Top choice in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum)
Villa Maya is more an experience than a mere restaurant. Dining is either in the magnificent 18th-century Dutch-built mansion or in private curtained niches in the tranquil courtyard garden. The Keralan cuisine is expertly crafted, delicately spiced and beautifully presented. Seafood is a speciality, with dishes like stuffed crab with lobster butter, though there are some tantalising vegetarian offerings, too.
Ask the friendly staff for a free tour of the manor.
2.15 MILES
Occupying a handsome 120-year-old heritage building within the Kerala Tourism complex, this intelligently presented museum traces Kerala's history and…
2.25 MILES
Housed in an 1880 wooden building designed by Robert Chisholm (a British architect whose Fair Isle–style version of the Keralite vernacular shows his…
15 MILES
Rising to 1868m at Agasthya Peak and surrounding an idyllic lake created by the 1964 Neyyar Dam, 30km east of Trivandrum, this 128-sq-km sanctuary has a…
17.15 MILES
Fringed by colourful fishers' houses, 12km southeast of Varkala, this laterite-and-concrete fort was built by the British East India Company in 1695…
23.18 MILES
Varkala is a temple town and the Janardhana Temple, dedicated to Vishnu, is the main event – with its roots dating back to the 13th century, this…
0.6 MILES
Overlooking the Shri Padmanabhaswamy Temple tank, the opulent 18th-century palace of the Travancore maharajas is a classically Keralan world of…
26.64 MILES
About 8km north of Varkala, this long, beautiful and (so far) undeveloped stretch of golden sand is also the beginning of a mini network of backwaters. A…
Ponnumthuruthu (Golden) Island
19.82 MILES
Around 10km south of Varkala, this acacia-filled island in the middle of a backwater lake conceals a Shiva-Parvati Hindu temple also known as the Golden…
1. Shri Padmanabhaswamy Temple
0.5 MILES
Trivandrum’s spiritual heart is this 18th-century temple (closed to non-Hindus) in the Fort area, which fuses Keralan and Dravidian architecture and whose…
0.6 MILES
Overlooking the Shri Padmanabhaswamy Temple tank, the opulent 18th-century palace of the Travancore maharajas is a classically Keralan world of…
3. Pazhavangadi Ganapathy Temple
0.75 MILES
A Hindu temple dedicated to Mahaganapati, a form of Ganesh, in Trivandrum's East Fort area.
1.37 MILES
The brilliantly white neoclassical Secretariat building was founded in 1939.
1.83 MILES
One of Trivandrum's major churches, the Roman Catholic St Joseph's is a whitewashed neo-Gothic creation from 1873, topped by a soaring bell tower added in…
1.94 MILES
Towards the north end of MG Rd stands this fine neo-Gothic Anglican church, notable for its stained glass and 19th-century tombs.
1.96 MILES
A red-brick neo-Gothic construction, built in 1900 to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.
2.14 MILES
A graceful landmark church, 450m west of Trivandrum's Zoological Gardens, dating from 1906.