Must-see attractions in Chennai (Madras)

Housed across from the striking British-built Pantheon Complex, this excellent museum is Chennai’s best. The big highlight is building 3, the Bronze…

Mylapore is one of Chennai's most characterful and traditional neighbourhoods; it predated colonial Madras by several centuries. Its Kapaleeshwarar Temple…

This soaring Roman Catholic cathedral, a stone's throw from the beach, was founded by the Portuguese in 1523, then rebuilt by the British in neo-Gothic…

Producers of beautiful hand-printed books, this publishing company is based in southern Chennai. Visit its Book Building showroom, where you can browse,…

The marshmallow-pink Vivekananda House is interesting not only for its displays on the famous ‘wandering monk’, Swami Vivekananda, but also for its…

Within this mural-covered space, Tara Books stages free exhibitions, author talks and workshops with visiting artists, and displays its own highly…

The tranquil, flowery grounds of the Ramakrishna Math are a world away from Mylapore's chaos. Orange-robed monks glide around and there’s a reverential…

The reputed site of St Thomas’ martyrdom in AD 72 rises in the southwest of Chennai, 2.5km north of St Thomas Mount train station. The Church of Our Lady…

Between the Adyar River and the coast, the 100-hectare grounds of the Theosophical Society provide a peaceful, green, vehicle-free retreat from the city…

This 1821 neoclassical Scottish Presbyterian church is one of India's most exquisite churches, rising up in leafy grounds in the middle of frenzied Egmore…

A leafy, frangipani-scented haven in the midst of the George Town mayhem, the 18th-century Armenian Church is testament to the city's once-flourishing…

Styled with blue-and-white baroque elegance, pretty little palm-fringed Luz Church is Chennai's oldest European building, dating to 1516 – which also…

The printing workshop of Tara Books, where you can watch pages being silk-screened and hand-bound into books.

The main entrance to Fort St George.

Take an early morning or evening stroll (you don’t want to roast here at any other time) along the 3km-long main stretch of Marina Beach and you’ll pass…

Finished in 1653 by the British East India Company, the fort has undergone many facelifts. Inside the vast perimeter walls (the ramparts are 18th-century…

Founded in 1936, Kalakshetra is a leading serious school of Tamil classical dance and music (sponsoring many students from disadvantaged backgrounds), set…

This 1976 memorial honours the Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar and his classic work, the 133-chapter Thirukural. Its most striking element is a 31m-high stone…

Behind San Thome Cathedral is the entrance to the weirdly chintzy tomb of St Thomas the Apostle.

For part of his South Indian sojourn, St Thomas supposedly lived in hiding in a cave just south of the Adyar River. This grottolike space can be entered…