4 great day trips from Chennai

by Tim Blight | Aug 2, 2016 | Traveller

4 great day trips from Chennai

Chennai is not known for being a tourist hub – various writers have described it as “hot as hell” or an “overgrown village”. However those in the know are aware of a couple of hot spots around Chennai that make it easy to escape the city – even if just for a day!

Here, in no particular order, are my four favourite day trips from Chennai!

1. Mahabalipuram – 1.5 hours from Chennai Central

Mahabalipuram beach near the Radisson Blu

Mahabalipuram is no Angkor Wat – instead, just a handful of temples lie in ruin by the beachside. They are certainly worth a visit however, and the small township has enough souvenir shops to hold one’s interest, and eateries dish up a bunch of Tamil specialties. Meanwhile the Radisson Blu has a huge pool, a pleasant cafe, and a health spa to while away the hours.

2. Sriperumbedur – 1.5 hours from Chennai Central

Rajiv Gandhi Memorial, Sriperumbedur

Sriperumbedur is known as the place where former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991. A solemn memorial garden now exists on the site, with stone inlay retracing the politician’s final steps. A few temples exist nearby, but the main point of interest is the garden where history was made that fateful night.

3. Kanchipuram – 2 hours from Chennai Central

Shopping for Kanchipuram silk saris

Shopping time! Get your rupees at the ready, because it’s time to buy up big at this centre for silken saris! Shopping aside, Kanchipuram boasts a glut of important temples, including Ekambareswarar temple, whose gateway tower is one of the tallest in India, at 59 metres.

4. Pondicherry – 3 hours from Chennai Central

Backstreets of Pondicherry

It’s a long day trip, but if you’re in the mood, there’s nothing quite like Pondicherry. Officially called Puducherry, but often just referred to as “Pondy”, this former French enclave still hums to a slightly different beat to the rest of India. Streets are named “Rue”, architecture is a throwback to colonial yesteryear, European cuisine is available and the waterfront is sunny and pleasant (if not quite the Côte d’Azur). Don’t forget to visit the Aurobindo Ashram as well as Auroville’s utopian social project – it’s unusual, but undeniably Pondy.

What is your favourite getaway from Chennai? Comment below!

With Andy’s World Travels: Why Chennai?

by Tim Blight | Apr 18, 2016 | Traveller

Why Chennai?

Chennai was my home for 18 months from 2011 to 2012, and I still have a major soft spot for it. In fact, it’s still one of the cities that I consider home, and I was so glad to return last year to visit it again, if only for a short time.

Marina Beach, Chennai

A lot of people don’t really understand what it is about Chennai – what draws me back there; in fact, lots of people don’t really understand the appeal at all. Over the weekend an acquaintance of mine was talking about cities in India, and when I mentioned Chennai, I was met with a slightly disparaging “well, I don’t really think of Chennai as a city”.

So what is to love about this hot, steamy, overgrown village far-flung from mainstream “India”, and out on the edge of the Bay of Bengal? Andrew Boland from Andy’s World Journeys invited me to piece together something about Chennai, a city that he (and a fair many other travellers to India) had never set foot in. As a result, I decided to answer the question that countless north Indians and hoardes of tourists have also asked me; Why Chennai? Click here to read my answer.

Andrew is a travel blogger from Melbourne who works in disability and also does a bit of amateur film-making. He’s been to 70 countries so far, his first overseas trip was in 1999, and he’s travelled on average every two years since then, sometimes on long trips, sometimes on shorter ones. I also interviewed Andy in my UrbanLegends series last year, in which he discussed one of his favourite cities, Almaty in Kazakhstan.