Kootapuli Beach

A prominent Sufi dargah and mosque in Radhapuram taluk near the coast, its twin domes marking tombs traditionally attributed to the saints Hazrat Syed Ali Fathima and Hazrat Shegu Muhammad. Built in a Dravidian-influenced style with a pillared hall and a sacred tank, its annual kandoori festival draws pilgrims of all faiths.

A Catholic church at the coastal village of Uvari, built in the shape of a ship in honour of the Virgin Mary and a landmark for the local fishing community. Uvari is one of the few Indian coastal villages with churches built right by the shore, and also has the old pilgrim churches of St. Anthony and St. Andrew.

A Divya Desam Vishnu temple at the foot of the Western Ghats with a tall rajagopuram and five Nambi forms (standing, sitting, reclining and more) across its shrines.

A 108 Divya Desam Vishnu temple at Nanguneri, one of the few where the deity receives a daily oil/ghee ablution, revered in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham hymns of Nammalvar.

A Pandya-era Shiva temple at Kalakkad, a Tevaram Vaippu Sthalam praised in hymns by the saints Appar and Manikkavasagar. Largely Pandya in construction with 13th-century reconstruction attributed to Veera Marthanda Varman, it is the principal ancient temple of the Kalakkad gateway to KMTR.

A Ramsar-listed sanctuary in Nanguneri taluk that is the largest breeding reserve for water birds in South India, protected by the local village community.

A town on the Thamirabarani famed for the Pattamadai pai, a superfine korai-grass mat woven so tightly it can be folded like cloth, a GI-tagged handicraft once presented to royalty. The riverbank village is the traditional centre of this centuries-old silk-mat weaving craft.

A roughly 700-year-old Vishnu temple on the Thamirabarani about 16 km west of Tirunelveli, built under the Travancore Samasthanam. Its moolavar is a rare standing Krishna holding butter in both palms, and the maha mandapam walls carry over 40 carvings from the Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhagavata.

An old Shiva temple at Melaseval village on the Ambasamudram road, standing near the larger Navaneethakrishnan temple. It is one of the Saivite shrines of the Thamirabarani belt west of Tirunelveli.

A 16th-century Nayak-era Vishnu temple renowned for its near life-size sculpted pillar figures, some of which produce musical notes when struck.

Tamil Nadu's 12th district museum, opened in 1992 at Palayamkottai, displaying bronzes, stone sculptures, hero stones, coins, palm-leaf manuscripts and prehistoric tools including finds from Adichanallur. Its galleries and dioramas showcase the region's tribal cultures and Tirunelveli folk arts.

A Shiva temple on the right bank of the Thamirabarani, the second of the nine Nava Kailasam temples strung along the river.