Mahabalipuram

 Mahabalipuram

Place -                                    Mahabalipuram, Tamilnadu

Closest airport -                   Chennai
Closest train station -          Chengalpettu
Distance from Bangalore -  350km (~6 hours with breaks)
Place we stayed -                  TTDC Beach Resort, Mahabalipuram

Itinerary - 
Day 1 - Reach TTDC resort, Mahabalipuram
Day 2 - Local attractions
Day 3 - Pondicherry and back to Bangalore

If you stay in Bengaluru then there will be few places near Bangalore which will be in your radar for years but for some or other reason you would not be able to plan it. For me, Mahabalipuram (also known as Mamallapuram) is one of such places. 

Finally in December 2021, we planned the Mahabalipuram trip with cousins, our parents and kids. Somehow before the start of the trip itself, I was not getting good vibes about the trip and within an hour of reaching the resort I twisted my ankle badly which made me handicapped for rest of the trip.

Trip planning: The trip was planned 4-5 days in advance. Since it was year end time, we could not get resorts we wanted but chanced upon TTDC resort, which turned out to be a good option. 

Day1:  The plan was to start by 6AM but as with other trips we got delayed and started only by 6:45AM. The highway (Old Madras Road) is awesome (except for couple of stretches where road widening is progress). We stopped for breakfast at 9AM, reached Mahabalipuram by 12:45PM. As soon as you enter the TTDC beach resort, you are spellbound by the beauty of the property. The property is full of trees, house of many birds, all the rooms are beach facing and property has a private beach. Kids wanted to get into the sea as soon as entered the rooms. The waves are a bit violent, so need to watch out for them all the time. Nevertheless, both of them (Tatva & Pallav) enjoyed a lot. 

Kids eager to enter the Sea - Bay of Bengal

We went out for dinner (I was limping painfully) near a beach shack. We had some good prawns and fish beneath a spellbinding Full moon light. I came back to the room while Amber and Munna bhaiya went for a stroll on the beach.

Day2: A great morning, woke with awesome view of rising sun from the bed. My leg was still paining, but with Amber's help went till the seashore, sat there while the waves now and then will come and drench me. 

Breakfast was simple but tasty. After breakfast, everyone planned to visit the places of attraction but I was left out due to my sore foot. I had nice sleep while rest of the group had nice time at Shore temple, Pandava's Rath, Seashell museum. 

They were back by 3PM, and we spent rest of the day in the resort. Once again lunch and dinner at the resort and these were really good. We watched a beautiful blood-moon in the evening, sat on the beach watching the moon for a long time feeling calm and happy.

Amazing bloodmoon

Day3: Again a beautiful sunrise, this time I was determined to enter the sea, even with an injured foot. I could no longer resist the call from the sea. Waves were inviting me. With Amber's help (he carried me on his back till the beach) I went inside the water, spent good half an hour enjoying the sea. After bath, we had breakfast, clicked few pictures. 

An impromptu program was made to visit Pondicherry. We reached Pondicherry by 1PM, went straight to Auroville, but it was so hot by then that people did not have enthu to walk in the sun. Has Pizza for lunch and then headed for Rock Beach & Promenade. Breeze was cool and with some difficult, walked on the Promenade. had icecream as Zuka cafe. 

We decided to drive back to bangalore. Has dinner at a Dhaba along the way (few kilometers before Arcot) and reached Bangalore by 1AM midnight.

Although, I could not enjoy the fullest due to my twisted ankle, I was glad that rest of group enjoyed the trip. Mahabalipuram was finally ticked off of my list.