List of tourist attractions in Chennai

Tourist arrival statistics

Attractions

Beaches

• Marina Beach is a 13-km-long urban beach along the Bay of Bengal that runs from Fort St. George in the north up to Foreshore Estate in the south. It is India's longest beach and one of the world's longest beaches and attracts around 50,000 visitors during weekends. Attractions at the Marina include the Chennai Lighthouse, MGR Memorial, Anna Memorial and Jayalalitha Memorial. The Marina's 6 km promenade includes statues of several historical figures including Mahatma Gandhi, Annie Besant, Robert Caldwell, Thiruvalluvar, Bharathiyar and Kamrajar.
• Elliot's Beach, also known as Besant Nagar Beach, begins where the marina ends. The beach is famous for its calm atmosphere and is preferable among morning walkers. The iconic Karl Schmidt memorial, named after the Dutch sailor who lost his life in the process of saving others from drowning is located at the heart of Elliot's Beach.

  Museums

• Government Museum, Egmore Established in 1851, the museum consisting of six buildings and 46 galleries covers an area of around 16.25 acres of land. The objects displayed in the museum cover a variety of artifacts and objects covering diverse fields including archeology, numismatics, zoology, natural history, sculptures, palm-leaf manuscripts and Amravati paintings. The Government Museum Complex in Egmore also houses the Connemara Public Library and the National Art Gallery. Connemara Public Library is one of the four National Depository libraries which receive a copy of all books, newspapers and periodicals published in India. The National Art Gallery building is one of the finest Indo-sarcenic type of architectures in the country.
• Chennai Rail Museum a railway museum in Perambur which has a rich rail heritage of India with the host of both technical and heritage exhibits with a sizable collection of steam engines belonging to various decades of the British Raj. The museum was opened on 16 April 2002 and located on 6.25 acres on the premises Integral Coach Factory near Villivakkam. Most of the older models were manufactured by the North British Locomotive Company^{Regional Railway Museum, Chennai#cite note-1|} and some of the collection dates back more than one hundred years as it covers the railway history of South India.^{Regional Railway Museum, Chennai#cite note-chug-2|} A toy train offers rides around the premises on regular days. Museum remains open from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm Tuesday to Sunday and remains closed on every Monday and National Holidays. The Indoor Art Gallery is now fully renovated and opened to the public.
• Birla Planetarium, a modern planetarium that provides a virtual tour of the night sky and holding cosmic shows on a specially perforated hemispherical aluminium inner dome. It is located inside the Periyar Science and Technology Centre campus at Kotturpuram which has 8 galleries showcasing over 500 exhibits. The planetarium conducts sky shows including Solar System, eclipses, Earth, Man on Moon, comets, shooting meteoroids, stellar cycle and the deep sky every day at different times in both English and Tamil. The planetarium's 360-degree sky theatre is the first of its kind in India. The planetarium organises a special show on every second Saturday of the month to view the night sky from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm.

  Historical Monuments

• Vivekanandar Illam or Vivekananda house is remembered as the place where Swami Vivekananda stayed for nine days when he visited Chennai in 1897. Vivekananda House now houses a permanent exhibition on Indian Culture. Located on the busy Kamrajar Salai along the Marina Beach, it has become an important spiritual tourist attraction in the city.
• Valluvar Kottam is a popular monument in Chennai, dedicated to the classical Tamil poet, philosopher, and saint, Thiruvalluvar who wrote his famous Thirukkural some 2,000 years ago. All 133 chapters and 1330 verses of the Thirukkural are inscribed on bas-relief in the front hall's corridors. A life-size statue of Thiruvalluvar has been installed in the 39 m high chariot.

  Historic Government Buildings

• Fort St. George is the name of the first British fortress in India, founded in 1639 at the coastal city of Madras. The fort is a stronghold with walls that withstood a number of assaults in the 18th century. It is a feasible contention to say that the city evolved around the fortress. The fort currently houses the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly and other official buildings. The Fort Museum contains many relics of the Raj, including portraits of many of the Governors. Other monuments present inside the fort are St. Mary's Church, the oldest Anglican church in India, and Wellesley House, which holds the paintings of the Governor of the Fort and other high officials of the Regime.
• Ripon Building, commissioned in 1913 and named after Lord Ripon, Governor General of India and father of local self-government. It is the headquarters of the city's municipal body Greater Chennai Corporation, the world's 2nd oldest municipal corporation after the City of London Corporation. The building is a fine example of the Neoclassical style of architecture, a combination of, Ionic and Corinthian. The Ripon Building is an all-white structure and is located near the iconic Chennai Central railway station.
• Victoria Public Hall, or the Town Hall, is a historical building located in between the Ripon Building and the Chennai Central Railway Station and is seen as one of the finest examples of British architecture in Chennai. Built in 1888 as a town hall for the city of Madras and named after Queen Victoria to commemorate the golden jubilee.

  Wildlife

• Arignar Anna Zoological Park is located south-west of the city. Covering an area of 1490 acres, it is India's largest zoo. It has about 2200 animals belonging to 170 different species including of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. The zoo also has a lion safari, an elephant safari, a nocturnal animal house, walk-through aviary, butterfly house, reptile house and a crocodile enclosure. The park has tree-lined paved paths for long treks inside the campus, enabling the visitors to walk during a visit. Battery-operated vehicles with a range of up to are available for rent.
• Madras Crocodile Bank Trust, located south of the city, along the East Coast Road, is an important centre for herpetological research. It houses several fresh-water and salt-water crocodiles, alligators, gharials, turtles and snakes. Founded by Romulus Whitaker in 1976, the CrocBank now has a total of 2,483 animals, including 14 species of crocodiles, 10 species of turtles, 3 species of snakes, and 1 species of lizard. The bank is home to 14 species of the 23 crocodilian species living across the world, two of which are listed by the IUCN as critically endangered and three more as threatened.
• Guindy National Park, carved as a garden space from the Guindy Forest in 1670 and later established as a park in 1976, it is one of the country's smallest National Park with an area of 2.76 km² and is located completely inside the city. It hosts a variety of endangered deer, foxes, monkeys and snakes. The Guindy Snake Park situated in the National Park has a large collection of snakes and is an important source of antivenom serum. For ex-situ conservation, about of the Guindy National Park has been carved out into a park which is known as the Children's Park and play area at the northeast corner of the national park with a collection of animals and birds.
• '''Pallikaranai Marshland Park'''