Cherai

Cherai
—  village  —
Cherai Location of Cherai in Kerala and India
Coordinates	9°58′37″N 76°16′12″E / 9.977°N 76.27°E / 9.977; 76.27Coordinates: 9°58′37″N 76°16′12″E / 9.977°N 76.27°E / 9.977; 76.27
Country	India
State	Kerala
District(s)	Ernakulam
Panchayat President	Srimati. Chinnamma Dharman
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Area • Elevation	• 0 metres (0 ft)
Codes • Pincode • 683514 • Telephone • +0484

Cherai (Malayalam: ചെറായി) is a region in the island of Vypin, a suburb of the city of Kochi, in the state of Kerala, India. It is at a distance of about 25km from the High Court Junction, Kochi. Cherai has the longest beach in Kochi - the Cherai beach. The beach is located towards the centre-north of the Vypin island.

The Cherai Beach is 10 km long.^{[citation needed]} Dolphins are occasionally seen here. It has the calm serene Backwaters on the other side and the land is filled with coconut trees

Cherai has played an important role in the history of modern Kerala by becoming the birth place of two prominent political personsages of modern Kerala - Mathai Manjooran and Sahodaran Ayyappan.

Cherai Gowreeshwara Temple is one of the main Hindu temple. Temple is mainatained by Vijnana Vardhini Sabha (V. V Sabha). It also known as Kerala palani. The festival in the temple is biggest festival in Eranakulam district. The festival happens every year towards the last 2 weeks of January or first 2 weeks of February. The main attractions are Elephant march(around 20-30 elephants).

There is one more famous temple in Cherai, which is Azheekkal Sree Varaha Temple famous for its beautiful chariot.It is one of the oldest temple owned by Gowda Saraswatha Community.

Nearest attractions:

Portuguese Fort : Built in1503 by the Portuguese also known as 'Aya Kotta'. It is the oldest European monument in India. It was an out post to safeguard the famous Mussiris Port. In 1661 the Dutch captured the fort and in 1789 the fort was handover to the King of Thiruvathankoor.

Pallipuram Church : The church is built by the Portuguese in 1577. The exquisite picture of Ave Mary on the top of "Altar" is brought from Portugal.The yearly celebrations of Lady of snow happening in August every year.The Water parade of boats is one of the notable function .

Location

Notable people

• Sahodaran Ayyappan

• 

  Cherai beach

Satellite image of Cherai town

• Satellite image of the town