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Kottayam
City in Kerala, India

Kottayam

Kottayam is a city in the Kottayam district of Kerala, India.

Plan a trip to Kottayam→From Kochi

It is the headquarters of Kottayam district, located about 66 km (41 mi) south of the commercial city of Kochi and 154 km (95.7 mi) north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. As per the 2011 census of India, Kottayam has a population of 136,812 people, and a population density of 2,470/km2 (6,400/sq mi).

Kottayam is also referred to as "the City of Letters" as many of the first Malayalam daily newspapers, such as Deepika, Malayala Manorama, and Mangalam, were started and are headquartered in Kottayam, as are a number of publishing houses.

Get in

Getting to Kottayam

Kochi International Airport (Cochin) 93 km away, is the nearest airport. The airport has flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Kozhikode, Tiruvananthapuram, Agatti, Mangalore, Goa, Colombo, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and international airports in the Middle East.

See

Worth seeing

  1. 01
    Aruvikkuzhi Waterfalls
  2. 02
    Elaveezha Poonchira
  3. 03
    Erumely

    Important pilgrimage centre for Hindus and Muslims.

  4. 04
    Ettumanoor

    Famous for having an ancient Shiva temple.

  5. 05
    Kumarakom

    The place is famous for its bird sanctuary, house boats, backwaters, canals and the bungalow of Henry Baker (now run as part of a resort managed by the Taj group of hotels).

  6. 06
    Manarcaud

    Mary's Shrine here attracts people of all faiths.

Do

Things to do

Annual Food Festival. Kottayam also has an annual food and flower show. These events are quite popular and are worth a visit, if you are in town when it happens. Boat Races. Lots of boat races with traditional boats of different sizes - around 50 types - in the months of July, August and September during Onam. Nalumanikkattu Paddy Fields, 10 km on Manarcaud to Ettumanoor Road.

Eat

Where to eat

There are many restaurants and cafes in Kottayam. What the town lacks, however, is variety. Local food is extensively available and is generally quite good, as is South Indian vegetarian food. Beyond this, food has been uniformly categorized by restaurants as being either North Indian, Chinese or Continental.

  1. 01
    Indian Coffee House

    M.L.Road,.

How locals move

Getting around Kottayam the local way

  • Get inFrequent ferries (run by the Kerala State Water Transport Corporation) from Alappuzha (Alleppey) run throughout the day.
  • Get aroundLocal taxis are also available, though they are considerably more expensive than autorickshaws.

From Wikivoyage: Kottayam, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-08.

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Deepugn (see Commons), Wikimedia Commons.