What to expect
Pallavaram Cave Temple
An early 7th-century rock-cut cave temple on the Pallavaram hill attributed to Mahendravarman I, one of the oldest excavated shrines of the Pallava dynasty. Pallavaram is also a landmark in prehistory: Robert Bruce Foote found Palaeolithic 'Madras handaxe' tools here in 1863.
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Pallavaram Cave Temple
Place
Practical guide
Plan Pallavaram Cave Temple
Who's going?Tailor Pallavaram Cave Temple to your trip
Typecave
Nearest basePallavaram
DistrictChengalpattu
Best timeOctober to March is the cooler, drier…
Time neededAbout an hour
EntryFree
Listed businesses3→Pallavaram Cave Temple is planned from Pallavaram, one of the travel bases in Chengalpattu district. Use Pallavaram for stays, food and local transport, then plan this place as a focused stop.
Getting there
How to visit
- Base yourself in Pallavaram or nearby in Chengalpattu, then confirm the last-mile route locally before travel.
- If access depends on temple, museum or seasonal rules, check on the day before you go.
Distance by road
- Chennai55 km
- Kanchipuram65 km
- Puducherry95 km
- Chengalpattu (town)30 km
- Vellore130 km
Road km to Chengalpattu; ghat roads and traffic vary — allow extra.
Timing
Best time
October to March is the cooler, drier season in the Cauvery delta.
Weather in Pallavaram Cave TempleSeasonal guide
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Today at Pallavaram Cave Temple
Sunrise5:59 am
Sunset6:21 pm
Golden hour best light5:21 pm–6:21 pm
Blue hour after sunset6:21 pm–6:46 pm
Sun sets toward compass bearingW · 279°
Moon tonight🌖 Waning gibbous · 82%
South-west monsoon. June to September brings heavy rain to Tamil Nadu. Trails, falls and ghat roads can be slippery, swollen or closed at short notice, and forest departments sometimes suspend access. Check locally on the day before you travel.
Sun and moon are calculated for this location and shown in IST. Photography windows are the hour around sunrise and sunset; the sunset bearing is degrees clockwise from true north. Moon phase is accurate to about half a day.
Stay · eat · do · rent · see · shop
Stays, food & things to do near Pallavaram Cave Temple
Verified hotels, homestays, restaurants, experiences, sights, shops and rentals around Pallavaram Cave Temple — commission-free, with direct contact. Filter by what you need.
1 place to stay near Pallavaram Cave Temple
2 places to shop near Pallavaram Cave Temple
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Hotel MS Chola
Place to stay
Top pick
Hotel
Hotel MS CholaA hotel at 132 Mosque Street, C. Pallavaram, in Chennai. It is close to both Chennai airport and Pallavaram railway station, and has parking and Wi-Fi.
Book with the place itself. India’s cyber-crime coordination centre warned in April 2025 that convincing copies of hotel and pilgrimage booking sites are being pushed through sponsored search and social ads, taking payment for rooms the property never hears about. Every listing here links to the business’s own contact details and its own Google or Bing profile — we take no commission and sit in nobody’s payment path. If a booking page reached you through an ad, check the address bar against the property’s own site before you pay. Fraud can be reported on cybercrime.gov.in or on 1930.
Ranked
The best of Pallavaram, ranked
Pallavaram Cave Temple sits in Pallavaram, and these rank everything verified across the town rather than this one spot — built from the same listings shown above, ordered by the strength of the source evidence behind each entry rather than by anyone's star score. Every card shows how many places are really on it. Nobody pays to appear.
Across the whole of Pallavaram
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Add a nearby businessBefore you go
Pallavaram Cave Temple — at a glance
TimingsOpen sunrise to sunset
Best timeNovember to February; early morning
Entry: Free
Getting here
How to reach Pallavaram Cave Temple
On Pallavaram hill; Pallavaram is a Chennai suburban railway stop on GST Road, about 8 km from Chennai airport
Getting around Pallavaram Cave Temple
We have not assessed physical access at this place yet. Across India, step-free routes, handrails and accessible toilets are the exception rather than the rule, and pavements are often interrupted — if step-free access matters to you, contact the site or a local operator before committing to the trip.
If you need help at Pallavaram Cave Temple
112All emergencies (police · fire · medical)The single number to call in any emergency (ERSS).100Police101Fire108Ambulance (emergency / EMS)1091Women’s helpline (distress)1098Child helpline1363Tourist helpline (India, 24×7, multilingual)
Emergency numbers are verified against official government and state tourism sources. 112 works anywhere in India.
Nearby
What’s near Pallavaram Cave Temple
On the map
Where Pallavaram Cave Temple is
Good to know
Pallavaram Cave Temple — frequently asked
When is the best time to visit Pallavaram Cave Temple?
October to March is the cooler, drier season in the Cauvery delta.
What are the entry fee and timings at Pallavaram Cave Temple?
Entry: Free. Timings: Open sunrise to sunset.
How do I reach Pallavaram Cave Temple?
Base yourself in Pallavaram or nearby in Chengalpattu, then confirm the last-mile route locally before travel. If access depends on temple, museum or seasonal rules, check on the day before you go.
How much time do I need for Pallavaram Cave Temple?
About an hour.
What else is near Pallavaram Cave Temple?
Nearby you can pair Thiruneermalai Ranganathar Temple (3.3 km), Chitlapakkam Lake (4.8 km), DakshinaChitra (18.9 km), Muttukadu Boat House (20.5 km).
Read before you go
Pallavaram Cave Temple guides, stories & itineraries
We have not published a story about Pallavaram Cave Temple itself yet. These cover Pallavaram, the town it sits in, and the wider district.
Tamil Nadu-wide guides & itineraries
Route-level itineraries and practical guides for the rest of Tamil Nadu.
Story
The Pallava Stone Carvers Who Turned a Seaport to Stone
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Story
Reading the Descent of the Ganges, Stone by Stone
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Story
Carved from the Coast: The Pallava Stone-Cutters of Mahabalipuram
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Guide
The UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Tamil Nadu: A Traveller’s Guide
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Guide
The Rock-Cut Cave Temples of Tamil Nadu
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Itinerary
Chennai in 3 Days: A Practical Itinerary
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