Padmanabhapuram Palace is a magnificent wooden palace and lies at the land's end of mainland India. This old palace of the Rajas of the former Travancore is a fine specimen of Kerala's indigenous style of architecture. The antique interiors in the palace are replete with intricate rosewood carvings and sculptured decor. The Padmanabhapuram palace also contains 17th and 18th century murals. One can see the musical bow in mahogany, royal chairs with Chinese carvings, windows with colored mica, 'Thaikkottaram' or the Queen Mother's palace with painted ceilings, rose wood and teak carved ceilings with 90 different floral designs.

Some of the major attractions are Durbar Hall, with a shiny black floor specially made from a combination of white, jaggery lime, burnt coconut, charcoal and river sand, granite tubs to cool curd and buttermilk, secret underground passages, the King's bedroom with a four poster medicinal bed, pictures of Lord Krishna, mural paintings, open air swimming bath, granite dance hall, Saraswathi (goddess of knowledge) temple, large earthen urns, pooja (worship) rooms with jackfruit tree columns, room for scribes and accountants, carved figures on columns holding oil lamps fish carvings on the ceilings, enormous teak beams, Belgian mirrors and an outer cyclopean stone wall fitted together without mortar.