Marvelous Mahabalipuram - Chennai

[M@verick]

Recently i had been to an Offsite at Chennai (Mahabalipuram), yes; it was an official offsite with meetings and seminars to attend .

Mahabalipuram lies on the Coromandel Coast which faces the Bay of Bengal. The beauty of the place is not only due to the architecture but the vast casuarinas trees, the silvery sandy beach have made it all to form what is a collective splendor. We all were startled and intoxicated with the grandeur of Mahabalipuram.













Destination – GRT Temple Bay, now Radisson.
Contact Details – Kovalam Road, Mamallapuram - 603 104, Tamil Nadu, India. Phone: +91-44-2744 3636, Fax: +91-44-2744 3838.





















This was an elite luxury resort set on 47 acres of pristine water front with a breath taking view of the Bay of Bengal. Located along the shores of Bay of Bengal, Mamallapuram is 65 km drive from Chennai. GRT Temple Bay, provides accommodations on beach-facing property. You can indulge in graceful and stylish rooms, cottages and villas, banquet and conference facilities as well as specialty restaurants to make your stay more memorable.

I rate this place a 10 on 10

[anekho]

Great pics, Maverick.

I feel like driving down to mahabs, right now

cheers

[gajadonga]

The resort looks great how are the tariffs?

[nairrk]

Nice colourful photgraphs
What about the stone sculptures - Plenty of shops there who make various sculptures (in any form -animals, gods,pillars etc). Even they used to make it against our requirment. Plenty of business being done. Many foreigners visit those shops and give orders for different sculptures. Even they are into export of these items. But be careful in bargaining !

[ambivalent_98]

Hey did that pufferfish beach itself ? I mean that photo of that fish is quite astonishing... ?

[Rudra Sen]

Is that infamous Fugu fish?

[M@verick]

@anekho - Thanks buddy, the place is absoverylutely beautiful and I’d like to go there someday as well.

@gajadonga - The resort has recently been taken over by the Radisson Group, the tariff starts at 8000/- for a couple. Here is the link to the resort web site. GRT Hotels and Resorts | Hotels Chennai | GRT Grand | 5 Star luxury business hotels chennai

@nairrk - Yes, on my way to the Mandir and Airport I did see the various stone sculptors. Unfortunately I did not get an opportunity to halt and purchase anything as we had a tight schedule.

@ambivalent_98 - Yes it was dead, I took the photo during my morning walk.

@Rudra Sen - Rudra sir, I’m not sure if it is the same, could be a cousin though.

[nairrk]

And there is a old Light house on top up a Hill (from this point ou can see the roadside shops selling stone sculptures etc). It is little tiresome to climp up (you will lose your steam), but when you are on top, you can see whole of the Mahabalipuram (or mamallapuram in local language).
Also one more Park on the bank of the sea,with a stone temple in the middle (not the one shown in the phtograph above).very nicely built or carved?

I had been there couple of times, but did not take any photographs.

Nice place to visit.

[muralisk]

Great pictures there, Mavrick. The place looks beautiful and the resort looks quite amazing.

[M@verick]

@nairrk - Yes, we had been to the light house, but did not take the effort of climbing up . In fact we could see the light from the light house from the resort. The place is really beautiful and one of the places to see before you die...in my list.

@muralisk - Thanks buddy, you should go there to experience the place, it's worth the visit.

[straightdrive]

Good pictures Maverick.

Had visited this resort to meet someone after a trip to Madras - it was still GRT Temple Bay then. Didn't get to see much of it but I remember the food was excellent.

[Bhargava_sr]

Wonderful Resort, looked at their Website and it got some really cool pics and tariffs seems to be marginal.
Great place to spend a weekend.

[M@verick]

@straightdrive - Thank you!! The Food was excellent accompanied with great service In fact the staff organised a dinner party at the beach side with a live rock band and barbeque especially for us, personal favourite was the steamed fish wrapped in banana leaves

@Bhargava_sr - I completely agree, the Tariff is pretty decent, i'd rather spend my weekend at Mahabalipuram than any other beach destinations in India. I'm kinda in love with this place.

[rjstyles69]

Originally Posted by Bhargava_sr

Wonderful Resort, looked at their Website and it got some really cool pics and tariffs seems to be marginal.

Originally Posted by M@verick

@Bhargava_sr - I completely agree, the Tariff is pretty decent, i'd rather spend my weekend at Mahabalipuram than any other beach destinations in India. I'm kinda in love with this place.

MARGINAL !! At 10k per night you gotto be kidding me folks. I have stayed there about a year back and was put up at the Sea View Chalet. Methinks you are better off traveling to a foreign destination if you can foot the flight charges. BTW lemme know if there are any openings in your company , would really love to change jobs .

[M@verick]

@rjstyles69 - I agree with you on the foreign destinations bit, however personally i feel its worth every penny you spend at GRT. I may sound like a marketting agent for GRT, but i thouroughly enjoyed every bit of it.