Keerimalai Spring

Top choice in Jaffna & the North


This spring is a beautiful little spot: the men’s side has a picturesque stepped pool of bright aquamarine water set against the ocean, while the women have a smaller pool nearby, surrounded by tall walls. The waters are supposed to be healing, and there are changing rooms on-site; women should bathe in something modest. Frequent Jaffna minibuses are Rs 54 to the spring, or get a three-wheeler from the Tellippalai bus stand for Rs 400/700 one way/round trip.

Legend has it that the sacred Keerimalai Spring became famous after the 7th-century visit by a Chola princess: not only was her digestive disorder instantly healed when she bathed in the waters and prayed to Murugan, but so was her facial deformity, which, according to one source, had the ‘likeness of a horse’s head’.


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