How To Reach Rameshwaram

The conch shaped island of Rameshwaram is a town in the Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu. Called either Pamban or Rameshwaram Island, the area is connected to mainland India through the Pamban Bridges for rail and vehicular traffic. Rameshwaram is located in the Gulf of Mannar, at the eastern coast of India and is about 40 km from the Mannar Island of neighbouring Sri Lanka.

Rameshwaram has direct access by rail and road. The easiest way to reach Rameshwaram would be by train.

Rameshwaram does not have an airport. The nearest convenient airport is the Madurai International Airport that caters to domestic flights from Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Delhi and international flights to Singapore, Colombo and Dubai. From the airport you can hire a cab to Rameshwaram. You could also book tickets for a train from Madurai to Rameshwaram. There are also state run or private buses too. Madurai Airport is about 179 km from Rameshwaram.

There is a good selection of trains that connect Rameshwaram to mainland India. There are daily and weekly trains from and through Chennai like the Rameshwaram Express, Shraddha Sethu (Faizabad-Rameshwaram), Kanyakumari, Tirupathi (Tpty-Rmm Express via Madurai), Varanasi, Bhubaneswar (BBS-RMM Weekly Express via Chennai), Madurai, Okha, Ajmer et al. Since the long distance trains have a number of important intermediate stations, you get a better choice of trains to travel in. There are auto rickshaws and taxis outside the railway station that can be hired to reach your destination.

Tamil Nadu Road Transport Corporation buses run between Rameshwaram and Kanyakumari, Chennai, Bengaluru, Trichy, Madurai and Thanjavur. There are multi axles AC Sleeper, to regular buses run by private companies, as well. The 3 km long Annai Indira Gandhi Road Bridge connects Pamban in Rameshwaram Island to Mandapam in the mainland. It’s a delightful experience driving on a lengthy road that runs high over the sea.

Again, there are tuk tuks, taxis and mobile app cabs that can be used to get around town. To visit Danushkodi, it’s better to take a sturdy van or a jeep to drive over the sandy stretches. You could also use the local buses run by the state transport corporation, though buses might get a little crowded on festive occasions. You could get a bike or scooty on hire for exploring the town.