Places to visit in Chennai in 2 days, in order

A Vishnu temple in Triplicane, first built in the 8th century, where Krishna is worshipped as Arjuna's charioteer, with a moustache and scars from the battle. It is one of the oldest temples in Chennai, with carved halls and a big tank in front.

The big Shiva temple of Mylapore, with a tall gopuram covered in painted figures and a large temple tank beside it. The temple as it stands was built in the 16th century, after the older one by the sea was lost. The streets round it are full of flower sellers, brass shops and small cafes serving filter coffee.

A tall white neo-Gothic church by the sea, rebuilt in 1896 over what is believed to be the tomb of St Thomas the Apostle. A small museum and the tomb chapel are underneath the church. It is about 1 km from the Kapaleeshwarar temple.

The British East India Company built this fort in 1644, and the city of Madras grew up round it. Today it holds the Tamil Nadu Assembly and offices, but the Fort Museum is open: East India Company coins, uniforms, weapons and portraits, in a 1795 building. A few minutes away inside the walls is St Mary's Church, the oldest Anglican church east of Suez (1680).

One of the oldest museums in India, opened in 1851 in red Indo-Saracenic buildings in Egmore. The bronze gallery is the reason to come: Chola bronzes of Shiva as Nataraja, Parvati and the saints, some a thousand years old. The National Art Gallery building next door and the round museum theatre are worth a look from outside too.

A wide sandy beach that runs about 6 km along the city, one of the longest town beaches in the world. In the evening the whole city comes out: families on the sand, kites, horse rides, and stalls frying sundal and bajji. Kamarajar Salai along the top has statues, memorials and old buildings such as the university and Presidency College.

A small rock-cut shrine from the 8th century, with a ring of tiger-like faces carved round its opening. It sits under trees near the sea at Saluvankuppam, 4 km before Mahabalipuram.

Five temples shaped like chariots, each cut from a single block of granite in the 7th century, with a stone elephant, lion and Nandi beside them. They are named after the five Pandava brothers and Draupadi, and show different temple styles side by side.

A huge rock face carved in the 7th century with more than 100 figures: gods, people, life-size elephants and a cat doing penance, round a crack where the Ganga comes down from the sky. Up the hill behind it are Krishna's Butter Ball, a giant boulder that seems about to roll, the Varaha and Krishna cave temples, and the old and new lighthouses.

Two granite temples standing on the edge of the sea, built about 700 to 728 by the Pallava kings. They are part of the Mahabalipuram World Heritage Site. Rows of carved Nandi bulls line the walls, and the waves have worn the carving soft.

A living museum of south Indian homes. Real old houses from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh were taken apart and rebuilt here, with their kitchens, courtyards and tools. Potters, weavers and puppeteers work on site, and there are crafts to buy.