The nearest airport is at Cochin, 77 km away which connects Guruvayoor with the rest of the world through regular national and international flights. Daily trains to Chennai, Madurai, Trivandrum, Kollam, Alappuzha and Eranakulam maintain excellent rail connectivity between Guruvayoor Station and the rest of the state and neighboring Tamil Nadu.Guruvayoor is located on NH47 at a distance of 32kms from Thrissur city. This temple city is only at a distance of 3km from NH 17 which connects Mumbai and Edapally. Thus excellent bus services ply from Guruvayoor to Thrissur, Kochi, Palakkad and Kozhikode.
The Guruvayoorappan Temple is the central and main attraction of the city of Guruvayoor. It is regarded as the Dwaraka of South India in respect to the Vaishnavite sentiments fostered here. The temple's healing and curative powers are legendary. Most devotees commit offerings to the Lord in lieu of healing from various ailments. And indeed, the faith they show in Guruvayoorappan is never forsaken. Thulabharam is one such offering where the devotee provides offerings ranging from oil, sugar, coconuts to silver, gold and precious stones equal to the weight of the devotee himself or his child. It is also believed that by visiting this temple where the deity is in his child form, the childless couples soon are blessed with a healthy baby. The sanctified land is thus revered that devotees prefer to perform household ceremonies of importance such as Annaprasanams and wedding in this temple. The Annaprasanam involves feeding a child his first morsels of rice. This is a ceremony of prime importance to the rice eating Malayalis. Almost about 100 marriages are ritualized in the temple and innumerable archana requests are received every day.
Historical records hold that the temple was constructed in the 14th century but Hindu legends date the origins of this shrine ages ago. It is believed that Guru (Preceptor of the Devas) and Vayu (The God of Winds) reclaimed a child like idol from the ravaging floods that submerged Dwarka. Guruvayoor was consecrated by the Lord Shiva himself and this idol of Sri Krishna was placed here and a temple built around it. The temple received habitual patronage of the Samuthiri (Zamorin) rulers of Kozhikode. These monarchs regularly renovated the temple. Despite repeated plunderings the temple was lovingly resurrected by the people. In 1970 a cataclysmic fire destroyed the entire temple except the Sreekovil, the flag post and a few lesser shrines. Extensive renovation was again undertaken and the wooden temple has been fire proofed to a large extent.
The temple’s history records that it is in these sacred precincts that the saint poet Narayana Bhattathiri composed his famed work, the Narayaneeyam. It is believed that once the poetic opus was done, the saint himself was cured of a lingering rheumatic trouble that he was previously afflicted with.
A large uruli, a heavy bottomed vessel, is placed near the entrance to the sanctum of the temple and it is filled with bright red manjadikuru seeds. It is believed that the devotee who places his hands in the uruli and ploughs through the seeds three times is cured of all diseases and attains prosperity. Lesser shrines in the temple precincts are dedicated to Lord Ganapathy (Ganesha), Lord Ayappa and Goddess Bhagavathy.
The art and architecture of the temple leaves one spell bound. A 23 feet deepasthambam has been erected which is a pillar on which oil lamps are lit. The shrine also encompasses a Koothambalam or courtyard where the Koothu or folk performing arts are performed. The vividly etched murals of the inner Sanctum Santorum (Sreekovil) and the paintings on the eastern gate ceiling depict scenes from the Bhagavatham based on the life and legends of Lord Krishna.
The main Festival celebrated at the Guruvayoor temple is the Ekadasi of the Mandala season (November – December) when a procession of caparisoned elephants is taken out to honor Guruvayoor Kesawan, an elephant gifted to the temple by the king of Nilambur and was famed for his sheer devotion to the Lord. Seevelis (elephant ride of the idol around the temple) and the 12 day Carnatic Music Festival are also held during the same time. The temple’s annual festivities (Utsavam) are held in February- March and a mock elephant race is the highlight of this festal cheer.
Only Hindu devotees are permitted to enter the temple premises. Men need to be dhoti clad and bare chested while women may enter only clad in a saree. Devotees wearing shirts, trousers, and salwar suits are not allowed to enter.
The temple Devaswom is one of the richest religious institutions of the country. Besides holding cultural Festival the board is busy in promoting the rare performing arts and preserving the heritage by instituting a Vadyam Vidyalaya, a Krishnattam school, a mural painting institute and a museum.
The Mammiyoor Temple, the Palayur Church, the Chavakkad Beach and the Zomorin’s Ayurvedic Health Resort are other places of tourist interest in and around Guruvayoor.
