Things to do in Varkala: the 6 worth your time, ranked

1 · The cliff path, end to end — unmissable

About three kilometres of paved path along the North and South cliffs, cafés on one side and the drop on the other; an hour and a half further north along the cliff top to Edava and Kappil. Dawn for the empty path with the sun behind the cliff; the last hour before sunset from the South Cliff looking north, as the café lights come on. Keep back from unfenced edges, especially after the monsoon. Free · any hour · the helipad headland has the widest horizon and the worst cracks.

2 · Papanasam and the temple — unmissable

The beach between the cliffs at first light, the rituals at its far end seen from a distance, then up the hill to Janardanaswamy for the courtyard, the banyan and the Dutch bells. Non-Hindus are generally kept out of the sanctum; ask at the gate. Free · temple about 04:00–12:00 and 17:00–20:00 · Arattu in March–April.

3 · Sivagiri

Narayana Guru's mutt on the hill three kilometres inland: the samadhi, the octagonal Sarada temple, two hundred acres of grounds, and on the last two days of the year a pilgrimage in yellow. Morning and late-afternoon openings; closed midday — confirm at the gate. Free · dress modestly · pilgrimage 30 Dec – 1 Jan; Guru Jayanthi August, Samadhi Day September.

4 · The Varkala tunnel

The 1880 canal bore at the Sivagiri end, seen from the bank: brick arch, still water, the ridge above it. The revival — electric boats, a light-and-sound show — is under way; ask locally whether anything is running. Free · view from outside · the tunnel is 722 m; a second at Chilakkoor, 350 m.

5 · Anchuthengu (Anjengo)

Nine to twelve kilometres south: the East India Company's square fort of 1696–99 with four bastions, a cemetery whose oldest grave is 1704, the lighthouse that opens in the afternoons, and the village where Eliza Draper — Sterne's Eliza — was born in 1744. Thirty-five pensioners and boys held the fort through a six-month siege in 1721. Fort free, about 08:00/09:00–17:00 · lighthouse afternoons, c. 15:00–17:00, nominal fee, verify · Kadakkavur station 2 km.

6 · Kappil and the Edava–Nadayara backwater

Seven kilometres north, a sand spit with the lake on one side and the sea on the other, separated by a palm-lined road; boats from the Priyadarshini Boat Club, kayaks by the half-hour. Low sun across the palms from three to five. No lifeguard information was found; swim with care. Free · boats paid · kayak ≈ ₹800 per half-hour single · October–March.

If you want to go deeper

Black Beach and Odayam. The black-sand fishing beaches north of the cliff — the surf beach at Thiruvambadi, the 'least crowded, gentle waves' of Odayam four kilometres on. Still the open sea. Free · 06:00–19:00.

A surf lesson. October to April, morning and late-afternoon sessions at Black Beach with one of Kerala Tourism's accredited schools; the famous one, Soul & Surf, closed in April 2026. ≈ ₹1,500–3,000 a group session · 06:00–11:00, 15:30–18:00 · June–September is rough-sea season.

Paragliding off the cliff. Tandem flights of eight to twelve minutes on the sea-breeze lift from the cliff-top take-off points, landing on the beach; October to March, ages twelve to sixty, no alcohol. ≈ ₹3,500–5,500 · 07:00–10:30 and 16:00–18:00 · accredited operators only.

Ponnumthuruthu. The Golden Island in the Anjengo lake: a country boat from Nedunganda, a century-old Siva–Parvathi temple, Sivarathri lit through the night. The queens of Travancore hid gold here, the story says. Boat ≈ ₹300–400 a person, about thirty minutes · mid-morning.

Varkala Aquarium. The Fisheries Department's three-storey spiral at Thiruvambadi: karimeen, scorpionfish, a 3D theatre — the rainy-afternoon hour. ≈ ₹30 · child ₹15 · 10:00–18:30.

Kaduvayil Thangal Juma Masjid. A Sufi saint's shrine twelve kilometres inland, built 1978–85, with a Chandanakkudam festival each year; non-Muslims visit the outer shrine. Free · mosque hours.

Muthalapozhi. The fishing harbour where the Vamanapuram river meets the sea — watch the launches run the bar from the road, not the breakwater. A working, grieving harbour; some seventy fishermen dead in a decade. Free · never walk the tetrapods in swell.

Off the beaten path

The cliff's best hours are off the cliff — a spit between lake and sea, a fort held by pensioners, an island with a temple, a harbour you watch from the road.

Kappil at four. The spit north of Edava where the backwater and the sea are a road's width apart, the palms in low sun, a boat from the club for the water angle. The cliff's crowds don't make it this far.

The 1704 grave. Anjengo's cemetery, inside the Company's square fort: the oldest stone is 1704, and the names are the clerks and factors who died of the coast. Robert Orme, the Company's historian, was born here in 1728.

The Golden Island by country boat. Ponnumthuruthu from Nedunganda, thirty minutes across the lake to a temple spire through the palms; on Sivarathri night the whole island is lamps.

Watch out for

Swimming where the flags aren't. A nineteen-year-old was swept off the beach at six one April evening in 2026; a Briton died bodysurfing in 2024. Swim only where lifeguards are posted and the flag is green, never at dusk, never June to September — Odayam's 'gentle waves' are the same sea.

The cliff-edge room. Sixty-nine cafés sit within ten metres of a lip that slides every monsoon; the helipad headland and the Bali Mandapam end have both failed. Ask how far a 'cliff-edge' room is from the edge.

'Ayurveda' on the path. Travellers report fraudsters among the cliff's spas. A genuine day treatment runs about ₹700–2,500; ask for a Kerala-Tourism-classified centre and a doctor's consultation first.

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