A coastal town in Tamilnadu 60 Kms South of Chennai, known as Mammalapuram which holds its heritage till date with beautiful architectures of the 7th and 8th Century. Listed among the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, this town has Panch Rathas, Shore Temple, Cave Temples, Rock Reliefs etc.
I have visited this town twice and both the times my experience has been different. One was a same day trip from Chennai and the other which was done recently was a two day trip in the town. Normally coastal towns have the luxury of the beach resorts and I was also looking for one of them to stay. However, being a long weekend the sea side resorts were full and I had to book one which was located away from the beach yet very near to the monuments. Bodhi Woods Resort has that ambience and serenity which you always need when you are on a small vacation to avoid the hustle and noise of the city.
Sightseeing:
Tip: If you wish to see the monuments with lesser or no crowd then try to visit them in morning. Specially at the opening hours. This will also help you to get good photographs. I chose the evening time as the place is normally warmer and evenings are much pleasant here.
I visited the Pancha Rathas, Shore Temple, Krishna's Butter Ball, Cave Temples and the Sea Shell Museum. You can also visit a few more places like Arjuna's Penance, an old light house, Mahabalipuram sea beach and many more ancient temples.
Glimpses of Shore Temple in monochrome
Food:
I love sea food. The texture and the flavours of coconut which a sea food has is very soothinh to my palette. There is a very famous restaurant called Moonrakers which offers delicious sea fish fry with loads of other coastal cuisines in their menu. Before taking order, they display a variety of fish on a tray so that you can place order as per the choice of your fish. I ordered a red snapper with coconut rice. The marinade was delicious and I relished every single bite of that. Other than that you will get good options in South Indian Cuisine. If you plan to visit Moonrakers then remember there are a lot of restaurants which carries the name but are not the original one. The actual restaurant is a very simple building located on a busy street and situated on 2nd floor.
Mahabalipuram is also famous for its stone carving work which you can witness across the shops present in the market. The intricately carved and designed statues be it small or big are bound to catch your attention. There is a market area present in front of the Pancha Rathas Monument. They have good number of shops and you can buy some Soveniers for your loved ones. I wanted to buy a stone statue miniature in the form of a fridge magnet however I couldn't find one.
Clockwise Left to Right: 1. Trimurti Caves, 2. Krishna's Butterball, 3. Bhima's Kitchen and 4. Trimurti Temple Caves
The town has one of the only sea shell museum in India which is also the largest in Asia. Founded by Mr. Raja Mohammad, it houses varieties of all possible sea shells of the world including the extremely rare ones. It also has a pearl museum and various huge artifacts made by sea shells.
Overall, my second trip was very relaxing and I would definitely visit this place again to find something new in terms of cuisine, art, architecture or culture. Please share your experience with me if you have been to this place earlier.
Thanks for reading!
Very informative blog. ✌️