Day Trips from Chennai: 8 Best Places to Visit in a Day

The best day trips from Chennai all sit within about two hours of the city, most of them south down the East Coast Road or west toward the old temple towns. A one day trip from Chennai can mean UNESCO stone temples, a silk-weaving city, backwater boating, a crocodile park or a flamingo lagoon — the choice depends on what you want the day to be. This guide lists eight, with approximate road distances and what each one is best for, so you can pick one and be back in the city by evening. Distances are rough and depend on where in Chennai you start and on the traffic getting out of it.

Mahabalipuram (Mamallapuram) — about 55 km

Mahabalipuram, roughly 55 km and about 90 minutes south on the East Coast Road, is the day trip most first-time visitors make. Its group of monuments is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, carved by the Pallava dynasty in the 7th and 8th centuries. The seaside Shore Temple is the emblem of the town; inland, the giant open-air relief Arjuna's Penance covers a whole rock face, and the rock-cut Tiger Cave sits a few kilometres north among casuarina trees. Add Mahabalipuram Beach and a seafood lunch and the day fills easily. To understand what you are looking at rather than just photograph it, read the Pallava stone-carvers of Mamallapuram.

Kanchipuram — about 72 km

Kanchipuram, about 72 km and roughly two hours west, is one of the seven sacred cities of Hindu tradition and is often called the city of a thousand temples. Two make the natural pair for a day visit: the Kamakshi Amman Temple, one of the major Shakti shrines, and the Kailasanathar Temple, the oldest in the city, a sandstone Pallava temple from the early 8th century that is quieter and rewards a slow look. Kanchipuram is equally famous for its heavy mulberry-silk sarees woven with gold thread; the trade and how to buy well are covered in woven in gold, the Kanchipuram silk saree.

DakshinaChitra — about 25 km

The closest trip on this list, DakshinaChitra is about 25 km down the East Coast Road at Muttukadu. It is a living-history museum of South Indian life: relocated and reconstructed heritage houses from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra, with craftspeople, workshops and folk performances on the grounds. It suits a half-day and pairs well with Muttukadu or the crocodile bank, both close by, if you want to make a fuller day of it.

Madras Crocodile Bank — about 40 km

About 40 km south on the ECR, the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust is a reptile-conservation park founded by the herpetologist Romulus Whitaker in 1976. It holds one of the largest collections of crocodilians in the region, along with turtles, snakes and lizards, and runs breeding programmes for endangered species. It is an easy, shaded outing and one of the better day trips from Chennai for families with children.

Muttukadu & Covelong (Kovalam) — about 36-40 km

Muttukadu and Covelong sit close together on the East Coast Road, roughly 36 to 40 km out. The Muttukadu Boat House runs on a tidal backwater lagoon where you can take rowboats, motorboats and speedboats, and it is a windsurfing spot in season. A little further, Covelong Beach — the old Kovalam fishing village, not to be confused with the Kerala beach of the same name — is a calmer stretch of sand with a small surf scene. Together they make a relaxed water-and-beach day rather than a sightseeing one.

Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary — about 85 km

The furthest trip here, Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary lies about 85 km and roughly two hours south-west of Chennai. It is one of India's oldest bird sanctuaries, protected for well over two centuries, where thousands of migratory birds nest in a shallow tank each winter — cormorants, painted storks, herons, egrets, pelicans and more. The season runs from about November to February, and early morning or late afternoon is when the birds are most active, so this is a trip to plan around the calendar rather than a spur-of-the-moment one.

Pulicat — about 55 km

North of the city rather than south, Pulicat is about 55 km and around 90 minutes away on Pulicat Lake, India's second-largest brackish-water lagoon. In winter the shallows draw large flocks of flamingos, and boatmen take visitors out across the water; Pulicat Beach is where the lagoon meets the Bay of Bengal. The old town of Pazhaverkadu, the Pulicat heritage town, was a Dutch trading settlement, and traces of that past — an old cemetery and church among them — survive in its lanes. It is a quieter, birds-and-history alternative to the ECR crowd.

Sriperumbudur — about 45 km

About 45 km west on the road to Bengaluru, Sriperumbudur is the birthplace of the 11th-century philosopher Ramanuja, and its temple to him is a pilgrimage stop for followers of the Sri Vaishnava tradition. The town is also where former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991; the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial at Sriperumbudur marks the spot with a landscaped garden and colonnade. It is a short, sober half-day, easily combined with Kanchipuram, which lies further along the same general direction.

How to plan it

Most of these fall along two corridors. The southern ones — DakshinaChitra, Muttukadu, the crocodile bank and Mahabalipuram — string together down the East Coast Road, so you can chain two or three in a single day if you leave early. The western ones — Sriperumbudur and Kanchipuram — pair naturally on the Bengaluru road. Pulicat and Vedanthangal are single-destination days on their own. If you are willing to detour off the ECR, the ruined Sadras Dutch Fort and the older Alamparai Fort add coastal history beyond Mahabalipuram. The best months are November to February, when the heat and humidity have eased. A pre-booked car with a driver is the simplest way to do any of these; suburban trains and state buses reach several of the towns but tie you to timetables. If you have city time to spare too, see Chennai in 2 days.