The easy way in and out!
Chennai is a busy metropolitan city and fortunately, you have a wide variety of option to get in and out of the airport. From buses, trains to metros, it’s an easy skip from all the regular traffic one is worried about.
— Vivek Sharma.
Chennai or ‘Singara Chennai’ as we fondly call it is one of the 4 most popular cities of India, also called as Madras earlier. The city has seen so much during its development from being visited first by the Portuguese and then colonised by the British for 400 years.
Today Chennai is an ultra modern cosmopolitan hub and is one India’s most economical and cultural hotspots. With temples, beaches and centres of historical and cultural significance, including the UNESCO Heritage Site of Mahabalipuram, Chennai is one of the most visited cities in India. The city serves as the gateway to the southern part of India with tourists landing in the city and starting their trip to the rest of the region. Chennai was the most visited Indian city by foreign tourists in 2009 and issued the third highest number of visas on arrival in 2014. Chennai was also ranked as the 41st in global top 100 city destination ranking, with 3,174,500 tourists annually.
Chennai is easily accessible via train, plane and road. It’s connected by the vast Indian Railway network and also by intercity buses which run from Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kochi. The main airport has both domestic and international terminals catering flights to and from majority of the Asian and European destinations. There are direct flights to Chennai from Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Dubai, London, Hong Kong, Mauritius, Kuwait and Colombo.
The Airport has gone through many structural changes and the new terminal looks very grand and appealing to the passengers. With grand check in counters and cultural aesthetics the new Anna International Terminal is a treat to the oncoming visitors. For arrivals at Chennai International Airport, there are numerous ways to get to the city centre:
- The Chennai Metro
- The Chennai Suburban Train
- Airport Buses
- Uber / OLA Cabs
The Chennai Metro was newly launched in 2018 and is a great way to explore the city directly from the airport. The tickets are nominally charged and can be bought from the station kiosks. The metro starts service at 5:15am and the last train departs at 11:00pm. Get more of your Chennai metro updates and timetables from https://chennaimetrorail.org/new-time-table/
The suburban train is the lifeline of most Chennaites when it comes to travelling in and out of the city. The chennai suburban train ferries close to 2.5 million people a day and is the second largest suburban rail network in India. The Tirusulam Railway Station which is 500m away from the airport is also another way to get into the city, even though going through the metro is more preferable.
The Airport Shuttle service is a bus service operated by the State Transport Corporation and operates bus services to and from CMBT (Koyambedu) for people who are wishing to reach the main bus terminal of Chennai.
The bus details are as follows:
- S21G High Court > Tambaram
- XG18 T.Nagar > Guduvanchery
- XM70C Koyambedu Market > Tambaram
- S170 Thiruverkadu > Tambaram
- X21G Broadway > Tambaram
At The Chikkiboo Travel Co., we always stride in making the process of travel simpler for our customers. In Chennai, its best advisable to book a UBER or an OLA cab to take you home or to your hotel. All cab drivers follow a rule where the customer should inform them as to which pillar they are standing next to upon arrival and its easy for them to come and pick them up right where they are. So all the passengers coming out of Chennai Airport to catch an UBER or an OLA cab are advised to inform the drivers that they are standing near ‘Pillar M45’, this is the pillar closest to the exit gate. If you are away in some other location, please make sure to see the pillar and its number behind you, so that you can guide the driver to your nearest location with ease.
For people who are departing from Chennai, you can either pick up the nearest metro train to come directly inside the airport or you can also take a local EMU train which runs parallel to the metro. You will have to get down at Tirusulam Railway Station and walk yourself towards the arrival hall which is on the first floor through the elevator placed at Gate1. Or if you book an OLA or Uber, you will be dropped directly at the many respective departure gates on the 1st floor arrival of the terminal of Chennai Airport (MAA).
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