Culture & Living Traditions
Mannar
Northern Province
An island of baobabs, wild donkeys and Portuguese ramparts, where the sandbanks of Rama Setu run out towards India.
- How long
- 1 day is usually enough
- Best months
- December, January, February, March
Mannar is an island joined to the mainland by a causeway, and it feels like somewhere else entirely.
The island ends at Talaimannar, and from the shore the chain of sandbanks and shoals known as Rama Setu — Adam’s Bridge on the British charts — runs thirty kilometres towards Rameswaram. On a clear day the nearer banks are plainly visible.
Thiruketheeswaram stands where the old port of Mantai once received ships from India, one of the five Pancha Ishwaram and among the oldest Shiva temples on the island. Mannar also keeps a grove of baobabs brought by Arab traders, a Portuguese and Dutch fort at the causeway, and herds of wild donkeys with the run of the town.
Very few visitors come here, which is most of its appeal.