4 Places You Can Visit In Chennai

Chennai is the capital city of Tamil Nadu state in India and this lens would briefly touch upon the travel attractions in Chennai. Since this city has been my home for the last two decades, I could easily list the places of interest in Chennai.

The city has many travel attractions in the form of beaches, open parks and many theme parks. Vedanthangal bird sanctuary is located at around 80 km from Chennai. Vandalur Zoological Park is one of the best maintained parks that houses a large number of animal species. The city also boasts of a couple of forests, Guindy national park and the Nanmangalam reserve forest.

# Vandalur Zoo

Arignar Anna Zoological Park is a Zoological garden located in Vandalur spread over 602 hectares. Since it is located on the outskirts, it can be reached within an hour’s drive from the heart of city.

Though the Vandalur zoo was opened on 1985, it did not have a good green cover initially. I remember visiting Vandalur Zoo long back and it was a bit of struggle spending time there in the hot conditions without adequate tree cover. If I was not able to cope up with the heat, imagine the plight of poor animals. But things have changed for the better since then.

# Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary

Vedanthangal bird sanctuary is a protected area located in Chennai-Trichy highway shortly after Chengalpattu. It takes about ninety minutes of drive to reach Vedanthangal from Chennai. The major part of the drive is on the national highway but the last stretch is on a narrow village road. Since the village road is well maintained, driving through the countryside is a pleasurable experience.

The sanctuary is a very small one and the walking area provided for tourists is also very short. There is good car parking space available and the place can be reached by buses too. There are no major restaurants here and so one should plan the breakfast or lunch stopover on the way. We get stuff like tender coconuts, snacks and ice cream in the stalls located near the entrance. Some of the stalls disappear on less crowded days.

# Marina Beach

Chennai prides itself by having some of the best beaches. Marina is the city’s most popular beach. It is located closer to the heart of city in the areas of Triplicane and Santhome. Marina beach is heavily crowded during the evenings. It is a favorite place for the morning walkers. The walkers start thronging the place as early as 5.00 AM and this is the first sign that the city is gearing up for a new day.

In the evenings, the road abetting the beach has heavy traffic but the beach offers solace to the residents from the heat during the day. Sea breeze would set in usually by afternoon and so the beaches are pleasant in the early evening even on hot summer days. The waves are high and there are plenty of people who stand by the shore to cool their heels against the crashing waves.

# Guindy National Park

Guindy national park is one of the smallest national park of India. The small size of the park is understandable as it is located right in the middle of Chennai city. The Guindy national park is located in and around IIT, Raj Bhavan (the Governor’s abode) and the children’s park. Since it is a protected area, the public may not be able to access the restricted areas of the park. However, the children’s park located on the northern side of the park is open to public.

The children’s park and the adjoining snake park let people to have a look at the park from the periphery. Despite its small size, the place looks noticeably more pleasant and cooler than the rest of the city. The drop in temperature inside the park is around 5 degree Celsius as compared to rest of the city. This is what good greenery and nature can help achieve. I wish we have retained nature the same way in other places as well.