"Much Better than Marina Beach". Review on Besant Nagar Beach, Chennai

I used to visit place very often when I was doing my Engineering before 2009 because in my Final semester I was doing project at a place very close to this beach. So after every day of the project, we friends used to go to the beach. relax the sands, chit chat and then head back to home.

After college days, when ever we(our Family) do shopping in the city on sundays, while returning back home we stop here and relax ourselves till 8 pm and then head to a hotel in Adyar and then return home. Location -

The beach official known as "Elliots Beach" is located in Besant nagar and that is why the name of the beach is "Besant nagar beach".  The Place comes close to the locality of Adyar.  Most of the visitors who visit this beach here are Besant nagar residents, Foreigners and students including friends couples and Families.

Infact the Marina Beach can been seen when standing on the shores of beach.

So Here comes the Pros and Cons of this Beach -

PROS -

1. The Beach is much much Better than Marina beach in Term of Cleanliness and Traffic.  The Beach is little away from the main Traffic of LB road and hence Traffic is always less here.

   
   




2. The beach's Sand portion is less when compared to Marina.  It makes us pretty easy to reach the water shores.

   
   




3. Parking lot available in plenty.  Only on Rare occations like Christmax and New year, parking would be a problem, otherwise even car parking can be found easily even on Sundays.  This is not possible in Marina. This is another reason why we used to visit this beach more often than Marina.

   
   




4. There are some Restaurants available near by.  The very closest one is the Murugan Idly shop. I had Idlis here twice and okay but not the best.  The Ambiance is not so great.    There are also some Fruit juice shops and ice cream parlors available on the beach.

   
   

CONS -

1. Though this beach was much clean back in 2008, now it has also started becoming ugly.  The reason is increase in visitors every time and no control over cleanliness.

   
   




2. No toilet facilities at all.  At least Marina Beach has some unusable Portable Toilets, but I couldn't not even find this on This beach. May be because this beach is located close by the residential complexes.

   
   




3. Parking will become difficult in the evening and Festive times.

   
   




4. No Beach shopping can be found.  Very very limited actually.

   
   




5. No Direct Transportation I guess.  I mean no Govt buses reach there directly.  Autos Charge a lot to reach here too.  Only Car and bikes prefer to reach here a lot.

   
   

The other Place to visit which are closer by to this beach are -

• Velankanni Church - This Church is an another famous church in Chennai.  During Festive days the Church welcomes a lots of Crowd making the beach full.

  
  




• Ashtalakshmi Temple & Arulmigu Mahalakshmi Temple - Never visited these temples so have no idea. But is an good place to visit I suppose.

  
  




• Broken Adyar Bridge - This is an another Famous place located very close to the beach.  This bridge was a connection between This beach with the Santhome Beach.  But was damaged in late 70s due to strong river current.

  
  

Since then this place has been said to be an "Haunted place for ghosts" at Night and during day some people like youngster visit here.

This Bridge is also an famous Film shooting spot.  Many films like Aayutha Ezhuthu and Muran have been shot here.

But this bridge is restricted to visit by the police at night because there are reports that "Strange activities happen at this bridge at night".

i have no updated info of the beach for the past 5 years because I did not visit this beach since 2009.!

Verdict - Overall thus beach is an another much visit place in Chennai.  Great place to relax in the evening.