Tour packages from Chennai: the East Coast Road and the temple south

The coast road

Why the circuit runs one-way south

Tamil Nadu's great temples sit on a line running south-west from Chennai, and the sensible way to see them is to follow it rather than loop back. Our circuits therefore fly in to Chennai and out of Madurai or, on the longer version, Trivandrum — which means nothing is driven twice and the longest single leg is about 190 kilometres.

That matters more here than on most circuits, because temple days are walking days. Shoes come off at the entrance, and by mid-morning the stone is genuinely hot underfoot; the itinerary therefore puts visits before ten or after four and keeps the driving short. An eight-hour transfer day followed by a barefoot afternoon is how people come to dislike temple tours.

The East Coast Road itself is a good drive, tolled in part, running past Kalpakkam and Marakkanam to Puducherry. Doing it on the first morning while it is all still new is better than saving it for last. The Chennai chauffeur page covers the city and the airport meet.

Chennai’s airport at Meenambakkam is about 16 kilometres from Nungambakkam, which by Indian standards is close, and the international terminal sits alongside the domestic ones. That proximity is useful but it creates the one recurring error on this circuit: a passenger dropped at the wrong domestic terminal on departure walks a long way with luggage in the heat. The desk confirms the terminal against the flight number and puts it on the pickup message.

Because the temple circuit runs one-way and finishes at Madurai or Trivandrum, the departure end matters as much as the arrival. Both are small, straightforward airports with limited evening schedules, so the coordinator times the last day on the actual flight rather than on a nominal check-in window. If your outbound is early, the circuit’s final morning is planned around it rather than assumed to fit.

Before you go

A day in Chennai before the coast road

Chennai is an early city, and the best of it happens before nine. The Marina is the second-longest urban beach in the world and at dawn it is full of walkers, cricket and fishing boats coming in at the Loop Road end. An hour there before breakfast is a better introduction to the city than anything a monument will give you.

Mylapore is the historical core and the half day worth taking. The Kapaleeshwarar temple with its painted gopuram sits at the centre of a neighbourhood of tank, bazaar and agraharam streets, and the San Thome basilica a few minutes away is built over what is held to be the tomb of the apostle Thomas. The two within walking distance of each other say most of what there is to say about Chennai.

Fort St George, the first English fortification in India and now the state secretariat, holds a small museum that is far more interesting than its visitor numbers suggest, and the Government Museum in Egmore has the finest collection of Chola bronzes anywhere — which is the best possible preparation for Thanjavur later in the circuit.

In December and January the Margazhi music season fills the sabha halls of Mylapore and T. Nagar with several hundred concerts, most of them free or nearly so. If your dates fall then, it is worth an evening and the Chennai chauffeur page covers hourly hire for it; the city guide has the districts and the terminals.