Nallur Kandaswamy Temple in Jaffna.

Nallur Kandaswamy Temple in Jaffna is one of the most popular tourist attraction in Jaffna. The temple is located in the Jaffna District. It is one the largest Hindu temple complex in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. Actually its name is Nallur Kandaswamy kovil and it can be visitied in Jaffna district in Sri Lanka. Local people call this worshiping place is as Nallur Murugan Kovil. Visitors must be clean and should follow the temples rules and regulations such as no footwear, no video or no photography inside of the temple complex. You can't enter the temple with footwear, men wearing shirts and T-Shirts should have to remove them prior to entering in to the temple. Wash your face, hands and legs prior to entering the temple and other visitors too are doing this to be hygenic in this public place. Water pipes are provided on both sides of the place in the temple area.

Nallur Temple Annual Festival.

Every year this temple celebrates its annual 25 days festival that used to take place in the morning and in the evenings. Next Nallur Kandaswamy Temple festival will be celebrated in the year 2024. In this year 2023 its annual festival was held as usual. Nallur Murugan Annual festival had already started on 21st August 2023 and finished on 15th September 2023. Normally no entrance fee will be charged from the visiting people by the temple authorities. Lots of Tourists are visiting here to witness the daily festival. Mostly Europeans, Americans and Canadians visit here. Many of them are hiring a Two wheeler and rounding the city on their own.

Best Time to Visity Nallur Temple, Jaffna.

Normal days: Early mornig 06:00 am- 10:00 am and in the evenings 16:00 pm - 19:00 pm
Special Days: 5:00 am till 10:00 am. Evenings 15:30 pm until 19:00 pm
No entrance Tickets. Totally Free. (Some time you have to pay for your footwear watcher.

Those who want to visit Nallur Temple during the annual festival days need to book their rooms early as there used to be lot of guests used to book hotels and rooms during these days. Lot of foreigners tooused to come and stay here during the festival days. On the 24 the day festival is called as "Ther" (Chariot) festival and nearly 700,000 people used to stay around the temple complex and around the streets from morning till noon to view tha beautiful chariot and the god sitting in it. Nearly all the restaurants used to serve vegetarian dishes and soft drinks only in these days. Due to lot of people coming to the temple all vehicles will be stopped nearly 100 meters prior to the entrance of the temple on all intersections. During normal days usual morning poojas and evening Poojas used to take place where hundreds of people used to attend for the pooja ceremonies and for worshipping.

How to Reach Nallur Temple?

You can reach Nallur by road, Train and by airline. People can travel with government Trains, buses, private luxury buses or private vans that are operating between Jaffna and Colombo. Colombo to Jaffna Bus time table is not in operation but used to start from the morning and nights and need around 6 - 8 hours depending on the condition of the coaches. The tickets are priced depending the seat and mode of travel. Uttara Devi A/C, Yarl Devi and the Intercity A/C trains used to reach Jaffna railway station by 5:30 - 8 hours of operation time from the Colombo Fort Railway Station. Reserved Seats only available at Rs 3,200/- Furthermore Yal Devi and Mail Trains are running daily between Colombo and Jaffna cities. Available classes are 3rd, 2nd and 1st class in each train. During the Nallur Festival season it is better to advance book, up and down Train tickets at the Fort or Wellawatte Railway Station. Can fly from Ratmalana Airport, Colombo to Palalaly airport in Jaffna. The ticket price is Rs 22,000/- for a person for one way journey. In the festival days it is difficult to book train tickets at the last minute. Nallur is covered by summer and rainy seasons where April is the hottest month. There is no cold or snow in this area. Additiona;;y Jaffna Odyssey train is expected operate during the Nallur Annual Festival period. The Price is expected to be Rs 4,000/- for a passenger.

Once you are in Jaffna town, get a Tuk Tuk (3 Wheel) and reach the temple from the town for around Rs 500/-. There is no need to keep the Tuk Tuk waiting for you. You can find lot of them in that area for your return journey. If you have enough time, go to the central bus stand in Jaffna Town, get one of the Point Pedro SLTB bus and ask the bus driver to drop you near to the temple. You can reach the Jaffna hospital and walk along the hospital road and then turn at the left at the Naga Vihara temple. Keep walking along the pond side if you walk straight you can reach Nallur temple. Hikking will take around 15 - 20 minutes to reach the Nallur Temple with normal traffic,.

Nallur Temple, Sri Lanka Video.

Nallur Official Website

Sunday Observer Nallur Festival

In Sunday Times.