Popular Tourist Places to Visit in Madurai

Popular Tourist Places to Visit in Madurai

Madurai is one of the oldest and the largest cities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

Referred to as the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu, the city is known for the Madurai Meenakshi Temple and is considered as the Athens of the East and the Temple Town.

Madurai is also known for its food, cuisine, architecture, shopping and endearing people. Madurai has been selected as one of the hundred Indian cities to be developed as a smart city under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's flagship Smart Cities Mission.


Here are Some Wonderful Tourist Places to Visit in Madurai:

Sri Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple

Also referred to as the Meenakshi Amman Temple, the Meenakshi Temple is an old historic Hindu temple situated on the banks of the Vagai River.

Dedicated to Meenakshi Devi and Shiva, it is a major landmark in Madurai and one of the top places to visit in Madurai. With Musical Pillars outside the thousand pillar hall, each pillar produces a different musical note when struck.

Meenakshi Tirukalyanam festival is a ten day annual festival celebrated during April and May which allures a huge number of devotees. 


Gandhi Museum

Gandhi Museum is a memorial museum for Gandhi located in Madurai and was inaugurated by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1959.

Earlier, it was the palace of Rani Mangammal of the Nayak dynasty and later it was converted into the Gandhi Museum by the Gandhi Memorial Trust after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948. It is one of the five great Gandhi Museums in the country which depict the life of the Father of the nation.

The museum houses a blood stained dhoti that he was wearing at the time of his assassination along with photographs of his lifetime. A new wing has been constructed on the northern side which includes a library and open-air theater.


Thirupparankundram Temple

Thirupparankunram Murugan Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Murugan.

Also known as Thirupparankunram Murugan Kovil, it is one of the six abodes of Murugan and considered the first and foremost temple of Lord Muruga.

It is a cave temple and the entrance is built with 48 Nayaka period pillars with artistic carvings. There is a belief that people who get married here get special blessings from Lord Muruga. Also, this rock cut temple has separate shrines for Lord Ganapathy, Shiva, Durgai, Vishnu and other deities.


Thirumalai Nayak Mahal

Thirumalai Nayak Mahal is a beautiful palace in Madurai built by Thirumalai Nayak in 1636.

Divided into Swargavilasa and Rangavilasa, it is one of the important tourist places to visit in Madurai. The Darbar hall (courtyard) and the Natakasala (dancing hall) carry the original glory and are the prime attractions for tourists.

Also, there is a large museum that houses a wonderful collection of paintings, utensils, photographs of the palace showing its full glory and several sculptures. The major and most remarkable part of this palace is the dome of Swarga Vilasa which lies beyond a huge courtyard.


Koodal Alagar Temple

Dedicated to Lord Vishnu, Koodal Alagar Temple is one of the most ancient temples and most popular places to visit in Madurai. Also known as Arulmigu Koodalazhagar Thirukoil, the temple is one of the 108 Divyadesams (Vaishnavite Shrines) of the holy abodes of Vishnu.

The temple tower followed by the main shrine has a large rangamandapa and sanctum. A unique feature of this temple remains the three different postures of the same God. With beautifully carved ornamental windows, the temple attracts large number of devotees.