The shrine of Hazrat Syed Abdul Qadir Shahul Hamid, a 16th-century Sufi saint who settled on this coast. Of its five minarets, the tallest was raised by the Maratha ruler of Thanjavur, Pratap Singh, in gratitude for a cure, and Hindus and Muslims alike come to the annual Kandoori festival. It is among the best-known Sufi shrines in South India.

The principal Shiva temple of Nagapattinam and a Padal Petra Sthalam, where the god is worshipped as Kayarohanaswamy and the goddess as Neelayathakshi. Tradition links the shrine to the sage Markandeya and to the churning of the ocean. Nagapattinam was a great port under the Cholas, and the temple's halls and gopuram reflect that long prosperity.

Here Murugan is said to have received the vel from his mother before going to battle Surapadman, and the moment is re-enacted each year at the Soorasamharam festival, when the deity is believed to sweat. The temple is unusual in housing both the Navaneetheswarar Shiva shrine and the Singaravelan Murugan shrine. Its tall gopuram is visible across the fields around Sikkal.

The Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health grew out of three apparitions reported in the 16th and 17th centuries - to a shepherd boy, to a lame buttermilk seller, and to Portuguese sailors saved from a storm, who built the first chapel here. The present white Gothic basilica was raised to minor basilica status by Pope John XXIII in 1962. Its eleven-day feast at the end of August draws pilgrims of every faith, which is why it is called the Lourdes of the East.