Thiruvananthapuram Tourism and Travel Guide

Thiruvananthapuram (Malayalam:തിരുവനതപുരം Tiruvaṉantapuram, IPA: [t̪iruʋənən̪t̪əpurəm]), also known as Trivandrum, is the capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the largest and the most populous city corporation in Kerala and the fifth largest urban agglomeration in Kerala. It is on the west coast of India near the extreme south of the mainland. Referred to by Mahatma Gandhi as the 'evergreen city of India', it is characterised by its undulating terrain of low coastal hills and busy commercial alleys. With a population of 957,730 inhabitants, it is the largest city corporation in Kerala. Thiruvananthapuram contributes nearly 80% of the state's software exports and is a major IT hub.The city is home to central and state government offices and organisations. Apart from being the political nerve centre of Kerala, it is an academic hub and is home to several educational institutions including the University of Kerala and the Trivandrum medical college and to many science and technology institutions, the most prominent being the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), College of Engineering Thiruvananthapuram (CET), College of Architecture (C.A.T), Sree Chitra Thirunal College of Engineering (SCTCE),the Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute (JNTBGRI), Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Technopark, the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), the Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Kerala, Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISER), the Centre for Development Studies, the Centre for Development of Imaging Technology (C-DIT), the National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, the International Centre for Free and Open Source Software (ICFOSS), the Centre for Earth Science Studies, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology and the Sree Chitira Thirunal Institute for Medical Science and Technology.Considered one of the 10 greenest cities in India, Thiruvananthapuram is classified as a tier-II Indian city along with Kochi and was ranked as the best city in Kerala to live in a 2012 Times of India survey. The city was also ranked as the best city in India for Housing and Transport by a survey conducted by India Today.