Punalur is a small picturesque town on the outskirts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The town is known for being the pioneer of the mechanical revolution in Kerala with the establishment of Punalur Paper Mills. The river Kallada flows through Punalur. The place takes its name from ‘Punal’, which means water in Tamil and Malayalam, and ‘Ooru’, which means ‘set’. This gives rise to the meaning ‘city of water’. The authoritative headquarters of the Western Ghats is located here and is known as Pathanapuram Taluk, which is another passage to the Western Ghats.
This city is also called the ‘lap of the Western Ghats’. It is the fifth largest city in the south. Punalur is famous for its pineapple, pressed wood, pepper and timber. The town is also known for its suspension bridge, which was built by a British in the nineteenth century. The experts have declared this suspension bridge a landmark of national importance.