Every time we’ve flown in and out of Chennai, I’ve had my eyes on the hills right opposite the airport. Earlier this week, I found the access road to the Pallavaram Forest Hill and we decided to explore it over the weekend. We initially thought it might make sense to take the metro to the airport and then cross under NH45 using the Trisulam subway to make our way to the start of the hill. Decided to drive over instead and were able to find parking right near the police assistance booth on the approach road. This map has all the navigation cues you might need to access the hill. There are two ways to access this hill - One using a flight of stairs up to the Balamurugan temple and then a dirt trail from there to the hill-top. And the other is to follow the tarred road up from the village. We chose the latter since it was close to where we ended up parking the car.

  • Chennai airport right across NH45

  • More hills far across the Horizon!

  • Balamurugan temple atop the hill

  • Pastel colors and a blasted hill…

As you make your way up the winding trail, you get to see the airport right across and the Trisulam TTRS control building. Further up, you get a birds eye view of Chennai and the surrounding hills. I mentally take note of what I think is the Trisulam hill and its canyon further out. There has to be an access path to that hill too! The climb reminded us of the tekdi runs we used to do in Pune. All the way on the top, a policeman stands guard to an eerie, derelict building. We turn around and on our way back find a dirt trail on the left which leads to an interesting view-point. Still quite intrigued by the lone standing short rock pillar overlook!

I missed turning on my garmin. But it’s about a two/three km easily accessible out and back stretch. The road gets cleaner the higher you climb and I absolutely see this as a great training ground for up-hills.