Welcome to the best beach of India, Marina Beach, comprising of golden sand, high-quality surf and a shimmering clean blue sea. This beach is counted amongst one of the greatest beaches in Asia. Its 12-km extensive stretch was made attractive by the brilliant facelift given by Governor Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff in the early 1880's, and is Chennai's chief tourist attraction today.

Leisure & Entertainment Activities at Marina Beach

Marina beach is situated on the eastern side of Chennai, adjoining the Bay of Bengal. Watching the sun set and rise from the beach is an attractive knowledge. Although bathing and swimming can be dangerous, as the undercurrent is very strong, still then people come for swimming here. In the evenings, the beach is almost a fair ground with different kinds of activity and food stalls lining the beach.

Through its normal sandy beauty and large promenade and beautiful gardens, the Marina beach is a chief attraction for tourists visiting Chennai. One can still shop around the beach, with local vendors hawking wares ranging from shell and glass baubles to kites and fruit juices. The Marina, though, is great sufficient to accommodate all visitors as fine as the hawkers and is regularly the venue for chief state functions. There are also facilities of pony rides at the beach site, which attract the children's interest the most.

Attractions around Marina Beach

Here you can see many attractive buildings in Chennai such as the University of Madras, Senate-House, Chepauk Palace, Presidency College, P.W.D office and Ice House are situated on the beach drive. At the other end of the beach is the fresh lighthouse. In between, sentinels on the promenade, are several statues of Tamil scholars and two splendid bits of sculpture- the Victory of Labour and the Mahatma Gandhi.

Aquarium:

Close to the Marina beach is the aquarium, which has some of the most foreign collection of tropical sea fishes and fresh water fishes. The aquarium gives a chance to contain an earlier look at the aquatic life. The Ice House, which was used to store ice brought from huge Lakes in North America, is south to the Aquarium.

Anna and MGR Samadhis

Located on the beach, the Anna and MGR Samadhis, which are the memorials of the most well-liked, former Chief Ministers of the state; attracts a good chunk of crowd each day.