Beaches in Chennai

 

Marina Beach is the most popular beach in Chennai owing to its size, attractions, location and accessibility . The popular destination for visitors to the Marina beach extends from the Anna Memorial in the North to the Lighthouse in the South., though the beach extends even further.

Statues along the Marina Beach include Mahatma Gandhi, Labour Statue, Kannagi, Sivaji Ganesan, Veerama Munivar, E.V.Ramasamy popular as Thanthai Periyar, M.G.Ramachandran, Annie Besant, Avvaiyar, Kamarajar, Bharathiyar and Bharathidasanar.

Two memorials of the Tamil political leaders Aringnar Anna and M.G.Ramachandran (popular as MGR) are present in this Beach, along with swimming pools near them. Vendors selling art works, toys and snacks put up their stalls along the path leading to the water. Apart from these stalls, you have vendors walking up to the people offering snacks like sundal, murukku, soan papdi, or coffee and tea. You would also find people selling jasmine flowers, which the locals were on their hair.

On the sands of the beach one can find numerous kattu-marams ( "kattu" (tied) - "maram" (logs), from which the word Catamaran was derived) and fishing nets owned by the fishermens, living in the nearby settlements. They usually take them out during at the start of the high tides and return back by dawn. Fresh catch are also sold, hot and spicy, at some of the stalls dotting the sands of the beach.

On the West of the road running along the Marina Beach are important buildings and monuments including Vivekananda House, University of Madras, PWD (Public Works Department) campus, Presidency College, Queen Mary's College, Inspector General of Police Headquarters and All India Radio.

The location of the beach and its accessibility via public buses and MRTS trains ensures that the beach has decent crowd on all days, with weekends and holidays making it too crowded. More than 100 Chennai bus routes pass via the Marina Beach at approximate frequency of more than 1 bus per minute. Chepauk, Thiruvallikeni (Triplicane) and Lighthouse stations of the MRTS are at walkable distances to the Marina beach.

Elliots Beach (or Besant Nagar Beach) is the second most popular beach in Chennai city. This is sort after as an alternative to the highly crowded Marina Beach. The absence of direct buses and trains to this beach, makes it a venue for those who own or can hire a vehicle for their commuting. The demographics of the visitors to this beach reflects this fact, with most of them from upper-middle class income group. Apart from that, Elliots beach has a following among the educated urban youth, usually from the South Chennai localities like Besant Nagar, Adyar, Thiruvanmiyur and other localities nearby.

This beach does not have as much typical "tourist-spots" (statues, memorials, etc.,.) like in Marina, except for the Karl Schmidt Memorial. The beach is at lesser distance to the water, from the road - preferable for elder citizens. There is also a skating rink on the Elliots beach. There are a lot of stalls put up on the beach and the stalls serving hot and spicy fish, constitute a major chunk of the stalls. For better quality of food, you may want to walk into Planet Yum situated on the South of the Elliots Beach. There are other popular food stalls and mini-restaurants bordering the road on the West, catering items like ice-creams, Indian chat items and Chinese foods.

Though there is a good frequency of Chennai Bus Routes to Besant Nagar, one will have to walk for some distance or may be take an auto-rickshaw to reach the Elliots beach.

Stretching from Thiruvanmiyur, which is South of Besant Nagar and up to Mahabalipuram is the ECR (East Coast Road) home to numerous beach resorts. The beaches here are usually without the crowd seen in Marina or Elliots beaches. And with lesser crowds, you do not have stalls catering to them too. There is a good frequency of MTC buses to ECR. So, if you want a more silent and peaceful experience, you may want to visit one of the beach resorts dotting the ECR.