Disclaimer: I am a local here. So what might awe other tourists here doesn’t awe me.

Kanyakumari is a small town in the southernmost tip of mainland India. The place derives its name from the goddess Devi Kanya Kumari. Its one of the well known spiritual destinations of India because this is the place where its believed Indian ocean, Arabian sea and the Bay of Bengal meets.

I used to believe it for a long time that the three seas meet in Kanyakumari. But when I grew up I realized there are not three seas, its just us who named it differently and it always the same sea and no meeting of three seas happen in Kanyakumari. Given that fact out, not sure why its a Hindi spiritual destination yet.

Kanyakumari is known for its sunrise and sunsets. I don’t think there is anything special about sunsets and sunrise here. Its just as in any other place, its beautiful. But Kanyakumari is the only place on mainland India where you can witness sunrise and sunset from into the sea from a single place.

The bad thing about any tourist place is the crowd it attracts. On any given day there is a huge crowd to witness the sunrise and sunset which spoils its whole beauty. I would suggest move from the designated places for sunrise and sunset and enjoy them from other not so well known places.

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There is a small view tower which charges you a small amount to use it to view the sun rise or the sunset. When there do turn towards the lan and observe how the western ghats lowers into the sea. Its not so obvious, one will have to understand the geography of the region to notice it.

Other main attraction is the Vivekanada rock memorial and the Thiruvalluvar statue both on islands in the sea. Its believed that Vivekananda swam there to the island to meditate in seclusion. Now one doesn’t need to swim so far, Tamilnadu tourism board arranges boats to the island. Again on a public holiday or long weekends the ticket counter gets over crowded and one have to wait in line to get the tickets, to board the boat and to come back too. So it might beat the whole purpose.

The town also hosts the ashes of Gandhi, Kamarajar and the Tsunami memorial monuments along with few other smaller attractions.

There are couple of beaches around the town. The beaches are rocky mostly and kind of risky to get into the water. You will be disappointed, if you are expecting beaches like in Goa or other places.