The Lighthouse is situated on Vypin Island opposite Cochin. There is a regular boat service for Vypin from Ernakulam Boat jetty. Also there is Junker service available for ferrying the vehicles from Fort Cochin. The Lighthouse is about 10 km from Vypin jetty and is linked by an all weather road.       

Prior to independence Cochin region comprising of Cranganore, Cochin-Kanayanur, Mukundapuram, Trichur, Talapalli and Chittur was a separate princely state of Cochin. The rulers of Cochin claimed to be the descendants of Cheraman Perumal who ruled the entire region from Gokarnam to Cape Comorin in the 9th century, first as a Viceroy of the Chola kings and later as independent ruler. In 1502 Portuguese were allowed to establish a trade centre and subsequently to build a fort near Cochin port. The Portuguese were ousted from Cochin by Dutch in1663. The then Raja entered into a fresh treaty with the Dutch and conceded to them the same privileges as the Portuguese availed of. In 1776 the state was conquered by Hyder Ali and remained under the control of Mysore till Tippu Sultan was defeated by the British who concluded a treaty with the Raja of Cochin in 1791 by which Cochin port Area (now known as Fort Cochin) became the tributary of East India Co. The British ousted the Dutch from Cochin in 1795.             

On 1st November1956 linguistic States were formed in the independent India and the Malayalam speaking regions-Malabar, Cochin and Travancore excluding the district of Cape Comorin (Kanyakumari) became part of the new state of Kerala.  Cochin port in the back waters formed by the Periyar river estuary providing a natural harbour site capable of affording shelter to a number of large vessels has been an important trading centre since the 16th century. The modernization and development of Cochin port was taken up in the mid 19th century and in 1880 the Sand bar at the mouths of the entrance channel was cut through.             

Mr RC Bristow, Harbour Engineer-in-Chief, prepared a four stage plan in 1935 for Expansion, Development and Modernisation of Cochin port. He clubbed together a number of tiny islands and Vendurutty Island in the back waters into one by constructing a retaining wall around them and then filling up the gaps by debris obtained from dredging the navigable channels. This newly formed island, running North to South, was named Willington Island. It harboured ships on both its sides – North East and North West respectively called Ernakulam wharf and Mattancherry wharf.

There is regular passenger cum cargo ship service from Cochin port to different islands in Lakshadweep. Other cargo ships call on the port regularly. Cochin is the base of Indian Navy’s Southern Command. The Cochin Shipyard built its first vessel ‘Rani Padmini’ (85000 tonnes) and sailed it here in 1984. 

The first Lighthouse was provided in 1839 at Fort Cochin. It was a masonry column constructed at a site south of the entrance to port. The light source was an oil wick lamp inside 6th order optic with fixed character. The system worked for 63 years when in 1902 it was improved by inducting a new lantern and an optic. In 1914 a 4th order cut and polished optic and occulting mechanism replaced the earlier equipment. A new 10 m high column was constructed in 1920. It was painted in two white and one black band. The same lighthouse equipment was shifted onto this new column. 

A large-scale development in the port area took place in 1936.The light also underwent the change. A steel Trestle tower of 25 m height, painted grey was erected.. The DA gas equipment with flasher inside a 300 mm cut and polished drum optic was installed on the trestle tower. In the year 1966 a sun valve was introduced. A plan was drawn up to provide a taller tower with powerful electric light and a Radio beacon. However since the land was not available in Fort Cochin area,  the lighthouse was shifted to Puthu Vypin and the Radio Beacon was shifted to Azhikode. A 45m RCC Tower was constructed at Puthu Vaipe and the 3rd order Revolving light supplied by M/s. J. Stone, India was installed. The new Lighthouse was commissioned into service on 15th November1979. 

A Racon (Marconi make) was added on the Lighthouse in 1980; it was replaced by `Tideland’ make Racon in 1996. The incandescent lamp was replaced with 230V 400W Metal Halide lamp and direct drive system was also incorporated on 15th May 1998.