Frequently asked questions
Is it Mahabalipuram or Mamallapuram?
Both names mean the same town. Mamallapuram means the city of Mamalla, the title of the Pallava king Narasimhavarman I, under whom most of the rock-cut monuments here were made. Mahabalipuram is the name many maps and visitors use, and Tamil Nadu Tourism and the Archaeological Survey of India use both, so you will meet either name.
When are the monuments open, and do children pay?
The Archaeological Survey of India lists the Mahabalipuram monuments as open from 6 am to 6 pm, and children under 15 enter free. Adults need an ASI ticket, and visitors from countries outside SAARC and BIMSTEC pay a higher foreigners' rate. With the midday sun on bare rock and sand, the Shore Temple and the Five Rathas are best seen early or late in the day.
Why stay overnight in Mahabalipuram rather than visit from Chennai?
Because the route goes on south. Mahabalipuram is about 57 km from Chennai, so a day trip works, but the packages listed here stop for the night on day 2 and drive on to Thanjavur on day 3, so you never double back up the coast. A night also lets you see the monuments without hurrying and, in winter, catch an evening of the Indian Dance Festival.
Who built the Shore Temple, and why is it special?
The Archaeological Survey of India credits the Pallava king Rajasimha, who reigned from 700 to 728 and introduced building in cut stone on a grand scale here, after the rock-cut work of earlier kings. The Shore Temple is a group of three shrines, two with towers and one sheltering a reclining Vishnu, set at the edge of the sea. Excavations beside it have uncovered earlier rock-cut figures and a stepped landing facing the sea.
When is the Indian Dance Festival at Mahabalipuram?
Every winter, from late December to mid-January. Tamil Nadu's Department of Tourism has organised it since 1992, when it was called the Mamallapuram Dance Festival. Each evening, classical forms such as Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi and Kathak, and Tamil folk dances, are performed near Arjuna's Penance. The department announces each year's dates, so check before you book.
Do cyclones affect the coast here?
Sometimes, between October and December, the main cyclone season in the Bay of Bengal. A storm in those months can bring days of torrential rain to this coast. Build some slack into a trip in those months, and check the India Meteorological Department's cyclone bulletins before the drive along the coast. From January to March the weather here is usually calm.
About Mahabalipuram Tour Packages
Our private trips with a night at Mahabalipuram suit travellers who want the Pallava monuments without a rushed day out from Chennai. The South India Temple Trail stops here on day 2, bound for Kanyakumari. The 10 Days South India Tour Package makes the same stop before Kerala. Each is planned privately around your dates, budget and group, with a written quote to approve before anything is paid.
Reviewed by Experience My India Editorial Team · Updated 20 Oct 2026
Why go to Mahabalipuram
Mamallapuram, better known as Mahabalipuram, takes its name from Mamalla, the title of the Pallava king Narasimhavarman I (630–668), and was already a sea-port in the first and second centuries AD. Its monuments, carved and built in the 7th and 8th centuries, have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984. The Five Rathas are monolithic shrines named after the Pandava brothers and Draupadi, cut in square, rectangular and apsidal plans. Arjuna's Penance, also called the Descent of the Ganges, is a vast relief carved on an open rock face; the Varaha and Mahishasuramardini cave temples are cut into the hill; and the Shore Temple stands at the water's edge. The giant boulder known as Krishna's Butterball is here too.
How many days to give Mahabalipuram
The South India Temple Trail and the 10 Days South India Tour Package each give Mahabalipuram one night: you come down the coast from Chennai on day 2 and leave for Thanjavur on day 3. The monuments are open from 6 am to 6 pm, so with a night here you need not rush them, and you can see the Shore Temple in the softer light of late afternoon. Give the town two nights if you want time on the beach or an evening at the Indian Dance Festival as well.
When to go
November to February is the pleasant season, according to Tamil Nadu Tourism, and from late December to mid-January the Indian Dance Festival is staged in the evenings. Mahabalipuram shares Chennai's coastal climate, humid for most of the year: the northeast monsoon normally arrives around 20 October, and in November the northern Tamil Nadu coast typically gets more than 300 mm of rain. October to December is cyclone season in the Bay of Bengal. From April to June the heat makes early mornings the best time on the rocks. More in our guide to Tamil Nadu's seasons.
How to reach Mahabalipuram
Mahabalipuram is about 55 km from Chennai International Airport and 57 km from the city, along the coast; by car it usually takes one to two hours, depending on Chennai's traffic. The nearest railway station is Chengalpattu, about 23 km away, but the packages listed here bring you by road from Chennai, in your private car with a driver, and carry on to Thanjavur, some 330 km south of Chennai, on day 3: most of a day's drive. Puducherry lies further down the same coast, and our Tamil Nadu tour packages cover other routes in the state.
What our Mahabalipuram tour packages include
Here, as everywhere on these routes, the packages listed include your own car and driver for the whole trip, a local guide at the major temple sites and breakfast every day; the Temple Trail also lists its hotels, confirmed at enquiry. Monument entry tickets appear in neither the inclusions nor the exclusions of these packages, so your written quote shows how the Archaeological Survey of India tickets here are handled; children under 15 enter free. Flights, lunches and dinners, temple camera and special-entry fees and travel insurance are not included.
How to choose your Mahabalipuram tour package
At Mahabalipuram the routes listed here are the same: one night, the same monuments, the same departure for Thanjavur on day 3. Choose by what comes after. The South India Temple Trail stays in Tamil Nadu all the way to Kanyakumari, for travellers who want temple after temple and are comfortable barefoot on hot stone. The 10 Days South India Tour Package leaves Tamil Nadu after Madurai for Munnar and a night on an Alleppey houseboat. If the coast itself is the draw, with a second night, the Dance Festival or Puducherry, a tailor-made trip suits you better.
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