Places to Visit in Mylapore

A goddess became a peahen to stay near the god she loved. That single legend named a neighbourhood, and around it rose one of Chennai's most beloved temples.

The great Shiva temple of Mylapore, the peahen legend behind its name, and the old “city of the peacock cry” that grew around its tank.

Beneath one of Chennai’s tallest gopurams sits a temple woven from a peacock legend, the hymns of the Tamil saints, and the old sea-facing quarter of Mylapore — the cultural heart of the city.

A single strip of coast, a company clerk with an eye for trade, and a fort finished on St. George's Day. This is how the city of Madras began.

Devotional tradition places the tomb of one of Jesus's twelve apostles beneath a white church on the Chennai shore — one of only three such churches in the world.

They came as traders, printed the world's first Armenian journal, and then quietly disappeared, leaving one walled church on Armenian Street to remember them by.

Two full days, planned around the traffic, cover the colonial core, the coast, the temples and the culture belt. This is the route, in order, with how to get between stops.

Eight places within about two hours of the city, sorted by what each one is for, with approximate road distances and a sensible way to fit one into a single day.

Three well-paced days in the Tamil Nadu capital: British-era Fort St George and the Government Museum, Mylapore’s temple quarter and the beaches, then a drive down the ECR to the Pallava stone temples of Mahabalipuram.