India · State of Kerala
Where to Stay in Kottayam, State of Kerala
Kottayam is the City of Letters, a district seat in Kerala where many of Malayalam's first daily newspapers were started and are headquartered still.
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Where to stay in Kottayam
The right area depends on your trip — here's what each neighbourhood is best for.
Kottayam runs on paper and prayer. The newspaper offices and the publishing houses pull one kind of visitor, the churches another, and the two halves of the city sit close enough together that a single bed can serve both. Nothing here is far apart.
Both halves are walkable, and the municipal ground covers under sixty square kilometres, which means a room almost anywhere in town leaves Holy Trinity Cathedral, Sacred Heart Church and the Benjamin Bailey Museum inside a short ride. Thazhathangady is the quieter choice. Thazhathangady Pally gives that side of Kottayam its landmark, and a night there trades the traffic of the district offices for a longer walk to dinner.
Pilgrims often want the Orthodox side instead. The Malankara Orthodox Church counts Kottayam among its strongest centres, and a stay planned around that will sit near the cathedral end of the city rather than near the presses. Kottayam district brings its own traffic.
Kochi is the fallback. It lies near enough to take the overflow when the city fills, though a bed there costs the early start that the museums and the churches here reward. Book close in.
About Kottayam
What is Kottayam known for?
Print made the city's name. Deepika, Malayala Manorama and Mangalam were all started here and are headquartered here still, alongside more than a dozen publishing houses and newspaper companies. Colleges and a university account for the rest.
Kottayam is recorded as the first city in India to reach full literacy, and it is called the Letter Capital of Kerala for the same reasons that made it the City of Letters.
What are the main landmarks in Kottayam?
Six sites carry the city. St. Mary's Orthodox Church, Kottayam and Thazhathangady Pally are two of the religious sites recorded here, while Holy Trinity Cathedral and Sacred Heart Church are the cathedral-scale buildings on the same list. Two museums complete it.
The Mar Makil Museum and the Benjamin Bailey Museum hold the indoor half of a visit, and both sit within the same compact stretch of city as the churches.
What is the history of Kottayam?
Printing is the through line. Deepika, Malayala Manorama and Mangalam were among the first Malayalam daily newspapers, and all three were started in this city and kept their headquarters here rather than moving to a larger one. The presses stayed.
More than a dozen publishing houses followed. The nickname came out of that concentration, and Kottayam has been called both the City of Letters and the Letter Capital of Kerala ever since. Literacy is the other claim.
Kottayam is recorded as the first city in India to reach full literacy, an outcome that sits alongside the colleges, the university and the presses rather than apart from them. Faith runs just as deep in the city's record. The Malankara Orthodox Church, the indigenous Church of Kerala and a major non-Catholic body, counts this city among its strongest centres, and St. Mary's Orthodox Church, Kottayam stands as the visible part of that.
Government business arrived later. The city is the headquarters of Kottayam district, some distance north of Thiruvananthapuram and near enough to Kochi that neither is far, while the Mar Makil Museum and the Benjamin Bailey Museum keep the indoor record.
Where is Kottayam?
Under sixty square kilometres hold the whole city. Kottayam sits inland in its own district, with the state capital Thiruvananthapuram a long run to the south and Kochi near at hand, which leaves it in the tropical band without a coast of its own. Water is not the story here.
Print, churches and colleges are, and the ground they sit on is compact enough to cross in an afternoon.
What is the climate of Kottayam?
Kottayam sits in the tropical band and away from the water that steadies Kochi, so the heat here holds through the day with less relief from any sea breeze than the coast gets. Nothing freezes. Travellers should plan around the hours rather than the months, since a working day in the publishing quarter and a morning at Thazhathangady Pally both go easier before the middle of the day.
Expect heat in every month.
How do you get to Kottayam?
Kochi is the near approach. Kottayam lies close to it and roughly a hundred and fifty kilometres north of Thiruvananthapuram, so the practical choice is which of the two a traveller is already in rather than how to reach the city itself. The town is compact once here.
Holy Trinity Cathedral, Sacred Heart Church and the Benjamin Bailey Museum are within a short ride of one another, and Thazhathangady Pally is the one stop that repays setting out early.
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Updated August 2026