Nilavarai Bottomless Well
Northern Province
About Nilavarai Bottomless Well
The Nilavarai well at Puttur is the Jaffna peninsula's favourite mystery: a broad, dark natural well whose depths, generations of divers have insisted, cannot be found - and whose water performs a genuine hydrological trick, running fresh at the surface and turning steadily brackish, then salt, the deeper you draw. Legend supplies the origin: Rama, marching on Ravana's Lanka, fired an arrow into the earth here to quench his army's thirst - the same story-cycle that animates Keerimalai's springs along the coast, to which folk tradition says Nilavarai is connected by underwater passages. Modern surveys have mapped substantial depths and karst channels without quite dethroning the 'bottomless' romance. Villagers still draw the sweet upper water; visitors peer, ponder, and add it to the peninsula's loop of holy wells, temple springs, and stranger-than-fiction stops.
Top Activities
- ✓The 'bottomless' well and its legends
- ✓Fresh-to-salt water curiosity
- ✓Peninsula loop with Keerimalai and Point Pedro
- ✓Village life around Puttur
- ✓Photography of the karst pool
Nearby Attractions
Travel Tips
It's a 15-minute stop - fold it into a full peninsula day loop.
Swimming is not the done thing; this is a village water source.
Pair the legend with Keerimalai's springs for the full story.
Quick Info
Best Time
January to September
Weather
Hot and dry; an easy shaded stop.
Estimated Daily Budget
9.7581°N, 80.0917°E
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