About this destination
Discover Varkala Tunnel
At a glance
Why this place stands out
Varkala Tunnel is a nineteenth-century canal engineering landmark in Varkala, Keralam, built between 1867 and 1880 to connect historic inland water-transport routes through the Varkala hills.
Varkala Tunnel is one of Keralam’s most unusual nineteenth-century engineering heritage sites. Keralam Tourism explains that the tunnel was built to overcome a break in the old inland waterway at Varkala, allowing goods and passengers to continue by canal rather than unloading and crossing the hill by land. Construction began in 1867 during the tenure of Travancore Diwan T.
Madhava Rao and the two-tunnel project was completed by 1880. Keralam Tourism records the first tunnel at about 2,370 feet and the second at about 1,140 feet. The work became an important link in the historic canal transport system that connected parts of Malabar with Thiruvananthapuram.
Today the tunnel is primarily a heritage and engineering attraction rather than a major transport route. Visitors should view it from safe, publicly accessible areas and avoid entering restricted or unsafe canal sections.
Nammude Keralam
