What Is Nagercoil Famous For? 12 Things the Town Is Known For

Most visitors reach Nagercoil by accident: it is where the train stops before the cape. The travellers who stay a few hours find a town with more to it than a railway junction. We have kept a shop on Asambu Road in Vadasery since 1965, so this guide is written from the counter. If you are still sorting out the two names, start with is Nagercoil and Kanyakumari the same. For the cape itself, see what Kanyakumari is famous for; this page does not repeat those items.

Nagar Kovil, Nagar Koil, Nagarcoil: One Town, Many Spellings

People search for this town as Nagar Kovil, Nagar Koil, Nagarcoil and Nagar Koyil, and all of them are right. The Tamil name is Nagar Kovil, "the temple of the Naga", and the English spelling Nagercoil is simply the old colonial rendering that stuck on railway boards and maps. The Naga in question is the serpent king worshipped at the Nagaraja Temple in the middle of town. Locals also know the oldest part of the settlement as Kottar, which is why Kottar appears so often below.

Here are the 12 things the town is known for, grouped by what a visitor actually does: pray, eat, shop and look around.

What Is Famous in Nagercoil: Temples, Churches and Old Trade

1. The Nagaraja Temple, the Shrine That Named the Town

The first answer to "what is famous in Nagercoil" is also the town's own name. The Nagaraja Temple has a five-headed serpent as its main deity, and the sanctum is kept simple. Visitors expecting a towering gopuram are surprised: the roofs are low and tiled, in the Kerala style, a legacy of centuries under Travancore. Pillars in the mandapa carry Jain tirthankara figures beside Hindu deities, and local tradition says the site was once a Jain place of worship, though historians say the evidence is thin and the temple's age is uncertain. Serpent worship is strongest here on Nagara Chaturthi. Our Nagaraja Temple guide covers the festivals and visiting etiquette. Looking for another nagercoil temple afterwards? Suchindram is 7 km away, and the cape temple is a short drive on.

2. St. Francis Xavier's Cathedral at Kottar

The white-and-red church at Kottar is the mother church of the Catholic Diocese of Kottar, created in 1930, when the church became a cathedral. Tradition links it to St. Francis Xavier's mission along this coast in the 1540s, and it is the centre of a large annual feast in late November and early December. The present building dates from around 1600, according to Tamil Nadu Tourism. The feast brings the neighbourhood alive, with chariot processions and crowds from across the district. Details, timings and the feast are in our Kottar cathedral guide.

3. Kottar, the Old Trade Centre

Nagercoil was once known as Kottar, and the Kottar quarter is still the main commodities market of the district. This is where the trade between the Tamil country and Travancore met: grain, coconut, spices, cloth and banana bunches coming in from the farms. Walk the lanes around the cathedral on a market morning and you can see why the settlement grew here, about two kilometres from Vadasery, long before the district headquarters arrived.

Nagercoil Famous Food and Nagercoil Special Food

4. Nendran Banana Chips

If a Tamil Nadu traveller says "Nagercoil", the second word they say is usually "banana chips". Thin slices of raw Nendran plantain, grown on the Kerala border, fried until crisp and golden, are the signature nagercoil famous food and the first thing people carry home. The local style uses groundnut oil rather than the coconut oil used in Kerala, which gives a cleaner taste. Read why Nagercoil banana chips are famous, or see our Vadasery banana chips.

5. Wheat Halwa and Ghee Sweets

Nagercoil's sweet shops are known for glossy wheat halwa, porous ghee Mysore Pak, boondi laddu and jalebi. Halwa here comes from the Kerala side of the family tree; our Kozhikode connection article explains. We make wheat halwa in pure cow ghee, and the town's sweet shops are compared in our Nagercoil famous sweets guide.

6. Evening Tiffin and Hot Pakoda

Nagercoil eats its snacks at 4 PM, with strong tea and something hot and crisp. Our onion-cashew pakoda comes out of the kadai at that hour every day, and the evening tiffin habit is the best reason to be in Vadasery in the late afternoon. If you want a local nagercoil special food to eat on the spot rather than take away, this is it. See Vadasery pakoda.

7. Nanjil Nadu: Paddy Fields and Home Cooking

Nagercoil sits in Nanjil Nadu, the old name for the fertile plain of paddy, coconut and plantain that feeds the district. Farming here depends on rain and canal water, and it shaped the local table: rice with ulundhu (black gram), fish cooked in a roasted-coconut meen kuzhambu, and plenty of plantain. It is a mild, coconut-forward cuisine that sits between Tamil and Malayali cooking. Our Nanjil Nadu food guide covers the dishes.

Nagercoil Famous Things to Buy and the Nagercoil Market

8. Vadasery, the Nagercoil Market

Ask for the nagercoil market and you will be sent to Vadasery or Kottar. Vadasery began as a weekly santhai and grew into the town's everyday bazaar: vegetables at dawn, gold and textile showrooms at midday, and food in the evening. Banana wholesalers, spice merchants and flower sellers share Asambu Road with the snack makers. Read the history of Vadasery market, and use our what to buy in Nagercoil list for nagercoil famous things to buy.

9. Nagercoil Temple Jewellery

Nagercoil's temple jewellery is a registered Geographical Indication (registered in 2007–08). These are gold ornaments set with red and green stones, traditionally made to adorn temple idols and now also worn for Bharatanatyam and weddings. The craft is usually traced back to the Chola period. It is a craft of specialist jewellers, not something sold at snack shops, so go to a registered jeweller if you want a piece.

Nagercoil Tourist Places: Landscape, Heritage and Writers

Looking for tourist places in Nagercoil? The table lists the main stops, with distances from the town centre. Kilometres are approximate road distances, so check on the day.

10. The Muppandal Wind Farms

North-east of Nagercoil, where a gap in the Western Ghats funnels the wind, hundreds of turbines turn above the fields. Muppandal is usually named India's largest onshore wind farm, at about 1,500 MW, and it has been generating since the 1980s. The turbines are easiest to see from the highway towards Aralvaimozhi and Tirunelveli, with the hills behind them. Wind is a real part of the local economy, which most people do not expect from a district known for temples and sweets.

11. Travancore Heritage: Udayagiri, Padmanabhapuram and a District Capital

Until 1 November 1956, Nagercoil belonged to the kingdom of Travancore, and the Tamil-majority taluks of the south then moved to Madras State, making Nagercoil the headquarters of the new Kanyakumari district. The Travancore past is still visible. Udayagiri Fort, about 14 km away, was rebuilt in the 1740s under the Flemish commander Eustachius De Lannoy, whose tomb is inside. Padmanabhapuram Palace, about 20 km away, is the wooden palace of the Travancore kings and built in the Kerala style (it is closed on Mondays). Further out, the rock-cut Jain monuments at Chitharal and other quiet spots are in our places near Nagercoil list.

12. Tamil Literature: Sundara Ramaswamy

Nagercoil also has a literary side. The Tamil novelist Sundara Ramaswamy (1931-2005), author of Oru Puliyamarathin Kathai (The Story of a Tamarind Tree), moved to Nagercoil as a boy in 1939 and lived there for the rest of his life; he also founded the literary magazine Kalachuvadu in 1987. It is a small detail, and a good reminder that a town known for snacks has a reading life too.

Nagercoil at a Glance

Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu: How to Spend a Day

Nagercoil is in Tamil Nadu, though Kerala is a short drive north, and the town shows both cultures. A sensible half-day looks like this:

1. Morning: Nagaraja Temple, then Kottar for the cathedral and the market.
2. Midday: Lunch at a local mess for Nanjil Nadu fish curry or meals.
3. Mid-afternoon: Udayagiri or Padmanabhapuram if you have a car; otherwise stay in town.
4. 4 PM: Tea and pakoda in Vadasery, then pick up banana chips and halwa for the journey.

Arriving by train? The Nagercoil Junction guide has station tips. If you would rather not drive, a driver can plan the whole day: see our Kanyakumari tour packages, which include a Kumari Snacks welcome box.

Where We Fit In

We are one of the many food shops on Asambu Road, and we only sell what we make: banana chips, pakoda, wheat halwa, ghee Mysore Pak, laddu and jalebi. We do not sell jewellery or souvenirs. What we do is fry in pure cold-pressed groundnut oil, cook sweets in pure cow ghee, and use no preservatives or colours. The family has been at the same counter since 1965, which you can read about in our story. We are open every day from 9 AM to 9 PM.

Frequently Asked Questions

Header photo: Arunpnair 787 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.