Travel Info

Local Transport

Public transport like buses and trains in the city are regular, reliable and well-maintained. Barring the rush hour, inner-city and suburban trains are frequent. If you want to travel south from city centre to the Guindy Snake Park, St.Thomas Mount or Meenambakkam Airport, go by train, with services every 15 minutes, between 4.30 a.m. and 11 p.m. The

former English road names have been Tamilised. Mount Road, the main artery, is now Anna Salai; North Beach Road (west of George Town) is Rajaji Salai; Poonamallee High Road, Crosstown, is Periyar EVR Road; South Beach Road is Kamaraj Salai: Edward Elliot's Road, further south, is Dr. Radhakrishnan Salai. Rickshaw drivers can be persuaded if paid a few rupees over the meter charge. Taxis are metered but drivers also prefer a 5 to 10 per cent tip. Fix rates before boarding. A taxi from Egmore or Central Railway Station costs upto Rs. 30 to Anna Salai, or Rs. 50 to 60 for suburbs like Adyar and Thiruvanmiyur. Cycle-rickshaws are ideal to cover short distances.

An ITDC or TTDC bus tour around Chennai is good value for money, with English-speaking guides. Meals are included in the price of full-day tours. ITDC, 29 Victoria Crescent, Commander-in-Chief Road, daily tours, Rs. 50 Tel: 827 8884 TTDC half-day tours, 143, Anna Salai, daily 7.30 a.m. - 1.30 p.m., Rs. 65. Full-day tours, daily 8 a.m. - 7 p.m. Rs. 145. Tel: 840752.

Driveaway

Tourists interested in driving in their own vehicles to destinations in Tamil Nadu will be fairly satisfied with the condition of the roads.

It will be advisable, before setting out, to carry a comprehensive road map. This can either be collected from over the counter at any Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation unit or bought from a book-shop. The publication "Hello Madras" has a workable road and rail map with an approximate distance chart.

All the major towns are well-connected by road, with buses functioning round-the-clock and villages along the route. So facilities and essentials a tourist would require at short notice are readily available. Restrooms, hotels, mineral water, tetrapack refreshments, foodstuff, seasonal fruit, medicine shops and hospitals, all these and other essentials are easily available. It would be good to carry spares and other accessories for the vehicle as you would for a long-distance journey.

The presence of small towns at frequent distances also helps make driving less tedious. Vehicular traffic is generally well-disciplined. Journey time from Chennai to Mamallapuram, the nearest tourist spot, is barely one hour, the distance being 60 km. The road is being improved and should be an extremely smooth drive by the end of this year.

A bare 134 km from Mamallapuram is Pondicherry, the journey taking a little over two hours. The direct road is patchy at places and takes the same amount of journey time as the better yet longer route via Villupuram, working out to an additional 50 km.

Five hours form Pondicherry, via Villupuram, is Tiruchirapalli, 200 km away. The drive, like in all other parts of the state, is through green farmlands, coconut palm-lined roads, with villages not posing any threat and driving areas free of stray cattle.

Observance of traffic laws is also clearly visible in the hilly areas. For instance, from Madurai to Kodaikanal (120 km/4 hours), Mettupalayam to Ootacamund (60 km/2 hours) and Salem to Yercaud (32 km/1 hour) there are cautionary signboards prominently displayed to keep the driver on his guard against oncoming traffic.

International Carriers

Air India 19, Marshalls Road, Egmore Tel: 8554477/88.

Airport Tel: 2347500, 2347400

Air Lanka

Nagabramha Towers,Mount Road Tel: 8261535-8.

Airport Tel : 2340577

British Airways

Alsanmall Khaleeli Centre, Montieth Road Tel: 855 4680, 855 4767 Airport Tel: 234 4931, 233 2351-2.

Lufthansa

167, Anna Salai. Tel: 852 5197, 852 5095.

Airport Tel: 234 8757

Air France

Apex Plaza, 3 M. K Road, Nungambakkam Tel: 825 0326, 825 0295.

Malaysia Airlines

498, Anna Salai (Karumuthu Centre) Tel: 434 9291, 434 9651,

Airport Tel: 234 3860

International Airlines

Aeroflot

476, Anna Salai Tel: 455351.

Cathay Pacific

38, Connemara Hotel, Binny's Road Tel: 852 5372

Delta Airlines

47, Whites Road Tel: 852 5755, 852 5655

Gulf Air

52, Monteith Road Tel: 827 7872

Japan Airlines

733, Anna Salai Tel: 853 4832, 826 2688.

Swiss Air

191, Anna Salai Tel: 852 3453

Thai International

Aarti Buildings, 189, Anna Salai Tel: 852 9151.

Qantas

G-3 Eldorado Building, 112 Nungambakkam High Road Tel: 827 8680

Domestic Flights

Chennai is connected by convenient flights to the following centres by Indian Airlines, the principal carrier: Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Calcutta, Calicut, Kochi, Coimbatore, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Madurai, Mumbai, Port Blair, Pune, Trivandrum and Visakhapatnam. Jet Airways flies daily to Mumbai and Trivandrum and Sahara has six flights a week to Delhi.

NEPC Airlines

connects Chennai with Agatti (via Kochi), Ahmedabad (via Bangalore), Bagdogra (via Calcutta), apart from direct flights to Bangalore, Calcutta, Kochi, Coimbatore, Delhi and Mumbai.

INDIAN AIRLINES

19, Marshalls Road, Egmore. City office Tel: 855 3039, Reservations: Tel: 141;

Airport Tel: 140 (recorded).

Air India

Also operates between key cities. These night flights offer a 25 per cent discount over the regular fares.

Sahara India

18, Koddambakkam High Road, Lokesh Towers Tel: 828 3180, 825 7509;

Airport Tel: 234 0551.

Jet Airways

Thaper House, 43/44 Montieth Road, Egmore Tel: 8555353-57,

Airport Tel: 234 0551, 234 6768.

NEPC Airlines

G. R. Complex, 407/408 Mount Road Tel: 434 4580 (7 lines).

Airport Tel: 234 8421, 234 8433.

Train Schedules

Trains From Madras Central Names of trains leaving from here (not necessarily daily) include the Jammu-Tawi Express, Lucknow Express, Shatabdi Express, Chennai Express to Dadar, Brindavan Express, Coromandel Express to Howrah, Dadar Express, Navjivan Express to Ahmedabad, West Coast Express, Bangalore Express, Tirupathi Express, Vijayawada Express, Hyderabad Express , Lalbagh Express to Bangalore, Tuticorin Express to Nagercoil, Varanasi Express, Patna Express, Yelagiri Express to Jolarpet, Charminar Express to Lucknow, Alleppy Express, Cheran Express, Yercaud Express, Trivandrum Mai, Mangalore Mail, Bangalore Mail, Mumbai Mail and Howrah Mail.

Trains Passing through Madras Central

Trains to and from Cochin, Bangalore and Trivandrum pass through Chennai. The destinations or originating points of these long-distance express or Rajdhani trains are Indore, Gorakhpur, Bilaspur, Guwahati, Howrah, Patna, Bangalore, and Nizammuddin (Delhi), Trains from Madras Egmore These are superfast, express and passenger trains on metre guage linking Madurai, Rameshwaram, Thanjavur, Villupuram, Quilon and Tiruchirappalli, among others.