Things to Do at Chennai Airport

Here is the problem with almost every guide to Chennai airport currently on the internet: it describes an airport that has been rebuilt.

You will read that Terminal 3 handles international arrivals and Terminal 4 handles international departures. That was true once. Terminal 3 has been demolished, and Terminal 4 was converted to domestic. If a guide tells you to go to T3, it is describing a building that is not there.

So start with the map.

Which terminal do you need

• Terminal 2 is the New Integrated Terminal Building, and it is the international terminal. Flight operations began there in July 2023 and it has expanded in phases since.
• Terminal 1 is domestic.
• Terminal 4 was built for international and is now domestic.
• Terminal 3, the old international terminal, was demolished once the new building opened, to make room for phase 2.

A new Terminal 3 is being built in its place as that phase 2, and it is running behind. Reporting in May 2026 put the work at around 40 per cent, with the new terminal now targeted to open around March 2027. So the airport you fly through in 2027 will not be the one you fly through now, and the one piece of advice that will not go out of date is this: check the terminal on your boarding pass on the day you fly, and do not assume the return leg matches the outbound.

You will also notice the airport's own listings still mix the old naming with the new, describing outlets as being at the "Domestic Terminal" or "International Terminal" rather than by number. That is not you misreading it.

What to see inside Terminal 2

Chennai does not have Mumbai's art museum or Bengaluru's bamboo. What it has is a terminal built deliberately as a piece of Tamil Nadu rather than as a generic glass box, and the detail rewards looking up.

• The entrances draw on Dravidian temple architecture, the form you will recognise from temple gopurams across the state.
• The floors and ceilings carry kolam patterns. Kolam designs are worked into the terrazzo flooring, and the ceiling motif lights repeat them overhead. If you have ever seen a doorstep in Chennai at dawn, the reference lands immediately.
• The ceiling texture is a saree. The false ceiling is folded to read as pleated fabric, a reference to the costume a Bharatanatyam dancer wears.
• The canopy is a dance pose. The wave along the departure kerb canopy is derived from Bharatanatyam, and the columns inside are shaped to read as palm trees.

It takes ten minutes and no money, and it is the only thing at this airport that other airports do not also have.

Where to eat at Chennai airport

This is where Chennai loses to Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, and pretending otherwise does nobody a favour. The offering is thin and the prices are high for what you get. Plan around it, and know which places are worth your time.

One rule before the list: eat before you go airside at Terminal 2. Past immigration the choice narrows sharply.

Sangeetha and Geetham (Terminals 1 and 4)

The two South Indian vegetarian names on the domestic side, and the reliable choice if you are flying out of T1 or T4. Sangeetha is a Chennai chain most locals have eaten at a hundred times; Geetham sits alongside it. Full meals, tiffin items, and the sort of food you actually want before a flight rather than the sort you regret at 30,000 feet.

Madras Coffee House (domestic departures)

If you only do one thing on this list, do this one. Proper South Indian filter coffee, made the way it should be, in the city that takes it most seriously. It is a small thing and it is the single most Chennai experience available inside this airport.

Idli.com (Terminal 2, past immigration)

On the left as you clear immigration and head towards the gates. It is decent, it is South Indian, and it is one of very few real options on the international side. It is not cheap and the range is limited, so treat it as the answer to "I need to eat before a long flight" rather than as a destination.

A2B, Adyar Ananda Bhavan (Terminal 2)

At the far end of the terminal near the restrooms, which is why people miss it and end up at whatever is nearest the gate. A2B is a Tamil Nadu institution with a menu that runs well beyond tiffin, and it is the better of the two sit-down options past immigration.

The Irish House (Terminal 2)

The bar on the international side, and the answer if your flight is late enough to justify one. There is not much competition for that job in T2.

Copper Chimney (domestic departures)

North Indian, sit-down, on the domestic side. Worth knowing about if you have a long wait at T1 and do not want another dosa.

The chains, for completeness

Cafe Coffee Day and Hot Breads trade across the terminals. Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Cafeccino, Coffee Box, Krispy Kreme, Pizza Hut and Chaatwala fill in the rest, mostly on the domestic side.

What to buy at Chennai airport

Sri Krishna Sweets

The one genuinely local thing here, and the reason to leave room in your bag. Mysore pak is what Sri Krishna Sweets is known for, and a box travels far better than most airport souvenirs. Buy it on the way out rather than at the start of a long day.

Duty free (Terminal 2)

Duty free is on the international side only. Coming into India, customs allows an arriving passenger a free allowance of ₹50,000, which includes up to 2 litres of alcohol and 100 cigarettes, 25 cigars or 125g of tobacco. Anything past that is dutiable.

Where to sleep and shower

Sleepzo sleep capsules (domestic arrivals, near belt 1)

Reading light, charging points, USB, luggage storage, hourly slots, and a pod takes one adult plus a child.

Two caveats most guides skip. There are only a handful of capsules, so this is a lucky break rather than a plan. And they are on the domestic side, which means an international transit passenger who has not cleared immigration cannot reach them at all.

Retiring rooms and nearby hotels

The airport has retiring rooms, and there are hotels a short drive away. For an overnight stop these are the sensible option: the terminals themselves are not comfortable places to sit out a night.

Lounges

Lounges at both the domestic and international terminals cover showers, food and Wi-Fi. The 2026 caveat applies here as everywhere in India: complimentary access on Indian bank cards increasingly depends on your previous quarter's spend, so check your own bank's app rather than a blog.

Getting from Chennai airport into the city

The metro, which actually works here

This is Chennai's genuine advantage over every other big Indian airport, and it is buried in most guides.

Bengaluru has no metro to the airport and will not until 2027 at the earliest. Hyderabad has none and no opening date. Chennai has had one for years. The Chennai Metro Blue Line serves the airport, the station concourse links to the terminals, and shuttles run between the station and the terminal doors.

Taxis, and how far it actually is

The airport is roughly 20 km from the city, rather than the 35 to 40 km at Bengaluru and Hyderabad. That closeness plus the metro changes the layover maths completely.

Should you leave on a layover?

At Chennai, on a domestic layover of four hours or more, yes. This is the one big Indian airport where that is a reasonable idea rather than an optimistic one. St Thomas Mount is close enough for a short stop. The Marina and the city centre need longer.

How to move between terminals

The domestic terminals and Terminal 2 sit on the same campus, and the airport runs a free shuttle between them. A terminal change here is less punishing than at Mumbai, where the two terminals are 6 km apart, but it is still a landside move: you leave, you ride, you check in and clear security again.

Treat a domestic-to-international connection as needing three hours. And remember that arriving internationally with a domestic onward leg means clearing immigration, collecting your bags, clearing customs and re-checking them, whatever the tag on the bag says.

What to do on a 2, 4 or 8 hour layover

Under two hours. Security and the gate. Get coffee.

Two to three hours, Terminal 2. Walk the terminal and look at the ceiling, then eat at A2B or Idli.com before you settle at the gate rather than after.

Three to four hours, domestic. Sangeetha or Geetham, filter coffee at Madras Coffee House, Sri Krishna Sweets for the flight, and a sleep capsule if one is free.

Four to eight hours, domestic, no visa problem. This is the one Indian airport where going into the city is genuinely sensible. Take the metro.

Overnight. Retiring rooms or a hotel nearby.

Practical tips before you fly

• Check the terminal number, not the terminal name. The old and new naming are both still in circulation, including on official listings.
• Eat before security at Terminal 2. The airside choice past immigration is genuinely limited.
• Buy the mysore pak. Sri Krishna Sweets is the one thing here you cannot get at every other Indian airport.
• Give a terminal change three hours. It is a landside transfer, not a walk.
• The metro is the answer to Chennai traffic, in both directions, and it is the reason a Chennai layover is worth leaving for when a Bengaluru one is not.