Older Than The Taj Mahal: India's Oldest Palace Is 400+ Years Old

Quiz night, trivia app, or a friend trying to sound smart at dinner, at some point, someone’s asked you which is the oldest palace in India.
You probably said Rajasthan, or some fort you saw on Instagram. Don’t worry, most people guess wrong here. The real answer is a quiet wooden palace near Kanyakumari, one that barely makes anyone’s travel list. With cheap flights to Thiruvananthapuram easy to grab these days, there’s really no excuse to keep missing it.

Which is India’s Oldest Palace?
How To Reach Padmanabhapuram Palace
Wrap Up
Frequently Asked Questions: Oldest Palace in India
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Which is India’s Oldest Palace?

Padmanabhapuram Palace was built around 1601 CE by Iravi Varma Kulasekhara Perumal, ruler of Venad. King Marthanda Varma expanded it around 1750, giving us India’s oldest palace as it stands today. Built almost entirely in wood, with carved pillars and murals on its top floor, it’s India’s largest wooden palace, one of the biggest in Asia. This one stands apart among the oldest palaces in India, simply because its wooden core survived untouched, unlike most contenders for the oldest palace in India.

Also Read: Wake Up to the Ocean: Best 5 Star Hotels in Kanyakumari

How To Reach Padmanabhapuram Palace

By Air: Thiruvananthapuram is the nearest airport, about an hour’s drive away.
By Road: Well connected by highways and buses from South India.
By Rail: Nagercoil is the closest station, a short drive away.

Several of the best hotels in Kanyakumari sit close by, making it easy to pair the visit with the sunset point and Vivekananda Rock Memorial.

Wrap Up

Four hundred years on, the wood hasn’t given up, and neither has the story it’s carrying, rare in a country where most old structures get rebuilt in stone sooner or later. The oldest palace in India isn’t loud about it, it doesn’t need to be. So if you’ve been putting off that Kanyakumari trip, this is your sign, book the flight, plan the stay, and go see it before you tell anyone else about it.

Frequently Asked Questions: Oldest Palace in India

What is special about Padmanabhapuram Palace?
The palace is almost entirely built from wood, it is 400 years old and it still holds onto carved pillars, secret passages and murals that haven’t faded into nothing. The fact that it survived this intact is really a big deal.

Which is the 3 oldest city in India?
Varanasi usually tops this list, often called the oldest living city in the world, with Madurai and Ujjain right behind it. All three have been continuously inhabited for thousands of years.

Which palace is the oldest?
That title goes to Padmanabhapuram Palace near Kanyakumari, built around 1601 CE, it’s 400+ years old.

Which is the oldest fort in India?
This one’s a bit debated, but Kangra Fort in Himachal Pradesh is often credited as the oldest, dating back to the 4th century BCE. Qila Mubarak in Bathinda also gets mentioned a lot, so depends who you ask.

What is the oldest castle still standing today?
The Citadel of Aleppo in Syria takes this one, with parts of it going back to around 3000 BCE. It’s been rebuilt many times since, but the site itself has that kind of staying power.

What is the top 10 oldest structure in the world?
Göbekli Tepe in Turkey usually leads this list, dating back over 11,000 years, way before the pyramids or Stonehenge even existed. After that, you’re looking at sites like Newgrange in Ireland and the Pyramids of Giza, though rankings shift depending on the source.

How to get last-minute hotel deals in Indian metro cities?
Booking apps tend to drop prices in the final 24 hours if rooms are still empty, so checking right before you need one sometimes works in your favour.

What are the best family-friendly hotel options in India?
Look for places with connecting rooms, pools, and kid-friendly meal options, since that usually means the staff are used to handling families. Resort-style stays in places like Goa, Jaipur, or Kerala tend to tick most of these boxes without much hunting around.

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Older Than The Taj Mahal: India’s Oldest Palace Is 400+ Years Old

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Which is India’s Oldest Palace?

How To Reach Padmanabhapuram Palace

Wrap Up

Frequently Asked Questions: Oldest Palace in India

Read More:

Akbar Travels Services

Best Flight Deals

Domestic Flights

International Flights

Best Hotel Deals

Apply Visa Online

International Tour Packages

Domestic Tour Packages

Packages by Themes

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