Varkala is a municipal town in Chirayinkil taluk of Thiruvananthapuram district. It is 51 km from Thiruvananthapuram city, located on the coast, via very good roads. It is an important railhead also, with most trains having halts and with a computerized railway reservation facility. Varkala is an important hub for neighbouring places like Kadakkavur, Edava and Kappil.

Varkala is the only place in southern Kerala where one can find cliffs just adjacent to the Arabian sea. These sedimentary and laterite cliffs are a unique geological feature in the otherwise flat Kerala coast, and is known among geologists as Varkala Formation. There are numerous water spouts and spas on the sides of the cliffs.

A famous beach resort, Varkala is also famous for its 2,000 year old Janardanaswamy temple, which is an important Vaishnavaite shrine in India and is referred to as "Southern Kashi". It is also the centre of Sivagiri Mutt, established by the great social reformer Sree Narayana Guru. The Papanasam beach is considered to have holy waters which wash away sins, and is also an important Ayurveda treatment centre. The District Ayurvedic Hospital is also located here.

Another important feature of Varkala is the now dilapidated Varkala Tunnel, through which passes the TS Canal, which was an all-important waterway during pre-independance times.

The town

Almost all consumer goods are available in the town. Varkala has several shopping complexes, and 4 not-so-good moviehouses. Over 10 banks have branches in Varkala, most of them have ATMs too.

People of Varkala are generally employed in service sector. A very good portion of them are working outside India, mainly in the Middle East region. Varkala also has a very sizeable number of expatriates in the United Kingdom.

Demographics

• Population (2001): 42,273
• Sex Ratio: (females per 1,000 males): 1,034
• Literacy: 87.78% (85.02% male, 89.1% female)

Famous personalities

• Varkala Radhakrishnan - Noted lawyer-turned-politician belonging to Communist Party of India (Marxist), and MP. He currently represents Chirayinkil constituency which includes Varkala, in the Indian Parliament, having won the 2004 elections by a huge margin. Formerly, he represented Varkala in the Kerala state Assembly several times and was the Assembly speaker also.