rajaraman sundaram, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)
Dhanushkodi
A town the sea took in one night in 1964, left standing as ruins on a sandbar between two seas — and the last land before Sri Lanka.
A ghost town on a sandbar
Dhanushkodi sits at the far eastern tip of Pamban island, about eighteen kilometres beyond Rameswaram town, on a spit of sand so narrow that the Bay of Bengal and the Gulf of Mannar are visible on either side at once. It was a working town with a railway station, a church, a post office and a ferry service to Talaimannar in Ceylon. On the night of 22 December 1964 a cyclone crossed it, destroying the town and taking a passenger train with it, and the government declared the place unfit for habitation. What remains is standing ruin — the shell of the church, fragments of the station and the water tank — on open sand, with a small fishing settlement beyond. A metalled road was completed to the tip in 2017, so what used to require a high-clearance vehicle is now an ordinary drive.
Explore Dhanushkodi on the map
City locations, drawn from our published destination data. Attractions, hotels and restaurants are not mapped yet.
What to look at
Ruins on sand, and the point where the seas meet.
⛪ The church
- The most complete of the ruins, an arcaded shell standing on the beach
🚂 The railway remains
- Fragments of the station and the water tank of the line that ended here
🌊 Arichal Munai
- The land's end, where the Bay of Bengal and the Gulf of Mannar meet and the water changes colour along the line
🇱🇰 The strait
- Sri Lanka is about thirty kilometres away across the Palk Strait, and the Adam's Bridge shoals run toward it
Getting there
One road runs out to the tip, and it was only finished in 2017.
🚗 By road
- About eighteen kilometres from Rameswaram on the road completed in 2017, which runs the length of the sandbar
- Before that the last stretch needed a high-clearance vehicle over the sand
🚐 Local transport
- Vans and jeeps run the route from the town for those without a car
🎟️ Access
- Open and free; the tip itself has restrictions after dark and in rough weather
When to go
Early, and not in the monsoon — the sandbar has no shade on it at all.
🕰️ Time of day
- Early morning — the sand is exposed, there is no shade at all, and the light is better
- The tip closes to visitors before dark
📅 Season
- November to February is comfortable; the north-east monsoon and rough weather can close the road
⏱️ How long
- Half a day including the drive out and back
Worth knowing
There is nothing out there, which is the point.
💧 Take water
- No shade and very little to buy; the sandbar is exposed on both sides
🌊 Swimming
- The currents where the two seas meet are dangerous and swimming at the tip is not advised
🏚️ It is a memorial as much as a ruin
- People died here in 1964, including on the train. It is visited by many as a site of that rather than as a photo stop
⏰ Closing
- Access to the tip is restricted after dark and in rough weather; check before setting out late
Nearby
The rest of Pamban island.
Frequently asked
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