Places to visit in Tamil Nadu
188 places to visit in Tamil Nadu, each with LOQAH's carefully crafted stamp of its own: Airavatesvara Temple, Arjuna's Penance, Brihadeeswarar Temple and more. Stand at any of them with the app open and the stamp is yours, confirmed on site, in your Tamil Nadu volume.
12 UNESCO World Heritage sites · 14 National monuments · 5 State heritage sites · 97 Famous places to visit · 9 Offbeat places · 51 Hidden gems
UNESCO World Heritage sites in Tamil Nadu (12)
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Airavatesvara Temple
The smallest and finest of the three Chola temples, its steps carved to sound like musical notes.
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Arjuna's Penance
A rock relief thirty metres long with over a hundred figures, one of the largest open air carvings anywhere.
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Brihadeeswarar Temple
The Chola emperor's great temple, its sixty-metre tower capped by a single eighty-tonne stone.
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Gangaikonda Cholapuram
Rajendra Chola's temple for a capital that no longer exists, built to mark an army that reached the Ganga.
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Gingee Fort
Three hills, one wall, and the Troy of the East.
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Grizzled Squirrel Wildlife Sanctuary
Riverine forest in the Srivilliputhur hills for a squirrel found almost nowhere else.
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Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve
The river sanctuary at the southern tip of the Ghats, and the wettest part of Tamil Nadu.
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Mukurthi National Park
Grassland and shola at the top of the Nilgiris, kept for the Nilgiri tahr.
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Nilgiri Mountain Railway
The steepest rack railway in Asia, climbing from three hundred to twenty two hundred metres in forty six kilometres.
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Pancha Rathas
Five temples each cut from a single granite outcrop in the seventh century, and none of them ever finished.
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Shore Temple
Standing against the Bay of Bengal for thirteen centuries, the last of the legendary seven pagodas.
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Varaha Cave Temple
A seventh century Pallava cave whose panel of Vishnu lifting the earth is among the best rock cut relief in India.
National monuments in Tamil Nadu (14)
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Adichanallur
An urn burial ground on the Thamirabarani, iron age, and the graves are still being opened.
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Dindigul Fort
A rock fort over Dindigul, built by the Madurai Nayaks in the sixteenth century.
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Jalakandeswarar Temple
A Vijayanagara temple inside Vellore fort, used as a garrison store for a century and reconsecrated in 1981.
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Kunnandarkoil Cave Temple
A Pandya cave temple with a later Chola facade, in Pudukkottai.
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Moovar Koil
Three Chola temples in a row at Kodumbalur, of which two still stand.
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Namakkal Fort
A fort on the rock at Namakkal, built for the Madurai Nayaks and later held by Tipu.
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Nithyakalyana Perumal temple
A temple to Vishnu as the boar at Thiruvidandai, sung by the Alvars more than a thousand years ago.
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Sankagiri Fort
A hill fort between Erode and Salem, kept by the Archaeological Survey.
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Thirumayam Fort
A forty acre fort on the Pudukkottai road, built by the Raja of Ramnad in 1687.
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Thirunadhikkara Cave Temple
A rock-cut temple with ninth century murals, in a district that was Travancore until 1956.
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Tiger Cave, Mahabalipuram
A rock-cut shrine with eleven tiger heads round the opening, in a grove by the sea.
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Vattakottai Fort
A round coastal fort at the southern tip of India, built by Travancore to watch the sea.
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Vellore Fort
A moat with crocodiles, and the first sepoy mutiny.
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Vivekananda Rock Memorial
On a rock five hundred metres offshore where Vivekananda is said to have meditated for three days in 1892.
State heritage sites in Tamil Nadu (5)
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Alamparai Fort
The ruins of a late seventeenth century fort on the sea, fifty kilometres south of Mamallapuram.
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Fort Dansborg
The Danish fort at Tranquebar of 1620, yellow against the sea, and the second largest Denmark ever built.
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Padmanabhapuram Palace
The largest wooden palace in Asia, owned by Kerala but standing in Tamil Nadu since the states were redrawn.
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Thanjavur Maratha Palace
A Nayak and Maratha palace holding the Saraswati Mahal library, one of the oldest working libraries in Asia.
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Thirumalai Nayakkar Mahal
A seventeenth century audience hall with pillars twenty metres tall, a quarter of what was originally built.
Famous places to visit in Tamil Nadu (97)
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Adhiparasakthi Siddhar Peetam
A temple to Adhiparasakthi at Melmaruvathur, ninety kilometres down the road from Chennai.
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Adi Kumbeswarar Temple
The oldest temple in Kumbakonam, and where the Mahamaham tank is filled every twelve years.
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Alagar Koyil
Where Kallazhagar enters the Vaigai every Chithirai.
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Amritaghateswarar-Abirami Temple,Thirukkadaiyur
Shiva here is Kalantaka, the ender of time, with Abhirami beside him.
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Ardhanareeswarar Temple
At Tiruchengode Shiva and Parvati are one figure, half of each, in a single stone.
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Arignar Anna Zoological Park
Vandalur, six hundred hectares on the edge of Chennai, and among the largest zoos in South Asia.
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Arunachaleswarar Temple
The fire element, and the hill walked around at full moon.
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Avudaiyarkoil
The Tirupperunturai temple at Avudaiyarkoil, on the south bank of the Vellar.
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Bhavanisagar Dam
An earthen dam on the Bhavani in Erode district, west of Sathyamangalam.
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Chembarambakkam Lake
One of the two rain fed lakes Chennai drinks from, and where the Adyar river begins.
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Coonoor
The quieter Nilgiri station below Ooty, where the toy train stops for tea and Sim's Park has grown trees since 1874.
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Courtallam Falls
Nine falls in the Western Ghats where people bathe for the minerals the water carries off the herbs above.
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Dhandayuthapani Swamy Temple
The hilltop Murugan temple at Palani, third of the six abodes, reached by winch or on foot.
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Dhanushkodi Beach
The tip of Rameswaram island, where two seas meet, and where a town stood until the sea took it in 1964.
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Doddabetta
The highest point in the Nilgiris.
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Ekambareswarar Temple
One of the five element shrines, this one for earth, with a mango tree said to be old beyond counting.
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Elliot's Beach
Besant Nagar, and the Karl Schmidt memorial.
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Fort St George
The first English fortress in India, begun in 1644, and the seed the city of Madras grew around.
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Garbharakshambigai temple
A Shiva temple at Thirukarukavoor, south of Papanasam, named for the goddess Garbharakshambigai.
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Gedee Car Museum
A hundred cars from the workshop of G D Naidu, the mechanic who built India's first electric motor and never finished school.
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Government Museum Egmore
The Amaravati sculptures and the Chola bronzes.
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Hogenakkal Falls
The Kaveri dropping through a carbonatite gorge, crossed in round coracles that have not changed design in centuries.
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Jambukeswarar Temple
The water among the five element shrines, with a spring under the linga that never dries.
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Kailasanathar Temple
The oldest temple in Kanchipuram, Pallava sandstone from around 700, weathered soft.
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Kallanai Dam
The Grand Anicut, laid across the Kaveri by Karikala Chola and still directing the water it was cut for.
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Kallazhagar Temple
A Vishnu temple at Alagar Koyil, in the hills north of Madurai.
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Kamakshi Amman Temple
The Pallavas founded this temple to Kamakshi in their own capital, and Kanchipuram has kept it ever since.
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Kanyakumari
The southern tip of the mainland, where the Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean are said to meet.
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Kapaleeshwarar Temple
A Dravidian temple in Mylapore with a gopuram covered in painted figures, rebuilt in the sixteenth century.
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Karpaka Vinayakar Temple
A rock-cut cave temple at Pillaiyarpatti, seventh century, with a Ganesha carved in relief.
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Kodaikanal
A star shaped lake in the Palani hills, and the kurinji that flowers once every twelve years on the slopes around it.
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Kolli Hills
Seventy hairpins, and the Agaya Gangai falls.
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Kolukkumalai
The highest tea estate in the world at 2,400 metres, reached by jeep from Munnar over a road that is mostly rock.
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Kotagiri
The oldest of the three Nilgiri hill stations, quieter than both the others, with tea to the horizon and Catherine Falls below.
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Marina Beach
Thirteen kilometres of sand along the Bay of Bengal, one of the longest urban beaches anywhere.
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Marundeeswarar Temple
A temple at Thiruvanmiyur where Shiva is said to have taught the use of herbs.
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Maruthamalai Temple
A Murugan temple on a hill outside Coimbatore, with medicinal plants on the slope.
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Masinagudi
A village in the elephant corridor between Mudumalai and Bandipur, where the animals cross the road at dusk.
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Masānī Ammān
The chief temple of Masani Amman at Anaimalai, a household goddess to families across the Coimbatore country.
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Mathur Aqueduct
An aqueduct carrying water over the Pahrali river, built in 1966 and walked across ever since.
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Meenakshi Temple
A city within a city: fourteen gate towers crowded with painted gods above the streets of Madurai.
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Mettur Dam
A dam across the Kaveri where the river comes down into the plains, nine years in the building and finished in 1934.
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Mudumalai National Park
The corridor elephants use between the Nilgiris, Bandipur and Wayanad, and part of the largest protected block in south India.
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Mutharamman Temple, Tiruchendur
The Kulasai temple near Tiruchendur, about three hundred years old.
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Nagore Dargah
The shrine of Shahul Hamid with five minarets, one of them given by a Maratha raja.
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Nataraja Temple
Where Shiva is worshipped as the dancer, and where one shrine deliberately holds nothing at all.
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Nellaiappar Temple
The musical pillars, struck properly.
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New Pamban Bridge
India's first vertical lift sea bridge, its centre span rising to let ships pass beneath it.
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Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve
The largest protected forest in India, spread across three states along the Nilgiri hills.
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Ooty
The Nilgiri hill station at twenty two hundred metres, reached by a rack railway that has run since 1908.
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Palani Murugan Temple
One of the six abodes, and the panchamirtham.
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Pamban Bridge
India's first sea bridge, opened in 1914, with a middle section that lifted to let ships through.
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Pamban Island
The island Rameswaram stands on, reached over a sea bridge that opens for ships, and running out to the ghost town of Dhanushkodi.
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Parthasarathy Temple
An eighth century Pallava foundation at Triplicane, to Krishna as Arjuna's charioteer.
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Perur Pateeswarar Temple
A Chola temple outside Coimbatore with a hall of carved pillars called the Kanaka Sabha.
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Pichavaram Mangroves
One of the largest mangrove forests in the world, navigated by canoe through channels that close overhead.
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Poompuhar
The Chola port of Sangam poetry, most of it now under the sea, with finds still washing up on the beach.
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Poondi reservoir
One of the reservoirs Chennai drinks from, sixty kilometres out on the Kosasthalai.
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Pulicat Lake
The second largest brackish lagoon in India, a barrier island between it and the Bay of Bengal.
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Rajagopalaswamy Temple, Mannargudi
Krishna as Rajagopala at Mannargudi, spread over twenty three acres.
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Ramanathaswamy Temple
The longest corridor of any shrine in India at over a thousand metres, on an island joined to the mainland by a rail bridge.
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Ranganathaswamy Temple
The largest working temple complex in the world, twenty one gopurams inside seven concentric walls.
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Samayapuram Mariamman Temple
A temple near Trichy second only to Palani in what it collects, and the goddess is made of sand and jaggery.
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Santhome Basilica
One of only three churches in the world built over the tomb of an apostle, in this case Thomas.
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Sattainathar Temple, Sirkazhi
A Shiva temple at Sirkazhi sung in the Thevaram, and known by three names at once.
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Siruvapuri Sri Balasubrahmanyam temple
A Murugan temple in Thiruvallur district, standing by its own records for more than five hundred years.
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Sri Pandi Muneeswarar Temple (Pandi Kovil)
A Madurai temple where a Pandya king is worshipped as the guardian god Pandi Muneeswarar.
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Sri Ramanasramam
The ashram that grew around Ramana Maharshi at the foot of Arunachala, where he lived from 1922 until 1950. Visitors still sit in the old hall where he received them, and walk the hill he never left.
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Sripuram Golden Temple
Fifteen hundred kilograms of gold foil, laid by hand.
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Srirangam
An island between the Kaveri and the Kollidam, holding the largest working temple complex in India.
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Srivilliputhur
Andal's town, and the gopuram on the state emblem.
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Srivilliputhur Andal Temple
The gopuram on the Tamil Nadu state emblem, and where Andal was found under a tulsi plant.
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Subramaniya Swamy Temple, Thiruparankundram
The first abode of Murugan, cut into the rock of a hill outside Madurai.
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Subramaniya Swamy Temple, Tiruttani
The fifth abode of Murugan, on a hill of three hundred and sixty five steps.
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Swamimalai Murugan Temple
One of the six houses of Murugan, on a hillock of sixty feet beside a branch of the Kaveri.
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Thanumalayan Temple
At Suchindram the name itself holds all three gods, Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma in one word.
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Tharangambadi
Danish India, and Fort Dansborg on the beach.
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Thiruchendur Murugan Temple
The only one of the six on the shore.
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Thirumalaikoil
A Murugan temple on a low hill in the Western Ghats, close to the Kerala border.
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Thiruvellarai Pundarikakshan Perumal Temple
A Divya Desam temple to Vishnu on a rise of white rock north of Srirangam, said to be older than Srirangam itself; its sanctum has two doorways that each open for half the year, and outside lies a four-armed stepped tank built around 800 CE.
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Thyagaraja Temple, Tiruvarur
Shiva as Thyagaraja at Tiruvarur, with Kamalambika's shrine beside him drawing pilgrims of its own.
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Thyagaraja Temple, Tiruvottiyur
A Shiva temple in north Chennai, sung by the Tamil saint poets of the seventh century.
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Tiruvalidhayam Tiruvallesvarar Temple
A Shiva temple at Padi in Chennai, where the god takes his name from the sparrow the sage Bharadwaj is said to have become.
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Ulagalantha Perumal Temple, Tirukoyilur
Vishnu at Tirukkoyilur as Trivikrama, the one who measured the world in three steps.
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Uthirakosamangai
The Mangalanatha Swamy temple near Ramanathapuram, spread across twenty acres.
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Vaigai Dam
A dam across the Vaigai near Andipatti, with a farm research station beside it.
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Vainu Bappu Observatory
An observatory in the Javadi hills at Kavalur, where India does a good deal of its own looking at the sky.
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Vaitheeswaran Koil
Shiva here is Vaidyanathar, the healer, and people come with their illnesses to tell him about them.
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Valluvar Kottam
A temple chariot in concrete, with all thirteen hundred couplets.
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Valparai
Tea estates at thirteen hundred metres reached by forty hairpin bends, with lion tailed macaques in the shade trees.
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Varadharaja Perumal Temple
One of the Divya Desams at Kanchipuram, with a lizard on the ceiling people touch for luck.
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Vedagiriswarar temple
A Shiva temple at Thirukazhukundram, south of Chennai.
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Veeraraghava Swamy Temple
A Vishnu temple at Tiruvallur, north west of Chennai, built in the Tamil manner.
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Velankanni Basilica
A Marian shrine on the Coromandel coast drawing pilgrims of every faith, and rebuilt after the 2004 tsunami.
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Venni Karumbeswarar Temple
Shiva as Karumbeswarar at Koilvenni, a place whose older name was simply Tiruvenni.
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Yelagiri
A small hill station with a large lake.
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Yercaud
The poor man's Ooty, and the coffee under the shola.
Offbeat places in Tamil Nadu (9)
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Agasthiyar Falls
Papanasam falls on the Tamiraparani, below the Agastya hills.
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Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve
The southern end of the Western Ghats, three and a half thousand square kilometres of it across two states.
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Aliyar Reservoir
A reservoir at the foot of the Valparai road, under the Anaimalai hills.
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Dhanushkodi
A town destroyed by a cyclone in 1964 and left as it fell, at the point where two seas meet and India stops.
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Government Botanical Garden
Twenty two hectares laid out at Ooty in 1848, on the lower slopes above the town.
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Kodaikanal Lake
A lake made by hand in 1863, because a Collector of Madurai wanted one there.
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Pykara
A river the Todas hold sacred, rising at Mukurthi peak above Ooty.
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The Island, Chennai
An island made on purpose in the Cooum in the early 1800s, in the middle of Chennai.
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Veeranam Lake
A long tank in Cuddalore district whose water has been carried all the way up to Chennai.
Hidden gems in Tamil Nadu (51)
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Agaya Gangai
A hundred metre fall on the Kollimalai, reached down a flight of a thousand steps.
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Amaravathi Dam
A dam on the Amaravathi inside the Anamalai forest, south of Udumalpet.
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Amirthi Zoological Park
A small zoo in the Vellore hills, open since 1967, with a waterfall inside it.
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Anaimalai Tiger Reserve
Shola forest and grassland in the Anamalais, formerly Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary.
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Begumpur Mosque, Dindigul
A Nayak-period mosque below Dindigul rock, plain and old.
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Berijam Lake
A reservoir above Kodaikanal, permit only, and the water is said to be drinkable at source.
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Chettinad Mansions
Merchant houses built with Burmese teak, Italian marble and Belgian glass by a trading community that worked across Asia.
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DakshinaChitra
Eighteen heritage houses from four southern states, taken down where they stood and rebuilt here.
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Dolphin's Nose
A rock over the Catherine falls.
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Fort St. David
The ruins of a British fort at Cuddalore, left standing by the sea without much care.
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Guindy National Park
The smallest national park in India, three square kilometres of scrub forest left inside the city.
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Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park
Twenty one islands and the reefs between them, the first marine national park in India.
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Isha Yoga Center, Coimbatore
Sadhguru's ashram at the foot of the Velliangiri hills, home to the Dhyanalinga and the 112 foot Adiyogi.
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Jumma Masjid, Kilakarai
A mosque without domes or minarets, built by Tamil Muslim traders in the local temple idiom.
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Kalikambal Temple
A temple in George Town that Shivaji is said to have visited in 1677.
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Kalugumalai
A single rock cut into a Jain sanctuary, a monolithic temple left unfinished, and a working shrine.
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Kampaheswarar Temple
A Chola temple at Thirubuvanam built by Kulottunga III to mark a victory.
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Kanchipuram Silk Looms
Silk woven here with the border and body made separately then joined, a technique specific to this town.
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Karaikudi Chettinad Kitchens
Athangudi tiles, and the antique streets.
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Karaivetti Bird Sanctuary
A tank in Ariyalur that fills with waterbirds between November and February.
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Keeladi
An excavation on the Vaigai that pushed urban Tamil settlement back to the sixth century BCE.
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Kiliyur Falls
A fall below Yercaud on the Shevaroy hills, a hundred metres down, best after rain.
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Kodiveri Dam
A masonry dam on the Bhavani near Gobichettipalayam.
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Koothankulam Bird Sanctuary
A village that has protected its nesting birds for three centuries without being asked.
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Krishnagiri Dam
A dam across the Thenpennai in Krishnagiri district, known to everyone as the KRP.
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Kumbakkarai Falls
A fall on the Pambar in the lower Palanis, with rock pools below it.
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Mahendragiri, Tirunelveli
A peak in the Western Ghats the Ramayana names, and the army holds.
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Manapad
Where St Francis Xavier is said to have stayed in a cave.
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Mandagapattu Temple
Mahendravarman's first rock-cut temple, with an inscription boasting it used no brick, timber, metal or mortar.
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Mudumalai Theppakadu
The elephant camp, and the Mysore road through the reserve.
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Pachaimalai Hills
Low green hills in Tiruchirappalli, with the Koraiyar falls and a Malayali tribal population.
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Papanasam
The Tamiraparani, and the falls above it.
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Pazhamudircholai Murugan Temple
The sixth abode of Murugan, in a grove on the Alagar hills.
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Poondi Madha Basilica
A Marian shrine in Thanjavur with a car festival and a long walk to it.
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Pykara Falls
The shola, the lake and the boat.
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Rockfort Temple
Four hundred and thirty seven steps cut into a granite outcrop over a billion years old, with the town below on all sides.
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Sarangapani Temple
A temple built as a chariot, with wheels and horses.
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Saraswathi Mahal Library
A Maratha palace library at Thanjavur with fifty thousand manuscripts, most on palm leaf.
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Sathanur Dam
A dam across the Thenpennai among the Chennakesava hills, thirty kilometres out of Tiruvannamalai.
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Siruvani Falls
A fall on the Siruvani, whose water Coimbatore drinks and claims is the second sweetest in the world.
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Sittanavasal Cave
A Jain cave with frescoes of a lotus pond, the best surviving paintings after Ajanta.
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Sri Appakkudathaan Perumal Temple
One of the Divya Desams at Koviladi, where Vishnu is said to have asked for appam.
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Suruli Falls
A two stage fall in the Cumbum valley, mentioned in the Silappadikaram.
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Thalaiyar Falls
The Rat Tail, nearly three hundred metres in one drop, seen from the Ghat road and reached by nobody.
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Thirparappu Falls
The Kodayar coming over a ledge beside a Shiva temple, with a bathing pool below.
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Thousand Lights Mosque
A Shia mosque of 1810 named for the lamps it took to light the assembly hall.
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Ucchi Pillayar Temple
The Ganesha temple on top of the Rockfort at Tiruchirappalli, four hundred and thirty seven steps up.
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Udayagiri Fort, Kanyakumari
A fort of the Travancore kings where the Dutch commander De Lannoy is buried.
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VOC park and zoo
A zoo and park in the middle of Coimbatore, with about nine hundred animals in it.
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Vattaparai Falls
A broad fall on the Pahrali near the Kerala border, with a shrine beside it.
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Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary
Protected by villagers since the eighteenth century.
Collecting in Tamil Nadu
What are the best places to visit in Tamil Nadu?
LOQAH lists 188 places in Tamil Nadu. The best known include Airavatesvara Temple, Arjuna's Penance, Brihadeeswarar Temple, Gangaikonda Cholapuram and Gingee Fort. Each has a stamp of its own to collect when you are there.
How many LOQAH stamps are there in Tamil Nadu?
188, and more are added over time. Each place has LOQAH's carefully crafted stamp of its own.
How do I collect a stamp in Tamil Nadu?
Open LOQAH at the place and get its stamp. LOQAH checks where you are once, at that moment; at the place itself the stamp is confirmed on site, with a gold badge.
I have been to places in Tamil Nadu before. Can I add them?
Yes. In Earlier trips, choose Tamil Nadu and swipe through its stamps, or import your Google Timeline. Each one goes into your volume with the date, if you know it.
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