Chennai city - a southern slice of India

Chennai is now on of the fastest growing metros in India. With I.T companies, Car manufacturing companies like Hyundai, Cell phone makers like Nokia selecting this city as their production unit in India.

It is also welcoming the new age malls and high fashion stores. Slowly phasing out as a conservative city in to an uber-cool city to settle, YES, people from different parts of the world are settling in Chennai and have accepted it as their home. Restaurants have seen a sharp incline in their businesses as eating out is a normal event. Gone are the days when people used to eat out or buy clothes/jewellery only on occasions.

Affordability is a common man’s dream come true. He can now shop at stores which used to be a window-shopping chore before.

Panagal Park in Chennai is the shopping Mecca of the south. Textiles, jewels, diamonds etc. are best quality and in abundance. Folks from all over India come here to purchase their jewellery and textiles for the wedding season.

Entertainment-wise we have beaches, malls, restaurants, shopping etc. VGP golden beach, Dizzy world, Dakshin chitra and Mayajaal sit on ECR road. Places like Mahabalipuram and Pondicherry are only 2-3 hrs from the city.

Here is a list of Top 10 things to do in Chennai:

1. Watch a move at INOX at the Citi Centre mall in Mylapore followed by shopping in stores like Lifestyle, Landmark, and Mochi etc. Food court, Sangeetha, Zyng and LV4 are the eating joints to fill you up.
2. Drive along the ECR road, stay for a night at Taj Fisherman’s Cove or GRT Temple Bay. Explore the Mamallapuram temples.
3. Pondicherry during the weekend seems an awesome idea to getaway from the daily routine. Sit back and relax the quietness and be one with Nature.
4. Spencer’s Plaza too has a great variety of shopping and food options. Stores like Landmark, Pantaloons, Westside etc. have a huge presence there.
5. Start the day early by having breakfast at Murugan idly in T.Nagar followed by shopping in Panagal park. For textiles one could shop at Chennai silks, Nalli,Saravanaa stores, Kumaran
and Jeyachandran .
For Jewels the options are Prince, GRT Thangamaligai, Kanishk etc.
Have lunch at Sarvanaa Bhavan and spend the evening in Marina beach.
6. If all the above options seem to be too harrowing, the evenings are Besant nagar beach is an option that no one would deny. Not as crowded as Marina beach, it has a lot of things to do. One could shop/eat/walk on the beach all at a walkable distance.
7. Temples in Chennai like Mylapore-Kaapaleeshwarar and Triplicane-Parthasarathy are very captivating and have a great aura about them. People of all ages would enjoy an evening of devotional bliss.
8. Theosophical society in Besant nagar has great gardens for walks and spending leisure time. It is a priceless spot of nature still very well conserved.
9. Kalakshetra academy of Bharatnatyam has a beautiful campus that reminds you of school campuses like Shantiniketan. An evening there would completely de-stress you.
10. Dakshin Chitra on ECR is a totally different outing by itself. It is a window to what the south of India is and what it offers with distinction. A sure eye-opener!! :)
11. On ECR road, there is a small bird sanctuary, right next to Karaikudi and The Dhaba restaurants. Children are assured to have a good time.

Hope this helped your weekend planning. ENJOY