2 / 5 - 2 reviews
How to get there
Two hours by plane from Mumbai
When to go
All year round
Minimum stay
Half a day
Thiruvananthapuram (India)
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Nina Montagné
Practical information on Thiruvananthapuram
Reviews of Thiruvananthapuram
An essential destination on any cultural holiday, Trivandrum is well worth visiting for its ancient temples.
My suggestion:
The program for the day? Visit the city in the morning; relax in the shade in afternoon; then admire the sun setting at the beach.
My review
Thiruvananthapuram – Trivandrum to friends (and to tourists who've long since given up trying to learn Indian place names) – is one of the rare places in Kerala worth seeing for its monuments. It provides the perfect opportunity to enjoy visiting various temples, especially the Sree Anantha Padmanabha Temple, which is the city's icon and is dedicated to the god Vishnu. The fact that this is one of India's oldest religious monuments makes the site an essential place to see.
Another essential place to visit is to be found 65 kilometers from Trivandrum: the Padmanabhapuram Palace, at the Padmanabhapuram Fort. Listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's largest wooden palace, this teak and rosewood site is an architectural jewel. It is said that Ayurvedic secrets are used to keep the interior at a pleasant temperature, something which only adds to the fort's prestige.
For those who, like me, always feel a sunset is somehow incomplete if it is over the sea, Shankumugham Beach is the place to go. It is so relaxing there after a day spent among the urban crowds.
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Bijoy Mohan
The capital of Kerala, located on the coast in southern India.
My suggestion:
Go and admire the facades of its ancient Victorian monuments.
My review
During my stays in India, I often went to Trivandrum going by plane or driving in the south, but I never stayed in this city for very long.
However, it has some charming houses built like small pagodas with pretty red-tiled roofs. I also really liked the Victorian buildings and the wide, clear avenues of of the city center, where it may be nice to go for a walk..
Visiting the great Trivandrum Zoo that winds through lakes and forests is a nice outing for a family with children.
It isn't necessarily a must-see in Kerala, but you can stop here if you have the chance, there are a few nice things to do here.
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Nina Montagné
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Roberto Faccenda
344 travelers' photos
