Day Trip to Mahabalipuram on Royal Enfield Motorcycle or By Private Car
Chennai, India
Trip Type: Private Day Trips
Duration: 13 hours
This 13-hour day trip takes you to Mahabalipuram where you will explore various architectural treasures such as rock cut temples, the Shore temple, Arjuna's Penance, Krishna's butterball, the 5 Chariots, and a unique seashell museum. This package includes transport, breakfast, lunch, activities and the services of a full-time tour guide.
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This 13-hour day trip takes you to Mahabalipuram where you will explore various architectural treasures such as rock cut temples, the Shore temple, Arjuna's Penance, Krishna's butterball, the 5 Chariots, and a unique seashell museum. This package includes transport, breakfast, lunch, activities and the services of a full-time tour guide.
At 6:30am your tour guide will meet you at your hotel and pick you up to travel by private car. If you select the classic motorcycle option, you will meet your guide at Neelankarai at 6:30am and go through motorcycle orientation. For both options, we will take the east coast road from Chennai towards Dakshin Chitra, the heritage village and will stop for breakfast on the way.
We will arrive at the World Heritage Site of Mahabalipuram by 9:30am. Panch Rathas, or the 5 chariots is our first destination. The Pancharathas or 5 chariots are rock cut monolith temples structures built by the Pallavas. Each of the 5 rathas or chariots are dedicated to the lead cast of the Mahabharat epic- Draupadi, Arjuna, Nakul-Sahadeva, Bhima and Yudhister. There is also a sculpture of an elephant next to the ratha of Nakul-Sahadeva. Once you stand towards the rear of the elephant you will notice that there is an uncanny resemblance between the rear of the chariot and the elephant. Although these chariots were meant to serve as temples, due to the death of King Narasimhavarman, they never got consecrated and remain today as architectural structures without any religious significance.
At 12pm, we visit a unique museum that showcases a private collection of seashells. On display are more than 40000 seashells from all over the world. Fossils, shark teeth and whale fins are the other items of interest. The most spectacular exhibits are a car, ship and train made our of oyster shells. There is a fascinating story told here about the formation of pearls in oysters.
Lunch is organized between 1 and 2pm. Post lunch, we visit Arjuna’s Penance, a 100 feet x 45 feet bas relief where an entire masterpiece from the Mahabharata epic has been carved.
The next stop is Krishna’s Butterball, a curious sight of a 5 meters diameter ball shaped boulder, which is perched precariously on a slope and seems to defy Newton’s laws!
We head for the Shore Temple at 3:30pm, located on the shores of the Bay of Bengal. Legend says that this was a part of a complex of 7 temples dotted along the Sea. In fact, the legendary Marco Polo also mentioned Mahabalipuram in his memoirs and called it the city of 7 pagodas. Seafarers of those times also often used to refer to the 7 Pagodas as a landmark. The tsunami of 2004 did little damage to the temple and in fact revealed another temple buried in the sea. This further led credence to the theory that there was a complex of 7 temples.
We leave Mahabalipuram at 5pm where the journey back to Chennai would take around 2-2.5 hrs. It can take a little longer if there is heavy traffic. The tour ends after you return to your original departure point.
At 6:30am your tour guide will meet you at your hotel and pick you up to travel by private car. If you select the classic motorcycle option, you will meet your guide at Neelankarai at 6:30am and go through motorcycle orientation. For both options, we will take the east coast road from Chennai towards Dakshin Chitra, the heritage village and will stop for breakfast on the way.
We will arrive at the World Heritage Site of Mahabalipuram by 9:30am. Panch Rathas, or the 5 chariots is our first destination. The Pancharathas or 5 chariots are rock cut monolith temples structures built by the Pallavas. Each of the 5 rathas or chariots are dedicated to the lead cast of the Mahabharat epic- Draupadi, Arjuna, Nakul-Sahadeva, Bhima and Yudhister. There is also a sculpture of an elephant next to the ratha of Nakul-Sahadeva. Once you stand towards the rear of the elephant you will notice that there is an uncanny resemblance between the rear of the chariot and the elephant. Although these chariots were meant to serve as temples, due to the death of King Narasimhavarman, they never got consecrated and remain today as architectural structures without any religious significance.
At 12pm, we visit a unique museum that showcases a private collection of seashells. On display are more than 40000 seashells from all over the world. Fossils, shark teeth and whale fins are the other items of interest. The most spectacular exhibits are a car, ship and train made our of oyster shells. There is a fascinating story told here about the formation of pearls in oysters.
Lunch is organized between 1 and 2pm. Post lunch, we visit Arjuna’s Penance, a 100 feet x 45 feet bas relief where an entire masterpiece from the Mahabharata epic has been carved.
The next stop is Krishna’s Butterball, a curious sight of a 5 meters diameter ball shaped boulder, which is perched precariously on a slope and seems to defy Newton’s laws!
We head for the Shore Temple at 3:30pm, located on the shores of the Bay of Bengal. Legend says that this was a part of a complex of 7 temples dotted along the Sea. In fact, the legendary Marco Polo also mentioned Mahabalipuram in his memoirs and called it the city of 7 pagodas. Seafarers of those times also often used to refer to the 7 Pagodas as a landmark. The tsunami of 2004 did little damage to the temple and in fact revealed another temple buried in the sea. This further led credence to the theory that there was a complex of 7 temples.
We leave Mahabalipuram at 5pm where the journey back to Chennai would take around 2-2.5 hrs. It can take a little longer if there is heavy traffic. The tour ends after you return to your original departure point.
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