Manapad Beach

A 16th-century coastal church on the cape where St Francis Xavier is said to have lived and prayed in a seaside cave; holds a relic believed to be a fragment of the True Cross.

A coastal Amman temple famed for its 10-day Dasara festival, when devotees dress as gods, goddesses and other figures in elaborate disguise processions after weeks of fasting.

A village whose name means 'first village', founded in 1799 by Christian converts from Palayamkottai as the first purely Christian planned settlement in the region. It became an early cradle of Protestant mission work in southern Tamil Nadu and is home to St. Michael and All Angels Church. It remains a notable landmark of the district's Christian heritage.

The named beach beside Tiruchendur's Murugan temple. Open-sea conditions vary and ritual bathing does not imply that swimming is always safe.

One of the six Arupadai Veedu abodes of Lord Murugan, a vast seashore temple on the Gulf of Mannar where Murugan is said to have worshipped Shiva before defeating the asura Surapadman.

A natural spring about 10 km from Tiruchendur where water gushes out to form a narrow stream locally called a 'sunai'. The Arunchunai Kaatha Ayyanar Temple stands on the banks of this spring, giving the place its name. It is a small pilgrimage and picnic spot combining a temple with a perennial natural water source.

A Shiva temple at Kattarimangalam village in Sathankulam taluk, with the presiding deity known as Veerapandeeswarar and the goddess as Nalla Thavam Nachiyar. It is counted among the Pancha Natarajar Sthalams, where the dancing form of Shiva is venerated here as Azhagiya Koothar. The temple lies about 14 km from Sathankulam town.

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.

St. John's Cathedral is a large 19th-century Gothic-style church at the centre of Nazareth, a planned Christian town founded by SPG missionaries and developed by Canon Arthur Margoschis. It serves as the seat of the CSI Thoothukudi-Nazareth Diocese. Its tall, flat-topped tower is visible across the surrounding plains.

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.

One of the nine Nava Tirupati Divya Desams, dedicated to Vishnu as Vaithamanidhi; birthplace of the Alwar saint Madhurakavi.

A Nava Tirupati Divya Desam and the birthplace of Nammalvar, foremost of the twelve Alwar saints, said to have composed his Tamil hymns beneath a tamarind tree here.