Bangkok, Thailand to Chennai, India from $220

🌍 About chennai

Chennai is South India's coast — hot, devout, and serious about its coffee. The neighbourhood to head for is Mylapore, the old temple quarter around Kapaleeshwarar, a 7th-century Shiva temple whose rainbow-painted gopuram tower is stacked with hundreds of granite figures; the streets around it run on filter coffee, served frothed between a steel tumbler and a dabarah. Eat a Chettinad pepper chicken if you want the region's real fire, or idli with sambar for the gentlest breakfast on earth. Marina Beach is the world's longest urban beach at 13 km, best at dawn before the heat. Come November to February, when days sit around 25–30°C. Skip March to May — Chennai routinely hits 40°C and the humidity is brutal.