Chennai Travel Guide: Beaches, Temples, Museums and Day Trips

Chennai's older sights lie close to the shore, along the Marina, which runs 13 km from Fort St George south to Besant Nagar, and in the temple quarters of Triplicane and Mylapore just inland. Two of our South India routes begin here; our Chennai tour packages page lists them.

Marina Beach and the lighthouse

In the evening the Marina fills with families, kite flyers, fortune tellers, corn roasters and games of beach cricket; the state tourism department suggests coming early in the morning or late in the afternoon to see the city at play. Do not swim here: the same department warns that the turbulent undercurrent makes it unsafe. For the view along the shore, take the lift to the top of the lighthouse, which stands within the city limits; late afternoon gives the best light for photographs.

Fort St George

The East India Company's fort was completed on 23 April 1644, St George's Day, and the settlement that grew beside it eventually became Madras. Its white colonial buildings now house Tamil Nadu's state government. The Fort Museum displays 3,661 objects, from portraits of governors to uniforms, medals and coins, across three floors and ten galleries, and St Mary's Church, consecrated in 1680, is believed to be the oldest British building in India. The fort and museum are open from 9 am to 5 pm every day except Friday.

Government Museum

Started in 1851, the Government Museum, or Madras Museum, is the second oldest museum in India after the Indian Museum in Kolkata, and the tourism department calls its South Indian bronzes, among them several icons of Nataraja, the best such collection in the country. Its six buildings hold archaeology from the Chola, Vijayanagara, Hoysala and Chalukya periods, arms and puppets, the paintings of the National Art Gallery and an interactive Children's Museum, and the Connemara Public Library shares the grounds. It is about 3 km from Chennai Central; give it at least half a day.

Kapaleeshwarar Temple and Mylapore

Mylapore's Shiva temple is entered through a towering, painted gopuram, and among its treasures are bronze images of the 63 Nayanmars, the Saivite poet-saints, two of whom praised the temple in their Thevaram hymns. Behind it lies a large ceremonial tank. Entry is free, though donations are welcome, and if you come in March or April you may see the Brahmotsavam festival, when the deities are paraded through the streets. Nearby, the Sri Ramakrishna Math welcomes visitors of all faiths to its Universal Temple.

San Thome Basilica

The Portuguese built the first church over the tomb of St Thomas the Apostle in the 16th century; the present neo-Gothic basilica is the British rebuilding of 1893. The tomb lies in an underground chapel, the museum displays relics associated with the saint, and a small theatre screens a short film on his life. The tourism department counts it among only three churches in the world built over the tomb of an apostle. Inland, St Thomas Mount, where tradition places his martyrdom, has a hilltop church and wide views over the city.

Parthasarathy Temple, Triplicane

In Triplicane (Thiruvallikeni), this temple to Vishnu as Parthasarathy, Arjuna's charioteer in the Mahabharata, is one of the 108 Divya Desams praised by the Alvar poet-saints; the deity here has a moustache and holds no weapon. Its gopurams were added under the Vijayanagara rulers in the 16th century, and its sakkarai pongal, a sweet rice offering made with ghee and cashews, is well known. Vaikunta Ekadashi brings the biggest crowds. A short ride away, at the junction of Mount Road and Peters Road, the multi-domed Thousand Lights Mosque is an important place of prayer for the city's Shia Muslims.

Elliot's Beach and the Theosophical Society

At the southern end of the Marina shore, Elliot's Beach in Besant Nagar, named after a British-era magistrate, Edward Francis Elliot, is quieter on most days, with horse rides, food stalls and the Karl Schmidt Memorial to a Dutch sailor who died trying to save a girl from drowning. In neighbouring Adyar, the Theosophical Society's tree-shaded grounds, free to visit, hold a church, a mosque, a Hindu temple, a Buddhist shrine and a Zoroastrian fire altar, as well as the Adyar Library.

Vivekananda House

Vivekanandar Illam, a pink building first put up to store ice shipped from America, is where Swami Vivekananda stayed for nine days in 1897, on his return from the West. The Ramakrishna Math's Chennai branch worked from here until 1906, and the Math now runs it as the Experience Vivekananda Museum, with picture galleries, a 4D virtual-reality film and two 3D films, and the second-floor room where he meditated. A small entry fee is charged.

Guindy and the Vandalur zoo

In the middle of the city, Guindy Nature Park includes the Guindy Children's Park, a recognised zoo of about 50 species, among them blackbuck, spotted deer and porcupines, as well as pelicans, painted storks and owls. For a longer outing, the Arignar Anna Zoological Park at Vandalur covers 602 hectares and is about 2 km from Vandalur railway station; the tourism department suggests visiting between 9 and 11 am or between 3 and 6 pm, when it is cooler.

T. Nagar, Pondy Bazaar and the silk shops

The streets of T. Nagar are packed with shoppers buying silk saris, slippers, glass bangles and gold jewellery. Pondy Bazaar is the centre for clothes and accessories, and the area around Panagal Park is, in the tourism department's words, famous across India for its silks; Chennai is known for its handlooms, especially Kanchipuram silk. For government shops, the state's Co-optex showrooms sell cottons and silks, and the Central Cottage Industries Emporium at Nandanam sells handicrafts.

• Mahabalipuram: the Pallava monuments, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, are about 57 km south by the East Coast Road. On the way are Covelong, about 40 km out, where you can learn to surf; DakshinaChitra at Muttukadu, a museum of traditional South Indian houses with craftsmen at work; and the Crocodile Bank, founded in 1976. See our Mahabalipuram travel guide.
• Kanchipuram: about 75 km from Chennai Central, the temple town of the Kailasanathar and Ekambareswarar temples and of Kancheepuram silk saris.
• Tirumala and Tirupati: the temple trust notes that pilgrims can fly into Chennai and drive on, about three hours; see our Tirupati travel guide for darshan bookings.
• Puducherry: about 135 km from Chennai airport, best with a night there; see our Pondicherry travel guide.
• Vedanthangal: a bird sanctuary since 1936, where egrets, herons, ibises, painted storks and spoonbills gather in winter.

Chennai's rain comes with the north-east monsoon, from October to December. On the India Meteorological Department's 1991–2020 averages, November is the wettest month, at about 374 mm over eleven rainy days, with about 300 mm in October and 182 mm in December, and October to December is also the cyclone season on this coast. January to March are the driest months, with about 16, 6 and 2 mm of rain and average highs of 30 to 33°C, which makes them the most comfortable for sightseeing. The tourism department's suggested season starts in November, but come in December only for the music season, and expect rain. April to June are hot, with average highs of 35 to 37°C, and July to September bring 100 to 146 mm a month in thunderstorms. Our guide to the best time to visit Tamil Nadu has every month.

• By air: Chennai International Airport, at Meenambakkam, has two terminals, Kamaraj Domestic and Anna International. The Marina is about 19 km away, and the airport has its own metro station on the Blue Line into the city.
• By train: Chennai is the headquarters of the Southern Railway and has four main terminals: Puratchi Thalaivar Dr M.G. Ramachandran Central (Chennai Central), Chennai Egmore, Chennai Beach and Tambaram.
• By road: national highways link Chennai with the rest of India; long-distance buses use the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus at Koyambedu and the Madhavaram terminus, and the East Coast Road leads south to Mahabalipuram and Puducherry.
• On our routes: the South India Temple Trail and the 10 Days South India Tour Package both begin with a meeting on arrival in Chennai and an afternoon at the Marina and the Kapaleeshwarar Temple.