Sign in with Facebook
Hotel Class: 
5 Stars - 107 Opinions
T C NO 24 1968 2 C V Raman, Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), Kerala, 695014, India
Check Rates and Availability
of people enjoy staying here
107 Opinions
Napier Museum
Temple
banana and me
waiting for my turn to have a boat ride
Visiting Kovalem in March and would like to visit place where you can see and help with washing of Elephants,can anyone suggest villages where this takes place
Check out Periyar.
Please check with the below mentioned company.....Hope they can help u on this...
Name : Aadi Kerala Contact Details. info@aadikerala.com or quotes@aadikerala.com
Tel: + 91 484 2664005
Hi, I visited a village where you could feed/ wash and ride the elephants as a day trip from Kovalam. It was a village called Chirakarathazham, near Paravur. This was a new enterprise, when I visited in 2004.
Please check out my Kovalam page for more info and pics.
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/6f35e/10b1eb/4/
also my Kerala pages.
Please feel free to contact me for more info.
Best Wishes,
Sue
There is one Mr.Jeff who was arranging a "Day with the Elephant" excursion from Kovalam. While you are in Kovalam, contact someone from Beatles or Spice Garden ( Beach shacks) about this. You could get some information. It's a drive to a nearby village called "Vithura" on the way to Ponmudi hill station. He has a small homely resort built by a stream where you can ride,feed and bathe an elephant. It's worth it!
Padmanabha Swamy temple is important temple for Hindus.
Here the presiding deity is Lord Vishnu,only here he is in recline position.
Can see the Vishnu on thousand head serpent coil bed in when he sleeps on cosmic ocean.Temple cant see at one window,have to see 3 windows.
Photogrphy is not allowed inside.
The pic is temple tower,and infront of this temple tank.
Non hinuds are not allowed inside.
Pallivetta (Royal hunt) and Arattu (Holy bath) are two important rituals held as part of the festivals in some of the major temples in Kerala. The head of the royal family of the still escorts the idols during the procession. The Arattu at the temple would be held on October 22 this year.
The Pallivetta is held on the eve of Arattu.
The Arattu procession takes place in the late afternoon. Images of Lord Sree Padmanabhaswamy, Lord Sree Krishna and Lord Sree Narasimha are carried along the three mile route to the shores of the Arabian Sea, at Shanghumukham. The images are given a ritual bath in the sea after the prescribed poojas. The purified idols back to the temple.
Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple is located in the heart of the city. This was renovated in 1733. The presiding deity of the temple is Lord Vishnu, sleeping on the serpent Anantha. The architecture is a mixture of Dravidian and Kerala . The entry to the shrine is restricted to Hindus only.
Getting there:
Nearest railway station: Thiruvananthapuram Central, about 1 km from the shrine.
Nearest airport: Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, about 6 kms from the shrine.
Attukal Bhagavathy temple, situated 4 km from trivandrum city, is one of the ancient temple of kerala becomes alive with joyous celebrations on the Bharani day in Kumbhom (February- March).This festival is known as Attukal Ponkala. This festival begins with a Thottampattu (a song about Bhagavathy – the goddess), which goes on during all the nine days. On the ninth day, several thousands of women assemble in the temple compound with ponkala pots and it is an offfering ususally made in Bhagavathy temples, prepared in the form of pudding by cooking rice, jaggery, coconut kernel and plantain fruits in varying combinations. After the head priest has blessed the ponkalas, the Devi is taken in procession to Manacaud Sastha Temple accompanied by caparisoned elephants. The Attukal Temple is also known as the Sabarimala of women, as women form major of devotees.
The Pongala Mahotsavam is the most important festival of Attukal Bhagavathy Temple. The offering of Pongala is a special temple practice prevalent in the southern part of Kerala and some parts of Tamilnadu. It is a ten-day programme commencing on the Karthika star of the Malayalam month of Makaram-Kumbham (February-March) and closing with the sacrificial offering known as Kuruthitharpanam at night. On the ninth day of the festival the world famous Attukal Pongala Mahotsavam takes place. The entire area of about 5 kilometre radius around temple with premises of houses of people of all caste, creed and religion, open fields, roads, commercial institutions, premises of Government offices etc. emerges as a consecrated ground for observing Pongala rituals for lakhs of women devotees assembling from different parts of Kerala and outside. The ceremony is exclusively confined to women folk and the enormous crowd, which gathers in Thiruvananthapuram on this auspicious day is reminiscent of the Kumbhamela Festival of North India.
Devi ATTUKALAMMA is considered as the incarnation of 'Kannaki', the heroine of 'Silappathikaram' by Tamil Poet Illango in 2nd century A.D and Attukal is one of the places where Kannaki took rest on her journey northward from Madurai to Kodungallur.
Visited as part of an organised tour with Manos.
A large outer hall held decorative columns, Huge doorways, entrance canopies, carved swings and vessels. Many of these had been reclaimed from local old buildings and were being patiently restored to their former glory, either to be replaced on the original buildings or for export.
In the workshop we were fascinated to see the skilled craftsmen at work.
The air was heavily perfumed, at first we thought it was the owners aftershave, but soon learned it was the sandalwood that was being carved into intricate figurines and a large figure of Ganesh!
I chatted to one of the men who explained he'd learnt his skill from his Father and Grand Father.
Each man was highly skilled in a different aspect of creating these pieces. One was an expert in hand anatomy, another in facial expressions etc.
I'm afraid, I don't know the name or location of this place. However later that day, we were taken to Natesons Antiqarts shop, where the man who showed us around the handicraft centre, was waiting to sell us items similar to those we'd seen in progress earlier.
Enquire here for details re workshop visit.
Padmanabhapuram is once Capital of Travancore Maharaja's.The 16th Century Palace is in now Tamil Nadu states midway between Trivendram&KanyaKumari.
53km from Trivendram.Inside so many Halls,the floors are polished by mixture of charcoal,egg white &coconut shells.
It looks like mirror.Inside there no airconditioner,you feel so cool,and airy :).
Have to leave our shoes at entrance.If you want, can hire guide.Each chamber someone is there to explain the details.
Big dinning hall at time thousand people can have food.Things not to miss ,Enterance hall ,the brass lamp with rider riding horse,
Kings Quarter's the beautifuly carved Royal bed.
From Thiruvananthapuram to KanyaKumai bus stops at "Thuckalay ".From there 2km.
The KTDC is giving daily conducted tours from Thiruvananthapuram.
Plz see travalogue for more pics .
The palace is closed on Monday
Entrance fees Rs20.Camara is allowed inside.
Sponsored Links
Similar to Taj Residency Trivandrum
Near Taj Residency Trivandrum
Cheapest in Thiruvananthapuram
Great Hotels for Less
Q: Cheap cross to SriLanka "Adding Sri Lanka to an Indian journey---there was a ferry from bottom of India to Sri Lanka but keep reading it,s cancelled or..."
A: "Have a look at www.skyscanner.net for India>Sri Lanka departure airports and airlines. It seems Sri Lankan Airlines fly from Thiruvananthapuram> Colombo. Times and..."
Sponsored Links
Latest Thiruvananthapuram hotel reviews
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links
Check Rates and Availability (from our partners)
