Marina Beach

Marina Beach runs for about 13 km along the Bay of Bengal in Chennai, making it one of the longest urban beaches in the world. In the 1880s Governor Mountstuart Grant Duff laid out a promenade here and called it the Madras Marina, and before independence it served as a gathering point for freedom fighters. A lighthouse stands close to the sand.

The seafront is lined with monuments. The Triumph of Labour, Debi Prasad Roy Chowdhury's sculpture of four men heaving a rock, went up on Republic Day 1959. Statues of Tamil literary figures such as Thiruvalluvar, Avvaiyar and Bharathidasan followed in 1968, and memorials to Kannagi and to leaders including Anna, MGR, Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi came later. Stalls sell roasted corn, sundal and fried fish.