Places to visit in Chennai city

Tourist|Visitor's attraction in Chennai 

Chennai is the capital city of Tamilnadu and one of the Metropolitan cities in India, Chennai is the fourth largest metropolitan in India with many industries located in all the four directions, this article would explore all the places to visit in Chennai such as beaches, resorts, religious destinations, museums, etc. The local language is Tamil and there is uniqueness in the language spoken by a typical Chennai born person due to the accent used in the language.

Chennai Map

Climate in Chennai: It holds a tropical climate and majorly divided into three seasons summer and Monsoon and winter, in summer the temperature goes up to 35-42 degree Celsius and in monsoon and winter the temperature varies from (19-28) degree.

Tourist places to visit in chennai:

Beaches in Chennai: There are three popular beaches in Chennai, a) Marina beach, b) Besant nagar or Elliot beach and c) Cove long beach.

 Marina beach: It is the most popular beach among three because it is the second largest beach in the world and also it has “mausoleum” of political leaders of Tamilnadu which is built in a very artistic way. The image of it would give a better perception about it, this place has been on many movies, visited my many from the local, national and international visitors. Marina, one  of the important places to visit in chennai when you visit with a group a people.

Many localities prefer to walk and jog in the morning and evening to get some pleasant breeze, and since this place is very spacious and a nice place to visit in chennai during festival occasions.

Image 1: Marina Beach

 Besant nagar or Elliot beach: The Marina is for the masses and this is generally for the classes one can say, as people from this place live a better life style but that doesn't mean that Marina is only for the masses, people from all backgrounds visit this place. Another important aspect is that, this beach is generally occupied by the younger generation in the evenings, as one can find lot of youth coming from all over Chennai. This is also called as Night beach a must see for Chennai visitors as there is a church nearby which is called Besant nagar church. 

    Image 2: Besant nagar or Elliot beach or Night beach

Cove long beach: One can find this beautiful place  chennai which is maintained by Taj groups of hotels on the way to Mahabalipuram from Chennai. This place is separated by a canal from the mainland, and it is also called as Fisherman’s cove.

 Image 3: Cove long beach

Religious spots: India is country which is bound by many religious beliefs and Chennai is no exemption, though it is one of the most happening place in terms of western culture, IT companies, traffic etc, they also have their traditional side. The following are some of the popular religious places to  visit in chennai and if you are an religious tour then you should not miss the following places.

Churches:

St, Thomas church: This is a unique church, since there are only three churches in the whole world in which the church is built over the tomb of an apostle (follower or disciple. a) Cathedral of Santiago built over the tomb of St.James in Spain, b) Cathedral of St. Peter built over the tomb of St.Peter in Rome and c) Basilica of the National Shrine of St.Thomas built over the tomb of St.Thomas in Chennai. St.Thomas visited this place in 52 AD and after preaching in Chennai, formerly known as Chennai, got martyrdom at the outskirts of Chennai, on a hill which is now popularly called St. Thomas mount. 

                                                                                               Image 4: St, Thomas Church

   St, Mary’s Church: This is one of the oldest church built by English people when they ruled India, The church was consecrated in the year 1680 and a place you can visit when you are in Chennai.

                               

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Mosques: When you talk about mosques, there are number of them but Wallajah mosque is the most popular simply because of its stature and architectural work. It is in a place called Triplicane and is built in an extensive piece of land. The whole mosque is built by grey marble, steel and wood. The descendants of the Nawab are still living in the mansion called the AMIR Mahal. Since mosques are meant for Muslims, Muslim travelers who visit Chennai should not miss this wonderful architecture.   

Image 6: Wallajah Mosque

Temples:

Kapaleeshwar temple: This famous shiva temple is situated in Mylapore, Chennai. This area is occupied mostly by the Brahmins, a caste in India. The temple is surrounded by a pond which adds to the beauty of the temple. The architecture is based on the Dravidian art works, anybody who is interested in the art and sculptural designs of the history can visit this wonderful temple.

                      

Image 7: Kapaleeshwar temple

Sri Rama Krishna math: Swami Vivekananda, follower of Sri Ramakrishna set up this Rama Krishna math which is also called as the monastic order for bramacharins or sannyasins( people who devote their life towards spiritualism). Swami Vivekananda was a great spiritualist and a Hindu religion preacher and was followed by many in the early 1990’s.

Image 8: Sri Rama Krishna monastic order

a   Parthasarathy temple: This temple is situated in thiruvallikeni, British people pronounced it as Triplicane. This is considered as the oldest temple in Chennai and was built during 8^th century. The temple has got a pond which was built by the Pallavas, and later the whole temple and pond is renovated by the following dynasties.         

Image 9: Parthasarathy temple

These are some of the most popular temples in Chennai because of their tradition and ancientness but there are so many other temples like the Vadapalani Murugan temple situated in Vadapalani. But these temples are massive in size and popular for their art work.

Museums and Art Galleries:

1     Government museum of Chennai: This is one of the popular tourist destinations in Chennai and lies in the heart of the city, a place called Egmore. It is again one of the oldest museums in India, so it attracts many tourists from all over the globe, built in the year 1846 A.D by the British kingdom during their colonial rule. It has got many galleries and is divided into different segments, such as Archaeology, Botany, Zoology, Geology, Numismatics, Bronze, and Children museum.

There is an entry for people who wants to see the museum and try reaching this phone number before you visit this place, +91 44 2819-3238. 

Image 10: Government museum of Chennai

1  National art gallery: This gallery exhibits art work from the medieval period’s handicrafts, sculptures and metals. The gallery is mainly divided into four segments, a) Ravi Varma painting gallery, Tanjore art, decorative and Indian traditional art gallery.

2   The Birla Planetarium: This was built in the memory of B.M.Birla a well known industrialist and visionary of India, this is one of the modern planetariums in India and many students from different parts of the country visit this place as an educational visit, as it is adjoined by a Technological museum. Tele: +91 44 2441-0025 /6751/5250, reach this number before you visit.

Image 11: Birla Planetarium

Parks: Chennai is one of the biggest cities in India, and it has some huge parks for people to spend their leisure time and get a better breathe with the help of the plantations in these parks. There are both Zoological and biological parks; the following are some of the popular parks to tourist to visit.

 Arinjar Anna Zoological Park: It is popularly called as Vanadlur zoo, it was started in the year 24^th July 1985. Though it is a zoological park, it has also got walkthroughs full of green plantations, this place is highly recommended as a weekend visit, where people can spend more than half a day, seeing and animals and plantations in the park. One of the popular landmarks in Chennai since its inception.

Image 12: Arinjar Anna or Vandalur zoo

Guindy National park: This Park covers an area of 280 hectares and attracts almost seventy thousand visitors every year. This place is situated in Adyar and following are the information for visitors to note .The visiting timings at the Snake Park is from 9.00 am to 5.30 pm Children's Park is from 9.00 am to 6.00 pm and is open on all days except Tuesday which is declared as a holiday. The nearest railway station is the  Kasthuribai nagar, MRTS station which is less than a kilometer away. Guindy station (Suburban Track) is 1 km away. Chennai Egmore Railway station is 9 km away. Chennai Central Railway station is 12 km away. Chennai airport is 8 km away.

Image 13: Guindy National park

Guindy Snake Park: Indian is famous for Snakes, Tigers and Elephants and this park breeds more than 30 species of snakes in India and also other reptiles and lizards such as crocodiles. It was started in the year 1972 and it attracts many local and outsiders.

Memorials in Chennai: Valluvar Kottam, This stands tall at the height of 101 feet, in the heart of the city, and it is built in the memory if Thiruvalluvar, a famous Tamil poet who wrote 133 chapters and each had 10 versus in it and so totally 1330 versus. It is said that it has covered all the essentials of life and it is called Thirukural. Thirukural is translated in 37 language and the in Latin it was transferred in the year 1730 which helped the Europeans to add value to the intellectual.

Image 14: Valluvar Kottam

Valluvar kottam has an auditorium which is believed to be the largest in Asia and can accommodate 4000 people, so people visiting this place will get understand about Tamil literature and the ancientness of Tamil language.

How to reach Chennai: Airways, Train, Buses and Car or Taxi are the transportation available to Chennai. Talking about Airways, there is both Domestic and International airport situated in a place called Mennambakkam, the airport on an average it attracts 23, 300 passengers everyday and it is the third busiest airport in India.

Train: There are two main railway stations that connect Chennai with rest of the India, Chennai Egmore and Chennai Central. Both are major railway stations but the former is related with trains coming from the north, east and west part of the country, like Jaipur, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kolkata etc, whereas the later one is for connecting trains from the south side and also the local electric trains which carries people inside the city and to the sub-urban of Chennai. Both the stations are mentioned as popular landmarks and their history goes back more than 100 years.

Image 15: Central and Egmore railway station, Chennai

By Bus: Koyembedu, CMBT is the central bus stand in Chennai, and there are numerous other bus stops but CMBT is for mofussil buses, that is buses which are coming from outside Chennai, like other districts and states of the country. Each state and district is given separate platform which helps the passengers to identify their buses easily and it has got both Government and private buses and Government buses are relatively cheaper.

Image 16: Koyembedu Bus Terminus

By Taxi: Taxi Guide

Food to Eat: The following image will portray some of the best food stuffs in the Chennai city, for vegetarians and even non-vegetarians would love to taste it.

Image 17: Foods to eat in chennai

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 Filter coffee is very special in this part of the state; if you are in Chennai don’t fail to have a sip of these traditional filter coffees, and all kinds of non-vegetarian hotels are also available in Chennai.

Hotels in Chennai: The following link will give the reviews about some of the best hotels in Chennai, where you look for lodging and food. 

Chennai Hotels

Hope you like this article about Chennai and please feel free to share your viewpoints in it, and also help others by suggesting new places to explore in Chennai. Thank you very much….

Other tourist places to visit in Tamilnadu:

Kanchipuram Tourism

Nilgiris Tourism 

Kanyakumari Tourism

Trichy Tourism