More than once it so happened, that my non-Indian (also non-south Indian) acquaintances, when they visit Chennai, esp on work, they'd have a weekend free here. Asking the local colleagues, they'd visit any of those newly built, popular temples or go to the huge shopping malls. When I come to know of it, I always get depressed!!! When someone new to this city, infact, new to this culture, goes on such a day trip, they'd have a skewed opinion about our heritage!!! Here's a bunch of 1 day itineraries that I could come up with to help out. Its not very unknown, road less travelled places, coz on a daytrip, for a newbie, going to tiny little places wouldn't make much sense. But here are those authentic places that give a flavour of Chennai and an outlook into its history, heritage & geography!
If you're a westerner reading this, here's an example to make you feel, how I feel: If someone who has no knowledge of western art, sees a painting of Andy Warhol or Pablo Picasso and thinks, all western art is like that, and assumes, how Last Supper or Mona Lisa would look like, even without seeing one da Vinci, would that make sense???!!!!! If you're a North Indian reading this: how would you feel if someone who has eaten Chatpata Channa Sub in Subway says he knows how your authentic home cooked Punjabi Rajma Masala tastes like, even without tasting it!!!
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All links below are to my earlier posts in detail about the place.
If you're a westerner reading this, here's an example to make you feel, how I feel: If someone who has no knowledge of western art, sees a painting of Andy Warhol or Pablo Picasso and thinks, all western art is like that, and assumes, how Last Supper or Mona Lisa would look like, even without seeing one da Vinci, would that make sense???!!!!! If you're a North Indian reading this: how would you feel if someone who has eaten Chatpata Channa Sub in Subway says he knows how your authentic home cooked Punjabi Rajma Masala tastes like, even without tasting it!!!
1. Hitting the East Coast - Begin early morning sunrise at Elliots Beach and check out Schmidt's Memorial & Broken Bridge. Next stop at Thiuruvanmiyur Marundeeswarar Temple, Cholamandal Artists' Village and Dakshina Chitra (Part 1, Part 2). As you cross a back waters, stop by and do some bird watching. You'll spot Egrets, Cormorants, Pelicans, Painted storks and many more and if you're lucky, Flamingoes as well! If there are kids, Crocodile bank (created by Romulus Whitaker) is a good stop. By noon reach Mahabalipuram (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3), a UNESCO protected site, a collection of rock-cut monuments built in 6th-7th C CE, which ideally needs atleast 4 days to see if you're into art, sculpture & heritage, and the least of half a day to get the mildest essence of it. Sunset on the beach here with Seashore temple backdrop is just mesmerizing! From Thiruvanmiyur Hop-in Hop-off bus service is available! Share autos are always available.
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2. Get the British & Dutch flavour - Being named Madras by the British, being a colony of British for such a long time, Chennai has its own share of centuries old Churches and colonial buildings. Begin with the oldest operational railway station of India (obviously built by British) at Royapuram. Walk to Armenian Church and have a look at Madras High Court as well. Then go along the coast and visit Santhome Cathedral. Take the ECR and check out the ruins of Alhambra (Alamparai) & Sadras (Sadurangapattinam) Dutch Forts.
3. For the Nature Lover - Begin early morning to see the birds wake up and leave their nests at Pallikkaranai Marsh Lands. Get to Kalakshetra to do some more bird watching & Theosophical Society to see one of world's largest & oldest banyan tree. By dusk be at Adyar Estuary or Kelambakkam to see more birds returning to their nests. Head over to the Sholinganallur Beach to enjoy the sea (its not as crowded as Marina or Besant nagar) as night falls. If you're there in a weekend between Jan-Mar, head over to Neelankarai by late night and participate in the Turtle Walk, to protect the eggs of the endangered Olive Ridley Sea Turtles
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4. For the Active & Adventurous Opt 1 - Though Chennai isn't blessed with too many trekking spots there are a few - Tada or Nagari or Nagala. All these places are in outskirts of Chennai and each and every place would take the whole day by itself.
5. For the Active & Adventurous Opt 2 - Climb Pallavaram Hill and watch the flights take off at Chennai International Airport. Head over to Ottiyambakkam for open-air open-water swim in the abandoned yet picturesque stone quarry. Finally go Speed Boating & Kayaking at Mudaliyarkuppam.
6. Going Southwards - Visit Aringnar Anna Zoological Park in Vandalur esp for its Lion & Deer safari where you get to drive in an enclosed van in the acres & acres of free habitat of lions (yes, lions do get very close to the van to check out who you are, but don't worry, 'you' are inside a cage)!! Check out Madambakkam Dhenupurishwarar Temple and the 10th C CE political inscriptions at Uthiramerur. Head over to Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary by sunset to watch the migratory birds returning to their nests.
3. For the Nature Lover - Begin early morning to see the birds wake up and leave their nests at Pallikkaranai Marsh Lands. Get to Kalakshetra to do some more bird watching & Theosophical Society to see one of world's largest & oldest banyan tree. By dusk be at Adyar Estuary or Kelambakkam to see more birds returning to their nests. Head over to the Sholinganallur Beach to enjoy the sea (its not as crowded as Marina or Besant nagar) as night falls. If you're there in a weekend between Jan-Mar, head over to Neelankarai by late night and participate in the Turtle Walk, to protect the eggs of the endangered Olive Ridley Sea Turtles
5. For the Active & Adventurous Opt 2 - Climb Pallavaram Hill and watch the flights take off at Chennai International Airport. Head over to Ottiyambakkam for open-air open-water swim in the abandoned yet picturesque stone quarry. Finally go Speed Boating & Kayaking at Mudaliyarkuppam.
6. Going Southwards - Visit Aringnar Anna Zoological Park in Vandalur esp for its Lion & Deer safari where you get to drive in an enclosed van in the acres & acres of free habitat of lions (yes, lions do get very close to the van to check out who you are, but don't worry, 'you' are inside a cage)!! Check out Madambakkam Dhenupurishwarar Temple and the 10th C CE political inscriptions at Uthiramerur. Head over to Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary by sunset to watch the migratory birds returning to their nests.
8. Going the Mylapore direction - Begin at Marina Beach near Kamarajar Promenade (nature & people watching) then Marina Light House (city & sea view). Over to Santhome Cathedral (Christianity), Kapaleeswarar Temple (Part 1, Part 2) (Hinduism) and Sri Ramakrishna Math (modern monastery building whose ideologies root from Swami Vivekananda). If you're in Mylapore in Dec-Jan, you're in for a dance, drama, music, art feast of Margazhi Festival!!!
11. Day out to Pondicherry - Seen much of Chennai? Why not head to Pondicherry and get a bit of French flavour - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8.
From points 2-3; 5-9, buses & trains are available if you wanna try that out (google maps would help you out in that)! If not, on points 3, 6, 8, 9 Ola, Uber, Autos or share autos can be taken. Rest, the best is to hire a car for the whole day (packages for 8 hrs, 80 kms are available with several operators incl Fastrack, NTL etc).