Kanyakumari is the southern-most point of India. The main attraction is the Vivekanada Memorial which is on an island housing an enormous statue of Swami Vivekananda. The famous swami is said to have meditated there in 1892, and thereafter he took his philosophical teachings beyond India. The memorial is a fairly recent one, dating back only to 1970. Getting on the island is quite an ordeal however–the ferry that takes you across tends to have a multiple-hour line-up, though some from our crew managed to skip it by paying a higher fee (this is quite normal in India, you can legitimately pay venues a set line-up avoidance fee).

As you can tell from the photos below, the city has a strong Portuguese Christian influence. Despite the photos which make the place look fairly decent, the town is pretty bleak. Frankly, you can skip the town altogether, but if you decide to visit, one evening in the place is more than sufficient: