INTRODUCTION: Kottayam, provides, some of Kerala's finest natural scenes, sandwiched as it is between serene palm-fringed backwaters on the West and the Western Ghats on the East. Much of this beauty is laid out in all its glory along the road which winds from Kottayam to the Periyar Wilsd life Sanctury in Thekkady through plantations of rubber, tea, coffee and pepper.

Kottayam is the Land of Letters, Latex and Lakes. As a district Kottayam has the highest litercy in India. It was the first town in India to attain total literacy, an event which triggered a mass movement to make Kerala the country's first totally literate State. The town is also the birth place of the publishing industry and the home of the fourth estate in Kerala. The first printing press in Vernacular, Malayalam was established at Kottayam by Benjamin Bailey, a Christian missionary in 1820 AD. Kottayam is also the mecca of Kerala's publishing scene, home of dozens of Malayalam Newspapers and Magazines including the State's earliest 'The Deepika' as well the country's largest selling daily and weekly, the 'Malayala Manorama'.

Kottayam is the land of Latex because the district abounds in extensive rubber plantations which earned for its headquarters the sorbiquet 'Rubber Town'. Kottayam is also home to the rubber Board, one of the counry's primary commodities board.

Kottayam's lakes form the great expanse of water called Vembanad into which network of rivers and canals merge providing boating, fishing and sight seeing experiences that are unparalled.

Kottayam is the ideal take off point for visits to Peerumede, Munnar, Idukki, Thekkady, Ernakulam and the temple city of Madurai in Tamil Nadu.

PHYSIOGRAPHY:
Kottayam located in central Travancore has lofty Western Ghats rich in Cardomom and Pepper, Coffee and Tea to the East and the lovely Vembanad lake and the vast paddy fields of 'Kuttanad' to the West.

Remarkably fertile and brilliantly green throughout, Kottayam has panoramic landscapes of hill resorts, beautiful backwaters, lush green fields, stretches of coconut, rubber, tea and coffee plantations and a well known bird sanctuary.
Access