Kottayam is a city located in the Kottayam district of Kerala, India. It serves as the district headquarters and is situated approximately 151 km (93.8 mi) north of Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital.
According to the 2011 Indian census, the city has a population of 136,812 people with a population density of 2,470 per square kilometer (6,400 per square mile). The city is notably referred to as "the City of Letters" because it serves as the headquarters for several publishing houses and some of the first Malayalam daily newspapers, including Deepika, Malayala Manorama, and Mangalam.