By road
~240 km from Madurai, ~90 km from Trivandrum
South India · Tamil Nadu
Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu
Sunrise and sunset over three seas · ~240 km from Madurai, ~90 km from Trivandrum
Getting there
By rail
Kanyakumari, its own station in town
By air
Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) International Airport, ~87-110 km
Best time to visit
October to March — clearest horizons for the famous sunrise
Don't miss
Vivekananda Rock Memorial
Thiruvalluvar Statue
Padmanabhapuram Palace nearby
Things to do
Sunrise watching
Ferry to the rock memorial
Lighthouse climbs
Where to eat
Sources: open-meteo, wikimedia, Photo: Shivani · CC BY-SA 4.0
What to pack
Windproof layer for the point, sunrise alarm, sandals
A quieter corner
Full-moon evenings when sunset and moonrise share the horizon
Before you go
The virgin goddess's temple at India's southern tip, where three seas meet; Chitra Pournami (April-May) is the day both sunrise and moonrise are seen over the sea.
About Kanyakumari
- Coastal
Where it is
Kanyakumari, once known as Cape Comorin, is a town in Tamil Nadu at the southern tip of mainland India, where the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal are said to meet, near the southern end of the Western Ghats.
History
The town is named after the goddess Kanya Kumari, whose shore temple has drawn pilgrims for centuries. It was part of the kingdom of Travancore until the reorganisation of states in 1956 joined it to Madras State, now Tamil Nadu. Swami Vivekananda meditated on a rock offshore in 1892, and the Vivekananda Rock Memorial was built there in 1970.
People
Kanyakumari's people speak Tamil, and Malayalam is also heard in a district that was long part of Travancore. Fishing communities work the coast, while the town lives largely by pilgrimage, with shell crafts and palm-leaf goods sold in its lanes.
Known for
- Sunrise and sunset over the sea
- The Vivekananda Rock Memorial
- The Thiruvalluvar Statue
- The Kumari Amman Temple
- The Gandhi Memorial Mandapam
Did you know?
The Thiruvalluvar Statue, unveiled on 1 January 2000, stands 133 feet tall with its pedestal, one foot for each of the 133 chapters of the Tirukkural.
Shrines and sites
- Bhagavathy Amman
- Vivekananda Rock Memorial and Thiruvalluvar statue
- Suchindram Thanumalayan Temple
- Gandhi Memorial
Traditions
- Hindu
We haven't written a guide for this place yet — you can still plan a trip here.