source of India's salt production and a distinctive photogenic landscape that defines the local economy.

This Shiva-Shakti temple sits on an elevated spot called Kovilmedu in Kovilpatti and is dedicated to Poovananathar (Shiva) and Shenbagavalli (Parvati), with primacy given to the goddess. It houses a noted seven-foot-tall idol of Goddess Shenbagavalli. Its major festivals are the Aadi Pooram and Chithirai Theertham, which draw large crowds.

A historic harbour village at the mouth of the Thamirabarani river, called 'Punicale' by the Portuguese, who made it their principal southern-coast possession for about 50 years from 1551. They built hospitals, a seminary and a mud fort here, and the first Tamil printing press was set up at Punnaikayal in 1579. It succeeded the older port of Kayal in regional maritime trade.

A Christian heritage town founded in the 19th century and named after Mr. Sawyer, an East India Company layman who established a village exclusively for Christian converts. It became one of the key SPG mission fields of the district, developing schools and a Gothic-style church. It is associated with early printing and education in the Tirunelveli-Thoothukudi mission belt.

The grand Friday mosque of Kayalpatnam is one of the oldest mosques in India, traditionally dated to 842 CE and rebuilt in the 14th century by Sultan Sayyid Jamaluddin. Known as the 'Mosque of a Thousand Pillars' for its vast pillared prayer hall, it is the principal Islamic monument of this historic Arab-trading port town on the Bay of Bengal. It remains an active centre of worship and Islamic scholarship.

A centuries-old Arab-trade port town of Islamic heritage, home to some of India's oldest mosques rebuilt over successive centuries with pillared prayer halls.

A village near Srivaikuntam whose Thamirabarani-valley urn-burial finds have been dated to roughly 3,200 years ago, cited as evidence of an ancient Tamil Iron Age civilisation.