Dhanushkodi

Dhanushkodi was a working town with a railway station, a church, a school and a ferry service to Talaimannar in Ceylon until the cyclone of December 1964 destroyed it in a night, carrying away a passenger train with everyone aboard and killing well over a thousand people; the town was declared unfit for habitation and never rebuilt. Its ruins stand on a narrow sand spit with the Bay of Bengal on one side and the Palk Strait on the other, the two waters visibly different. A road built in 2017 now reaches the tip, where the land ends and the Sri Lankan coast lies about thirty kilometres beyond.

Highlights

• The ruins - church, station and school walls left from the 1964 cyclone.
• The sand spit - land narrowing with different seas on each side.
• Arichal Munai - the tip where the road and the land end.
• The fishing hamlets - the few families still living on the spit.

When to go

October to March; the area is severely hot and exposed the rest of the year. The road closes at dusk and overnight stays are not permitted. Cyclone season runs October to December.

Practical notes

There is no shade, water or facilities beyond a few stalls. Swimming is dangerous with strong currents. The road closes before dark and the area is genuinely exposed in bad weather.

Nearby

Rameswaram lies northwest; the Pamban bridge is beyond it.

Key facts