Places to visit in Trivandrum, and the order to see them

The temple that gave Thiruvananthapuram its name, the city of Lord Anantha. Vishnu lies on the serpent Anantha in the inner shrine, so long that you see him through three doors: the face, the navel and the feet. A seven-storey gopuram rises over the temple tank at the east gate.

A palace built in the 1840s for Maharaja Swathi Thirunal, the poet-king of Travancore, right beside the temple. The name means horse mansion, after the 122 wooden horses carved under its eaves. Inside are royal thrones, Kathakali figures, musical instruments and weapons.

A goddess temple about 2 km south of the Padmanabhaswamy temple, on the bank of the Killi river. It is known for the Attukal Pongala each February or March, when women cook offerings of rice in clay pots along the city's streets.

An art and history museum from 1880 in a striking building of red, black and white brick, with Gothic roofs and Kerala gables. Inside are bronzes, temple carvings, ivory work and a temple car. It stands in the museum gardens with the art gallery and the zoo.

The best collection of Raja Ravi Varma's paintings, the Travancore painter who gave Indian gods and heroines their now familiar faces. There are also Nicholas Roerich's Himalayan landscapes and Mughal, Rajput and Tanjore paintings.

One of India's oldest zoos, opened in 1857, laid out over wooded slopes and lakes behind the Napier Museum. It has lions, tigers, Nilgiri langurs and lion-tailed macaques, and a reptile house.

A late 19th century Travancore palace on a hill across the road from the museum gardens, now used for concerts and festivals. Its lawns and old trees are a quiet place to sit.

The Kerala State Science and Technology Museum, with hands-on galleries on physics, electronics and space, and the Priyadarsini Planetarium next door. It is a good stop with children.

The city beach, about 8 km west of the station by road, beside the airport, with a long promenade. At its southern end lies the Matsya Kanyaka, a 35 m reclining mermaid sculpted by Kanayi Kunhiraman.

A park where Veli lake meets the sea behind a sandbar, with pedal boats and speedboats on the lake, a floating bridge, gardens and large sculptures by Kanayi Kunhiraman.

A small cave shrine cut into a boulder in about the 8th century, one of the oldest in Kerala. Unfinished reliefs of Shiva as Nataraja and as Tripurantaka flank the door, and a sculpture of Shiva with a veena sits inside.

A seaside temple on the rocks south of Vizhinjam, known for its 18 m statue of Shiva as Gangadhareshwara, letting the Ganga fall from his hair, the tallest Shiva statue in Kerala. Steps go down to the rocks and the sea.

A boat ride down the Neyyar river through mangroves and coconut groves to the sandbar where the river meets the sea, called the Golden Sand Beach. The boats are run by the boat clubs along the river near Poovar town.

The red and white striped lighthouse on the Kurumkal headland at the south end of Kovalam, 36 m tall. A lift and a short climb take you to the top, with a view along Kovalam's three crescent beaches.

The main of Kovalam's three crescent beaches, below the lighthouse, with a paved promenade of cafes and shops. Hawa Beach is just north over the rocks. It is the beach most people mean when they say Kovalam.