Madurai is one of the largest cities in Tamil Nadu and is the second largest municipal corporation in the state. It is one of the ancient cities of India that was inhabited two million years ago. This served as the seat of the Tamil empires, namely the Nayak dynasty and the Pandya dynasty. Madurai served as its capital city and the city is noted for its Meenakshi Amman Temple which represents the Dravidian architectural style. As there are many Hindu temples located here, it is one of the most important pilgrimage centers in India. Both pilgrims and tourists visit Madurai throughout the year.
Madurai figures prominently in South Indian history and was given various names like Thoonga Nagaram, Koodal Nagaram and Naanmaadakkoodal. In the time of the Pandya Kings, Tamil literature flourished here and Tamil scholars and poets were acclaimed and held in high esteem. All this heritage of Madurai has made it an interesting city to visit. There are many historical places to visit here that attract the tourist population.
The Madurai Meenakshi Temple with its four huge gopurams in each direction offers a majestic sight. Here is a Pottramaraikkulam that is open to all. The temple has many halls with various names and shrines to Meenakshi, Sundareswarar and other gods and goddesses. Some other holy places near Madurai are Koodal Azhagar Temple, Thiruparankundram, Alagar Temple etc.
Some of the visiting places in the city are Thirumalai Nayak Palace, Gandhi Museum, Kazimar and Maqbara Grand Mosque, Vandiyur Mariamman Theppakkulam and Goripalayam Dargah. Thirumalai Nayak Palace was built in the 17th century by the then ruler Thirumalai Nayak, who had an important role in building the popular Meenakshi Temple. This palace has two parts, namely Swargavilasa and Ranga Vilasa. Every night, the sound and light show depicting the story of Silappathikaram is held here in both English and Tamil.
There is a large influx of the student community also due to the presence of many high level educational institutions like Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai Medical College, Thiagarajar College of Engineering and Madurai College of Agriculture. They are obviously looking for some comfortable places to stay. So there are many luxury and budget hotels located in all parts of the city. The exponential growth of the business sector, the banking sector and the industrial sector has led to the growth of the hotel industry in parallel.
You can find good hotels in Madurai in and around the temple and near the railway station. If you are looking for luxury hotels, you can find some good ones on Alagar Koil Road. Madurai cuisine has the true tastes of the Tamil people. It has its unique foods like paruthi paal, jigarthanda and panangalkandu paal. Varieties like appam, kuzhi paniyaram and malligaippoo idlis will melt in your mouth. Check the right Madurai travel guide and choose the good Madurai hotels and restaurants to make your visit memorable in this temple city.
