< >

DESTINATIONS Uttarakhand Destination Haridwar Rishikesh Mussoorie Nanital Auli Chopta Dhanaulti Kausani Almora Ranikhet Yamunotri Gangotri Kedarnath Badrinath Lansdown Himachal Destination Shimla Kullu Manali Dharamshala Solan Dalhousie Bilaspur Chamba Kasauli Kangra Kinnaur Palampur Kalpa Lahaul & Spiti Valley Kerala Destination Alappuzha Kochi Munnar Varkala Periyar National Park Bekal Kollam Kochi Access : Backwater ferry / bus / three-wheeler auto rickshaw. A leisurely walk through the city is the best way to discover historic Fort Kochi. Once an obscure fishing village that became the first European township in India, Kochi has an eventful and colourful history to tell. Its reputation as a seafaring commercial town was such that Nicolas Conti, an Italian traveller of the Middle Ages remarked: If China is where you make your money; then Kochi surely is the place to spend it. The town was shaped by the Portuguese, the Dutch and later the British. The result of these cultural interfaces is seen in the many remains of Indo-European architecture that still exist here. The huge cantilevered Chinese fishing nets which were brought here by traders from the court of Kublai Khan, are a fascinating sight on the Kochi shore line. Varkala Beach Location : 51 km north of Thiruvananthapuram city in Thiruvananthapuram district and 37 km south of Kollam, south Kerala. Varkala, a calm and quiet hamlet, lies on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram district. It has several places of tourist interests like a beautiful beach, a 2000-year-old Vishnu Temple and the Ashramam - Sivagiri Mutt a little distance from the beach. The Papanasam beach (also called as Varkala beach), which is ten kilometers away from Varkala, is renowned for the natural spring. It is considered to have medicinal and curative properties. A dip in the holy waters at this beach is believed to purge the body of impurities and the soul of all sins; hence the name 'Papanasam beach'. A two thousand year old shrine the Janardhanaswamy Temple stands on the cliffs overlooking the beach, a short distance away. The Sivagiri Mutt, founded by the great Hindu reformer and philosopher Sree Narayana Guru (1856 - 1928) is also close by. The Samadhi (the final resting place) of the Guru here attracts thousands of devotees every year during the Sivagiri Pilgrimage days - 30th December to 1st January. Sree Narayana Guru propagated the ideology: "one caste, one religion and one god", in a society torn by the taboos of caste system. Varkala offers excellent accommodation facilities for tourists and is fast becoming a popular health resort with many Ayurvedic massage centres. Attractions : Beach, mineral water springs, the Sivagiri Mutt and a 2000-year- old Vishnu Temple.