Kanyakumari
Southernmost Point Of Mainland India; Meeting Point Of Three Seas · Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu
The southernmost point of mainland India, where the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean meet, and a place Indians travel to from every state to watch the sun rise and set over the water from the same shore. It is also a sacred town: the Kumari Amman temple, dedicated to the virgin goddess, stands at the tip, and pilgrims bathe at the ghat where the seas meet. Just offshore, on two rocks reached by ferry, stand the Vivekananda Rock Memorial, built in 1970 where Swami Vivekananda is said to have meditated in 1892, and a giant statue of the Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar, over forty metres tall; a glass-floored footbridge now joins the two rocks. The Gandhi Mandapam marks where Gandhi's ashes were kept before immersion, and is designed so that sunlight falls on a spot on his birthday. On the full moon in April, the sun sets and the moon rises at the same time. The town is crowded with pilgrims and tourists, and the sunrise at the tip draws hundreds every morning. Padmanabhapuram Palace, a great wooden palace, is nearby.
Sannathi Street, Kanyakumari, Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, 629702, India
NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The usual pattern: sunrise at the tip is around 6 am and the crowd gathers from about 5.30 am. The ferry to the rocks runs roughly from 8 am to 4 pm and is suspended in rough seas, sometimes for days in the monsoon. The Kumari Amman temple opens before dawn, closes for a few hours around midday and reopens in the late afternoon. Padmanabhapuram Palace keeps daytime hours and closes on Mondays. THE TRAPS: joining the ferry queue at 10 am in season, arriving on a day when the sea has closed the ferry, and reaching Padmanabhapuram on a Monday. Confirm times before travelling.