Rameswaram has an average elevation of 10 metres (32 feet).

The island is spread across an area

of 61.8 square kilometres and is in the shape of a conch. 74% of the area has sandy soil due to the
presence of sea and it has many islands surrounding it, the Palk Strait in the north west and Gulf of
Mannar in the south East.[22] The Ramanathaswamy Temple occupies major area of Rameswaram.
The beach of Rameswaram is featured with no waves at all the sea waves rise to a maximum
height of 3 cm and the view looks like a very big river. Rameswaram has dry tropical climate with low
humidity,[22] with average monthly rainfall of 75.73 mm,[22] mostly from North East monsoon from
October to January. The highest ever temperature recorded at Pamban station was 37 C and the
lowest was 17 C.[23]
Ramsetu Bridge is a chain of limestone shoals, between Rameswaram and Mannar Island, off the
northwestern coast of Sri Lanka. Geological evidence suggests that this bridge is a former land
connection between India and Sri Lanka.[24] The bridge is 18 miles (30 km) long and separates the
Gulf of Mannar (north east) from the Palk Strait (South West). It was reportedly passable on foot up
to the 15th century until storms deepened the channel. The temple records record that Ramas
Bridge was completely above sea level until it broke in a cyclone in 1480 CE. [25] The bridge was first
mentioned in the ancient Indian Sanskrit epic Ramayana of Valmiki.[26] The name Rama's
Bridge or Rama Setu (Sanskrit; setu: bridge) refers to the bridge built by the Vanara (ape men) army
of Rama in Hindu mythology, which he used to reach Lanka and rescue his wife Sita from the demon
king Ravana.[26]The Ramayana attributes the building of this bridge to Rama in verse 2-22-76,
naming it as Setubandhanam.[27] The sea separating India and Sri Lanka is
calledSethusamudram meaning "Sea of the Bridge". Maps prepared by a Dutch cartographer in
1747 CE, available at the Tanjore Saraswathi Mahal Library show this area as Ramancoil, a
colloquial form of the Tamil Raman Kovil (or Rama's Temple).[28] Many other maps in Schwartzberg's
historical atlas[29] and other sources such as travel texts by Marco Polo call this area by various
names such as Sethubandha and Sethubandha Rameswaram