About Madurai

Madurai, which is the home to the world renown Meenakshi Temple is in fact, the oldest city in Tamil Nadu and the 3rd largest city in the state – next only to Chennai and Coimbatore. The city has a population of 1.5 million and is spread over an area of 51 sq  km.

What makes Madurai strategically important is that it is the gateway to Southern Tamil Nadu and the important trade center for all the southern districts of Tamil Nadu, serving a population of nearly 25 million.

This ancient temple city is often touted as the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and is famous for its tourist attractions – besides the Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple, Thirumalai Nayak Palace, Mariamman Teppakulam and numerous other religious & heritage sites.

Madurai is also at the foot of the Kodaikanal Hills – a breath-taking hill station that is only a short drive away and could be an ideal weekend getaway.

Madurai boasts of two 5 star hotels – the Taj Garden Retreat and Heritage Madurai and numerous 4 star & 3 star hotels, providing visitors a wide range of hospitality options.

Madurai , which is well connected by road and rail, also has one of the busiest domestic airports in the country with 12 direct flights every day to important cities like Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Kochi. Madurai Airport gets the status of an International Airport with the introduction of the Madurai-Colombo Mihin Lanka flight in September 2012.

Madurai is emerging as an important & low-cost health care destination and is home to the world-famous Aravind Eye Hospital (a Harvard Business School Case Study). The 3000 bed Madurai Govt Rajaji Hospital has the distinction of being the largest hospital in Tamil Nadu catering to patients from all the southern districts of Tamil Nadu. It is estimated that on any given day there are 1500 doctors staffing this hospital, which sees as many as 10,000 outpatients per day.