India 
In numbers.
0.36m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Sep–Dec
Best months
789m
Elevation
The water at Thalaiyar Falls, month by month
It roars from October to November.
The fullest months: from October to November. The thinnest: from January to April.
- 0.2 m³/sJan
- 0.1 m³/sFeb
- 0.1 m³/sMar
- 0.2 m³/sApr
- 0.5 m³/sMay
- 0.6 m³/sJun
- 0.6 m³/sJul
- 0.6 m³/sAug
- 0.7 m³/sSep
- 1.1 m³/sOct
- 1.1 m³/sNov
- 0.5 m³/sDec
From about 0.09 m³/s in the lowest month to 1.1 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from September to December.
Estimate: the timing comes from rain, snowmelt and evaporation (NASA POWER, 1991–2020); the amounts from the river model of HydroATLAS (WaterGAP, 1971–2000). Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Getting there.
- Pannaikadunearest town · 7.0 km in a straight line
- Madurai Airport (IXM)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 69 km in a straight lineCar hire at COK airport (Kochi)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From September to Decemberbest months to go (estimate)
Plan your visit
Stay, explore and get there
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
Seen from the sky.
8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.
N
2 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
The line follows the river as mapped in OpenStreetMap; heights from the 30 m Copernicus model, which smooths narrow drops — the published height of the falls is the one above.
Around the falls the river drops 563 m in 3.6 km. Here the river runs about 142 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- —viewpoints
- —waymarked walking routes
- —car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- —toilets
- —information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- —other named waterfalls within 4 km
- —caves
- —campsites
- 1hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmThapovan Farm stay
- —restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, up to 2 km around the falls (unless noted). A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Pannaikadu7.0 km in a straight line
- Devadanapatti9.9 km in a straight line
- Kodaikānāl12 km in a straight line
- Ganguvārpatti12 km in a straight line
- Periyakulam13 km in a straight line
- Vadugappatti14 km in a straight line
- Tāmaraikkulam14 km in a straight line
- Ayyampālaiyam16 km in a straight line
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | 27 | 30 | 32 | 33 | 31 | 28 | 27 | 28 | 28 | 27 | 25 | 25 |
| Night °C | 15 | 16 | 19 | 21 | 21 | 19 | 19 | 19 | 18 | 19 | 18 | 16 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 9 | 14 | 31 | 64 | 125 | 111 | 111 | 112 | 128 | 218 | 155 | 44 |
| Wet days | 2 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 18 | 22 | 18 | 7 |
| Sun h/day | 7.9 | 8.9 | 8.9 | 8.4 | 7.9 | 6.8 | 6.2 | 6.6 | 7.1 | 6.1 | 5.3 | 6.0 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (789 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
Photos
Through visitors' eyes.
Recent years
Wet years and dry years
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A wet season above 100 % usually means a fuller waterfall.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 33% | 19% | 20% | 64% | 64% | 87% | 148% | 95% | 112% | 157% | 127% | 290% |
| 2021 | 2,000% | 46% | 69% | 103% | 119% | 98% | 109% | 126% | 148% | 116% | 208% | 197% |
| 2022 | 224% | 45% | 127% | 227% | 98% | 104% | 216% | 179% | 73% | 95% | 110% | 230% |
| 2023 | 110% | 120% | 155% | 178% | 81% | 67% | 82% | 108% | 125% | 82% | 146% | 270% |
| 2024 | 337% | 12% | 8% | 32% | 155% | 105% | 74% | 182% | 27% | 119% | 68% | 333% |
| 2025 | 230% | 46% | 149% | 177% | 110% | 60% | 55% | 87% | 99% | 91% | 91% | 94% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Thalaiyar Falls
India
- —Height
- 0.36 m³/sAverage flow
- Sep–DecBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q38379) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| River flow and catchment | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Relief, river profile, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Paths, viewpoints, parking | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
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