Mahabalipuram Beach

Known in Tamil as Vaan Irai Kal, this enormous natural boulder rests improbably on a smooth slope of the Mamallapuram hill, a beloved landmark beside the town's Pallava monuments.

A reptile conservation park and research station on the ECR, founded in 1976 by Romulus Whitaker. It holds thousands of crocodiles and alligators across many species, runs a snake venom-extraction programme and works with the Irula tribal cooperative.

A living-history museum on the ECR at Muttukadu, opened in 1996 by the Madras Craft Foundation, with relocated and reconstructed traditional South Indian houses, craft demonstrations and folk performances.

One of India's oldest water-bird sanctuaries, protected since the 18th century and declared an official sanctuary in 1936. This wetland southwest of Chennai draws thousands of migratory birds that nest here, with the peak from November to March.

A hilltop Shiva temple, Vedagiriswarar, reached by a climb of roughly 500 stone steps at Thirukazhukundram, long known as Pakshi Tirtham. In tradition two eagles or kites once came daily to the summit, while the Bhaktavatsaleswarar temple sits at the base of the hill.

The beach at Kovalam or Covelong on the ECR, roughly 40 km south of Chennai, on the site of an old Dutch and Nawab-era port. Today it is known for its fishing village, a heritage beach resort set in a former Nawab's fort and a well-known surf school.

A weathered 17th-18th century Dutch East India Company fort at Sadras (Sadurangapattinam) on the Coromandel coast, with brick ramparts, sea-facing bastions and a small Dutch cemetery of carved tombstones. It is an ASI-protected ruin standing quietly by the Bay of Bengal.

A ruined 18th-century fort at Alamparai (Alamparai Kottai) on the coast near Kadapakkam, built in the Nawab era as a busy trading port. Its broken ramparts run out towards a backwater estuary where the water meets the sea, making it one of the ECR's most atmospheric ASI ruins.

A TTDC boating centre on the Muttukadu backwater lagoon along the ECR, about 36 km from Chennai. It offers rowboats, motorboats, kayaking and windsurfing on calm water, and serves as the venue for a backwater festival.

A 7th-century Pallava rock-cut shrine at Mamallapuram carved as three adjacent cells honouring the Hindu trinity, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, with the central Shiva shrine given prominence and a striking Durga figure carved on the outer rock.