Rameswaram Temple And Town
A Little Bit About The City
We had someone drive us to Rameswaram from Madurai to visit the Rameswaram Temple . My husband had hired various drivers in the different cities we visited . This made the trips super convenient .
As a person of Tamil origin from Sri Lanka, I have always been fascinated about Rameswaram. I learned about Rameswaram from watching Tamil movies . This town is about 40 kms from Mannar ( a Tamil town in Sri Lanka ) and is the second closest point to Sri Lanka from India .
Rameswaram itself is an Island that is connected to the main land by a bridge ( you get Florida Keys vibe driving through ) . It is considered one of the holiest places in India for Hindus .
In Ramanayam this is the place from where Lord Rama built a bridge to Ceylon to save Sita who Ravana had kidnapped. It is definitely a pretty historic place !
Where we stayed
We stayed at the Hyatt Place in Rameswaram in 2020 – informed it is no longer around !
It was an awesome hotel . I liked it so much more than the courtyard at Madurai.
Great service , had a cool pool , lots of different meal offerings and my favourite was their spa ! We were able to get Kerala like massages and facials. The massages were really good and we enjoyed them .
The drive to the temple from the hotel was under 10 minutes.
We came to the hotel the day before to get a 4.30 am start to the temple !
Rameswaram Temple
We had our driver drop us at the temple by 4.30 am . It was before the temple opened . Rameswaram temple has 27 wells – one of the things you do is pour the water from the well over your head at all 27 temples . In India’s temples you can usually pay extra to skip the lines or pay a guide who will get you past the lines . We saw a guide at the front of the temple and agreed with him to have him take us to the wells bypassing the lines . We made a rookie mistake here and didn’t agree on price .
The guide took us to pray first and than he took us to all the wells . It was a special day for Hindus so the temple was super packed with people . It did help to have a guide . We poured water over from all the well than changed our clothes . Than the guide has us participate in a prayer ritual.
We really enjoyed our time at this great temple . However I was a bit stressed about how much money the guide was going to ask us !! Always negotiate your price ahead of time so it’s not hanging over your head .
When we came out what he asked us and what my husband was willing to pay differed significantly! He refused to take our money and we left ! It was such an unpleasant experience and added stress . Please make sure to negotiate your price ahead of time .
Dhanushkodi
After the temple we visited a few attractions in Rameswaram. One of the attractions we visited was Dhanushkodi – a temple that was destroyed by a cyclone in 1964.
It was one of my favourite attractions- has a haunted look and makes for great photos . Right by it are some makeshift houses but we didn’t find many people around and no one bothered us .
Edge Of India
Just past Dhanushkodi is Arichal Munai, the border between Sri Lanka and India . This place was a bit emotional given how close it is to Sri Lanka ( I am from Sri Lanka ) . Definitely a cool place to visit . I always find edge of countries / continents to be interesting to visit .
Overall highly recommend visiting Rameswaram- for the temple and the sea side attractions. You do get a sense of the holiness and historic significance of the place .