Kochi travel guide

Top 10 sights in Kochi

Ranked by Wikipedia language editions — proven fame.

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   Santa Cruz Basilica

   A church in Fort Kochi founded by the Portuguese in 1505 and made a cathedral in 1558. The British demolished it in 1795; the present building went up in 1905 and its interior is painted end to end, which is not what the plain exterior leads you to expect.

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   St. Francis Church

   Built in 1503 and the oldest European church in India. Vasco da Gama died in Kochi in 1524 and was buried here for fourteen years before his remains went home to Lisbon; the gravestone is still in the floor, and the punkah cloths still hang from the ceiling.

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3. 

   3© Ranjithsiji · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Kalamassery

   An industrial district nine kilometres northeast of central Kochi, holding one of India's earliest planned industrial estates. The metro line runs out to it, which has pulled housing along behind.

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4. 

   4© Maheshbabu.nair · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Tripunithura

   A historic district seven kilometres from central Kochi and the former capital of the kingdom of Cochin. The Hill Palace, now a museum, stands here, and the Vrischikolsavam festival fills its streets with elephants in November.

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   5© Challiyan at ml.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 2.5

   Mulavukad

   One of the islands making up Kochi, also known locally as Bolgatty Island. Vypin and Vallarpadam lie to its west and Vaduthala to its east.

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   6© This picture has been taken by Oleg Yunakov. Contact e-mail: yunakovgmail.com. I · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Paradesi Synagogue

   Built in 1568 and the oldest synagogue still in use anywhere in the Commonwealth. The floor is laid with hand-painted blue Chinese tiles, no two the same, brought from Canton in the eighteenth century. The congregation that built it now numbers a handful of people.

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7. 

   7© Ranjith Siji · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Mattancherry Palace

   A palace the Portuguese built about 1555 and presented to the raja of Cochin, later repaired by the Dutch, which is why it is called the Dutch Palace. Its upper rooms hold Kerala murals of the Ramayana painted directly on the plaster.

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8. 

   8© കാക്കര · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Mattancherry

   A historic quarter southwest of the city centre, where the spice warehouses, the old Jewish street and the Paradesi synagogue of 1568 stand within a few hundred metres of each other.

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   9© navus · CC BY 2.0

   Kakkanad

   A district east of Kochi that became the administrative centre of Ernakulam and then the seat of Kerala's software industry, built around a technology park. It has grown from village to edge city within a generation.

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10. 

    10© Challiyan at ml.wikipedia · CC BY 2.5

    Fort Emmanuel

    The ruin of a Portuguese bastion on the Fort Kochi shore, begun in 1503 and named after King Manuel I — the first European fort built in India. Only a stretch of sea wall and one bastion remain.

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1. 

   1© Rajesh Kakkanatt, courtesy Suresh Babu · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Sree Poornathrayeesa Temple

   A temple at Tripunithura to Vishnu in a form worshipped by those hoping for children, and the first of the eight royal temples of the Cochin kingdom. Its annual festival is among the largest in central Kerala.

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   2© Ranjithsiji · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Thrikkakara Temple

   A Hindu temple at Thrikkakara in Kochi in Kerala. It is dedicated to Vamana, an avatar of Vishnu; about two thousand years old, it is one of the 108 Divya Desams.

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   3© Tachs · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Edappally

   A central district of Kochi and a major commercial centre of Kerala, holding one of the busiest junctions in the state. Rapid urbanisation has filled it with educational and medical institutions, religious sites and large retail developments, among them Lulu Mall Kochi, one of the largest in India.

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   4© Dileep Kumar · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Ernakulam Shiva Temple

   A Hindu temple in the middle of Ernakulam in Kochi in Kerala. It is dedicated to Shiva, regarded as the protector of the city, and is known locally as Ernakulathappan.

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   5© Tachs · CC BY-SA 4.0

   St. George's Catholic Forane Church

   A Syro-Malabar Catholic pilgrimage church at Edappally in Kochi in Kerala. Dedicated to Saint George, it is regarded as the largest shrine to him in Asia and receives some five million pilgrims a year.

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   6© Augustus Binu/ www.dreamsparrow.net/ facebook · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Vyttila

   A district in the south of Kochi whose junction is the busiest in Kerala, with a mobility hub joining buses, boats and the metro. It was farmland within living memory.

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   7© Ssriram mt · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Thrikkakkara

   An industrial and residential district east of Kochi with some seventy-seven thousand people. Its Vamana temple is the traditional setting of the Onam story, in which the demon king Mahabali returns to visit his people.

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   8© Rangan Datta Wiki · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Fort Kochi beach

   A beach on the Arabian Sea at Fort Kochi, lined with the cantilevered Chinese fishing nets that Kochi is photographed for. Four men work each net, lowering and raising it every few minutes.

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   9© Ranjithsiji · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Aluva Mahadeva Temple

   An old Shiva temple on a sandbank of the Periyar river outside Kochi. At Sivarathri tens of thousands come to make offerings to their ancestors on the exposed sand, which is submerged for the rest of the year.

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    10© Ricky19 · CC BY-SA 4.0

    St. Mary's Syro-Malabar Catholic Cathedral Basilica

    The cathedral of the Syro-Malabar Church in Ernakulam, tracing its foundation to 1112 and known locally as Nasrani Palli. It is the seat of the Major Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly, the primatial see of the Eastern Catholic church of the St Thomas Christians.

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