Stay at the Hotel Tamil Nadu, Mamallapuram
This weekend I stayed for a night at the TTDC Ocean View Resorts, ECR, Mahabalipuram. The resort is owned by the Tamil Nadu state government’s tourism department and is located on a fine strip of beach off the Bay of Bengal. The row of cottages is right on the beach, if you step out of your room you are greeted with breathtaking views of the sunrise and sunset. Coming from Chennai towards Puducherry, the property is on the left side just before Mamallapuram town.
The rooms are spacious and comfortable, but the interiors and upholsteries leave much-desired. The bathrooms were clean and functional. I never got to eat at the place as I had my breakfast and dinner at the Motel Mamalla which was on the opposite side of the road. The first room we were given had its wireless device not working, so we were offered the room next door, which had functional wireless – but getting the housekeeping to acknowledge the problem took effort on my side. For the rack rate of about INR 4800 (USD 60) per night for a room, the resort is a good place to stay if you don’t mind the lack of bells and whistles and can cope with the lacklustre service. The experience of staying here reminded me of my stay nearly two decades ago in the now-popular Radisson Blu Resort (GRT) situated a few hundred metres from TTDC was called Asoka and under the Government of India’s tourism department’s control.
Disclosure: I write reviews about hotels, restaurants, services that I have used. There were no sponsorship or advertisement, or commissions of any sort involved in this post.
The compound that is before this property is called Urban Haat, a sprawling place housing Hot Breads with Madras Coffee House cafe, and Poompuhar Handicraft shop. I was surprising the Poompuhar shop was still using manual, handwritten bills!
