Padmanabhapuram Palace: Our Experience Visiting the Largest Palace of the Travancore Kings

After visiting Chitharal Jain Temple, our next destination was Padmanabhapuram Palace.

Although the palace is now located in Tamil Nadu, it once belonged to the Travancore Kingdom. Since this entire region was under the Travancore dynasty, the architecture, traditions and royal lifestyle continue to reflect Kerala rather than Tamil Nadu.

Having already visited Travancore Palace Museum (Kuthiramalika Palace) in Thiruvananthapuram a day earlier, we were quite excited to see how this palace compared.

Reach Before the Afternoon Closing Time

One thing to keep in mind while planning your visit is the palace timings.

During our visit, the palace:

Opened at around 9:00 AM
Closed at around 12:30 PM
Reopened at around 2:30 PM

Fortunately, we reached just before the afternoon closing time, at around 12:15 PM, and were still able to purchase our entry tickets.

Good to Know

If you’re travelling between Thiruvananthapuram and Kanyakumari, try planning your day so that you reach before 12:30 PM. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait until the afternoon for the palace to reopen.

A Much Larger Palace Than the One in Thiruvananthapuram

The first thing we noticed was the sheer size of the palace. As I had mentioned while describing Travancore Palace Museum, both palaces belong to the Travancore royal family and have a similar style of architecture.

However, Padmanabhapuram Palace is much larger.

Personally, I felt that the palace in Thiruvananthapuram looked more polished and better maintained, whereas Padmanabhapuram Palace impressed us with its scale and the number of rooms spread across the complex.

Exploring the Palace

The palace has two floors. The first floor isn’t very large, but the second floor contains most of the important sections of the palace.

As we walked through the palace, we explored:

Royal rooms used by the king and queen
Courtyards
Courtrooms
Large wooden halls
Other sections of the royal residence

To cover the complete palace, we walked approximately 1–1.5 kilometres. The children were quite tired by the end of the visit, but fortunately there were enough open spaces where we could stop and take short breaks.

Photography is Allowed

One thing we really enjoyed here was that photography was allowed inside the palace. Unlike the previous palace we had visited, we didn’t have to think twice before taking pictures. Naturally, we ended up clicking a lot of family photographs throughout the palace.

Travel Tip from Our Experience

If you enjoy heritage photography, you’ll probably spend more time here than you initially plan because there are plenty of beautiful wooden corridors, courtyards and traditional Kerala-style structures.

The Massive Dining Hall

One section that particularly caught our attention was the dining hall. According to what we learnt during our visit, meals could be served to around 2,000 people at a time.

The dining hall itself is spread over two levels, and old stone utensils used for cooking are also displayed nearby.

It gives a good idea of how large the royal kitchens must have been during the Travancore period.

Museum and Crystal Gallery

Apart from the palace itself, there is also a museum within the complex. Unfortunately, we couldn’t explore everything. There is also a crystal gallery (or art gallery), but by the time we finished the palace, we had run out of time.

Our driver had gone for lunch, so instead of waiting inside, we relaxed outside with some fresh coconut water before continuing our journey.

Our Experience

Overall, I would definitely recommend visiting Padmanabhapuram Palace if you’re travelling between Thiruvananthapuram and Kanyakumari.

If you’ve already visited Travancore Palace Museum, don’t skip this one thinking both palaces are the same. While they belong to the same royal family and have similar architecture, Padmanabhapuram Palace is much larger and offers a very different experience.