Getaways that are not far away from Chennai

Located on the other side of Yelagiri hills (14 km from Tirupattur), it is 234 km from Chennai (travel time approximately 4.30 hours) The murmuring Attaru flows through the Yelagiri hills and down to the plains at Jalagamparai. It’s an hour, 5 km, walk from Yelagiri downhill. One has to go all the way down the hill, take the plains, and then climb the hill on the other side. It’s an hour’s journey.

It is a chain of hills in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. Located 277 km from Chennai (travel time - 5.30 hours) The minimum temperature is around 18°C and the maximum is 30°C. As it is the only hill station in Andhra Pradesh, this place is also called Andhra’s Ooty. 

It is located to the north of Sri City in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. It is located about 90 km from Chennai (travel time approximately 2.15 hours). The falls are located in a forest called the Siddulaiah Kona. Maha Sivarathri is a good time to visit the spot. Of late, it is becoming a trekker’s destination too. 

Lying near Kadapakkam (107 km from Chennai, travel time 2.30 hours) on the land overlooking the sea, the fort was constructed in the late 17th century during the Moghul era. The fort once had a 100-metre long dockyard stretching into the sea. The structure suffered damage during the 2004 tsunami attack. It can be reached on driving down the ECR, about 100 km from Chennai.

A fortress town on the Coromandel coast, it is 70 km south of Chennai (travel time approximately 1 hour and 50 mins). There are two bridges connecting Kalpakkam and Sadras. it is an anglicised form of the ancient town of Saduranga Pattinam. An inscription found in Sadras dated to 1359 mention this place as Rajanarayanan Pattinam named after a Sambuvaraya chieftain. There is a Vishnu temple here, and because of it later the city was known as Sadiravasagan Pattinam. Later the Dutch called it Sadras. Modern Sadras was established as part of Dutch Coromandel in the 17th century. The magnificent fort is a vast compound enclosing a huge granary and structures used to mount elephants. Unfortunately only one of these structures has survived. It is now maintained by the ASI.