Things to do in Besant Nagar

Besant Nagar is Chennai's neighbourhood beach. Elliot's Beach, known locally as Bessie, is smaller and calmer than the Marina and has the Karl Schmidt Memorial on the sand, the Annai Velankanni shrine at one end and the Ashtalakshmi Temple, built in 1976, at the other. The road behind the beach is lined with cafés, ice-cream shops and restaurants, and is busy on weekend evenings. The Chennai Marathon's half marathon has started here, and in recent years Chennai Sangamam's folk-arts programmes have used the beach during Pongal. Police have closed the beach on New Year's Eve. There is no railway station in Besant Nagar; buses and autos connect from Adyar.