Chennai, formerly called as Madras, is the capital city of Tamil Nadu. Chennai has a lot to offer to tourists in the form of ancient temples, museums, churches, vibrant arts, amusement parks, shopping centers and many more. Chennai has a hot and humid climate for most of the year. The best time to visit the capital of Tamil Nadu is the winters which sets in from mid of September to March. During this time, the weather is relatively cool and pleasant.
Chennai is known more for its beaches than anything else. Marina beach is a beautiful and mesmerizing 13 km stretch of beach from Fort St.George to the north of Besant Nagar. This is the second longest of the beaches of the world. Marina has visitors from all over our country to enjoy the beauty of splashing waves and local seafood delicacies. Almost all the evenings will find Marina crowded and heavily crowded on festival and weekly holidays. Elliot’s beach is considered as a good and neat stretch of beach due the presence of Elite Society and the Government bureaucrat’s residence. Velankanni Church, Ashta Lakshmi Temple and the Arupadai Veedu Temple just around one kilo meter radius brings more visitors to this beach, next to the Marina. The scenic Kovalam or Covelong beach located around 40 km from Chennai city. Apart from various water activities like surfing, jet skiing, boating, the vicinity of this beach is also famous for fishing.
Chennai is a safe and secular home to a diverse population of ethno-religious communities. It embraces all religion and their cultural diversity. Temples in Chennai for their architectural beauty, cultural significance and historical importance. Famous temples include Kapaleeswarar temple, Parthasarathy temple and Shree Sai Baba temple near Mylapore, Shri Ashtalakshmi temple near Besant nagar and ISKCON Sri Sri Radha Krishna temple near Sholinganallur. Chennai is a home for finest churches and cathedral. Key places are Santhome Cathedral Bascilica, Armenian church near high court, Velankanni church near Besant nagar, and national shrine in St. Thomas Mount. Chennai has got the prominent and esteemed mosques in Tamil Nadu. Thousand Lights mosque Wallajah mosque, Masjid Mamoor, Hafiz Ahmad and Khan Mosque are quite popular holy places.
Chennai has interesting and entertaining places to visit with kids and children. Government museum, B. M. Birla planetarium, snake park, Children park, crocodile park, Arignar Anna zoological park, Vedanthangal bird sanctuary, Chetpet eco park and Theosophical society Adyar are places to visit with kids. VGP snow kingdom, VGP universal kingdom, MGM dizzee world, Queens land, Kishkinta theme park and Muttukadu are ideal places in Chennai for a fun-filled day-out. Discovering Chennai is partially incomplete without witnessing its shopping centres such as Pondy Bazaar, T. Nagar Renganathan street, Phoenix market city Velachery, Express avenue, Forum Vijaya mall and Victoria Technical Institute.
Within a distance of 200 km from Chennai, tourism places such as Pondicherry, Kanchipuram, Mahabalipuram, Pulicat, Thiruvannamali and Tirupati, are located. Pondicherry or Puducherry is a union territory which has unconnected districts are Puducherry, Karaikal, Yanam and Mahe. Pondicherry showcases the perfect blend of French and Indian culture. Popular tourist places are Auroville museum, French colonial heritage, Ayee Mandapam, Arrikamedu, Memorial house, Paradise beach, Bharathi park and Sri Aurobindo ashram. Kanchipuram is a temple city located 75 km from Chennai. Kanchipuram has the most number of temples in India. This city is known for its first class silk sarees. People from all parts of Tamilnadu come here for shopping wedding silks.