What we thought was an invitation to experience the hospitality of a hotel metamorphosed into something that was totally unexpected, it turned out to be a melange of experiences that went beyond the ordinary and transcended the borders of the extraordinary. A journey that took us along with fellow bloggers on a trail that started from Chennai and ended in Chennai. We had an experiential journey that took us into the benign warmth of GRT properties in Chennai, Mahabalipuram, and Kanchipuram. We marvelled at the fascinating cuisine spread out before us with ingenious twists and turns that took food from the mundane plane of simple eating to many octaves higher, pushing the frontiers of innovation. Spectacular performances transported us into a different and magical world as the stars twinkled in the night sky and the waves of the sea crashed against the shore in the distance. The senses were then soothed with the serenity of Spas only to be taken to a high with activities like ATV riding and Zorbing. We were fascinated by the heritage and history of Mahabalipuram as we gazed in awe at the Shore temple. A visit to the Kanchipuram temple appealed to our spiritual senses and we then marvelled at the sheer artistry of the weavers who create magic through the famed Kanjeevaram Sarees. The time spent has carved out a niche in our minds that will cherish the memories for a long time. Here is a small slice of the affair that we had with GRT in pictures, it is indeed just the tip of the iceberg and we hope that this whets your appetite for more. We have a series of posts coming up about the wonderful experiences that we had with the GRT hotels and beyond. Do stay tuned for more exciting posts that are sure to capture your imagination.
The Salt Co 531 restaurant at Radisson Blu by GRT Hotels, Airport Road tantalisingly promises an unforgettable affair with food. A block of pink Himalayan salt, the very salt which legend has it that Alexander the Great accidentally discovered when his horses were licking some rocks! The restaurant is themed like a salt mine of yore and the food is bound to send your senses into raptures of ecstasy.
The gateway to a treasure trove of experiences, the entrance of the Radisson Blu Resort Temple Bay, Mamallapuram.
Waking up in the morning in the midst of nature must surely rank as one of the greatest experiences one can have. A hypnotic sunrise and maybe a game of beach volleyball sets the tone for an exciting day.
Spending some time at the sublime environs of the Bodhi Spa is sure to rejuvenate and recharge every cell of your body.
A massage with expert masseurs well versed in the traditional nuances of Kerala who use Ayurvedic oils to soothe frayed nerves, craving for relaxation.
Hit the temple trail to experience the intriguing magic of ancient temples and be fascinated by their history, in Mahabalipuram.
We bid a reluctant goodbye to Radisson Blu Resort Temple Bay and checked into another oasis of warmth and hospitality at the Regency by GRT in the temple town of Kanchipuram.
The opportunity to see how magic was weaved in Kanchipuram in the form of Kanjeevaram Sarees was something we could not resist.
Of course, we could not miss the magnificent temples of Kanchipuram which bewitch you with their grandeur.
As the afternoon sun reached its zenith and not before relishing a lunch cooked with the same ingredients of love and caring at the Regency by GRT, we headed back to Chennai to a Grand welcome at the Grand by GRT Hotels.
The Grand by GRT Hotels is a veritable treasure house of art, a wonderful mosaic that stitches together the best of culture and art from across India and the world.
A place where food has risen beyond the ordinary to evolve into a fine art.
Where food is not about chewing and ruminating, but about a holistic and thrilling experience and exciting storytelling.
How did you like this photo journey. As mentioned earlier, it is just a minuscule portion of what we experienced. We shall be back with more, do watch out this space for more about or exciting affair with GRT hotels.
We’d love if you’d comment and share this post.
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The Salt Co 531 restaurant looks so good! The foods are so interesting and the pink salt sounds like a really nice touch! I definitely want to try it out!
Lovely photos – sounds like a great experience. And by the way, I’m a big fan of Radisson hotels. They’re always great! Looks forward to more posts about it.
This looks incredible! All of the food has me swooning! It all looks so delicious. Also loving the way they combine whites with the bright colors.
This must have been an amazing experience! The temples of Kanchipuram look really impressing and so does, the restaurant on the picture. The restaurant indeed look like a house full of art with wonderful mosaic! I hope I can visit it one day! =)
Good coverage n photos
Th pictures tell me that you had a great time. Last month, I was in South India and I got a chance to see so much that I didn’t know. Chennai, Mahabalipuram, and Kanchipuram are still untouched for me. The story behind Himalayan salt sounds interesting.
What a beautiful trip you’ve had! I almost envy you, I am a foodie and the experiences you’ve had at the The Grand by GRT Hotels, where the dishes came with a story are definitely some to remember. I didn’t know that Alexander the Great discovered the Himalayan pink salt. It is so valued here in Europe!
Wow, you’ve captured the feel of the place so well here. The temples of Kanchipuram look wonderful and I’m sure there’s a great mix of culture and history. It’s definitely clear that you had a good time!
This looks like a really interesting trip! The Grand by GRT Hotels looks inviting, I like the arrangement of the food, makes me already hungry! Great story also about Alexander the Great, I didnt know this. Beautiful impressions, thank you for sharing your experiences!
It interest me to go to places where you come across food and really call it all pure fine art. The temples of Kanchipuram indeed looks charming!
This was just a glimpse of your journey? Then I think it’s amazing. You only showed a few things and it was enough to convince me to try GRT hotels. I like going to an accommodation that offers a whole lot more than what is expected, which is the case with GRT. The weaving looks very interesting. I have always wanted to watch how it’s done.
What a beautiful place! I love the 3D artwork!
Wow sounds like you were on quite a wild adventure! I have never been zorbing and would love to go on an ATV again. I haven’t been since i was a teenager. Your description of the experience is so vibrant, I can hear your enthusiasm in your words :).
Wow, it looks like this was a fun adventure (but all of your adventures look great!) I have to say the food at The Salt Co 531 looks AMAZING!!! The massage sounds great, too!
This is the perfect place to enjoy history, adventure, dining, and luxury! Zorbing is an activity that I’ve always been intrigued with. I personally can’t wait to hear more about your time at this posh place. 🙂
I have always thought that zorbing sounded fun! It would be such a unique thing to try.
Lovely capture, look forward to see more 🙂
Bodhi spa looks sooo relaxing and the hotel looks lavish. I love adventure so those ATV rides and zorbing would be right up my alley. Can’t wait to go down south and check them out.
Wonderful photo essay! All the three cities are beautiful and the stay in the hotels must have been grand.
I liked the roti presentation. 🙂
I have been following your blogs for quite some time! You guys never fail to deliver! This blog post, like the other ones, is so well written and aptly described! Simply loved reading it!
Good photo essay! I’ve heard that Kerala has some nice beaches. I am intrigued and want to pay a visit.
Nice photos! I have some friends who are from Chennai or Kerala and I’ve been hearing a lot of good things. They even treated me for Kerala food. LOL. I am looking forward to visit this place.
Nice Photos! It looks like you really had fun during your stay.
It sounds like you did a ton of stuff during your stay. I loved looking at all your photos. Beautiful.
The temples would be of great interest to myself. Plus would love to watch them weave. Looks like you had a wonderful experience and saw and ate so many different thing.
You have some great photos here. I love to travel all around the world and this place with these pictures make me want to go there soon.
What an amazing place to stay! Everything looks so classy and high end. I love all of your photos too! Thanks for sharing your adventure.
Very beautiful sights and views on this trip! I would love to relax soon in a tropical place.
Your stay looked fantastic! I love the bit about the restaurant mimicking a salt mine. Very cool!
This post sums up everything about the place. The foods, arts, culture, the places, and everything good about it.
This sounds like an interesting trip and all three places are great. Your pictures depict the beautiful sights and presentation in all these restaurants. Waiting for the next series of your posts.
What a fantastic trip! I love all of the photos and the food and views look amazing.
I don’t think Radisson hotels EVER disappoint. I love the descriptions and the views and the food. I’m so due for a vacation!
Waking up with nature can really be refreshing. You really had an awesome experience.
Wow what an amazing looking place to visit, the food looks delicious and the massage place I would love to nose around it seems very tranquil.
Omg you have done an amazing experience. This place is so fabulous and perfect for us! We’d like to visit the temples of Kanchipuram, they look something you can’t miss!! Good pics 🙂
Omg you have done an amazing experience. This place is so fabulous and perfect for us! We’d like to visit the temples of Kanchipuram, they look something you can’t miss!! Good pics 😀
I love the combination of watermelon and feta cheese. Did you play volleyball?
It sounds like such an interesting combination. I am going to have to try it myself I think.
Simply wow at your photos. I would love to travel to India and see its temples and especially try the amazing food.
Wow what a nice experience! I can definitely go for some volleyball, followed by a nice massage. Glad you had such a good time!
The Salt Co sounds like a really cool restaurant. What a unique premise! That watermelon looks delicious.
This looks like such an amazing trip! I traveled in southern India for a summer, and it was so full of culture and history. I would love to go back, and I will definitely have to visit Chennai.
It sounds like you had an amazing time there. This is the kind of experience that you want to have in a vacation. So beautiful.
Thanks for sharing your experience with us. It’s a beautiful place and you can’t really have an experience like this elsewhere.
What a tremendous experience. I loved the photos and the description of what you enjoyed. I wish I had been there to partake also. Looking forward to future posts from the GRT group.
This sounds like it was an amazing experience with a little bit of everything. Such great memories!
Wow what an experience! I love to explore new places and to enjoy them. That food looks so good!
It sounds like you had an amazing time indeed. Both these places sound amazing to stay at. The Bodhi Spa would indeed be something I would be enjoying. Thanks for sharing your amazing experiences and the awesome foods with the photos.
looks like a lot of fun during the trip! seeing the photos makes me wanna visit he place too! interesting!
I’m so happy for you! That’s a great place to experience the people’s culture. I sure want to go here too.
Would love to visit the temples of Kanchipuram! Your trip sounds amazing. I can’t wait to read more about it.
These are some great photos. It looks like you had an amazing trip. That food – I need to check it out sometime!
The watermelon slices on top of a Himalayan salt block look delicious. I like the creativity and uniqueness of the dishes. It makes the dining experience more interesting.
What an idyllic vacation you had! I would love to be able to visit these places at least once in my lifetime. I could use a good spa massage right now.
Radisson Blu Temple Bay looks oh so dreamy. The Salt Co. Restaurant sounds lovely, anything served on pink Himilayan rock salt block would be a winner with me! Great review.
Kristie – you.theworld.wandering
That’s really a wonderful trip! Parents need to know that this is an adult story, probably too dated to engage kids.
Wow! This sounds like an incredible experience! Your pictures are incredible!
I can’t wait to hear how your zorbing experience was, I’d love to try it! I Googled ATV riding as I hadn’t heard that expression before, certainly looked like a fun adventure. As for the food at Salt Co 531, it all looks very tasty and I love the sculptures on the walls
Thanks for sharing the wonderful photos. Not being familiar with Chennai. I found the photos really took me to the destination and now, I would like to go for a visit. It sounds like you had a good mix of activities on this adventure. For me, that is very important.
Wow, what a fantastic high end experience! I think adjectives such as artisan and refined are wholly justified here, as this is genuine luxury through and through for the mind, body and soul. Have never stayed at a Raddison Blu before; maybe that’s something to look in to doing next time I’m on the road 🙂
I don’t travel near enough although I’d like to change that. The food looks and sounds delicious and I bet it was. The salt sounds interesting to be sure. I love all of your photos the scenes are just gorgeous.
Traveling to places like this make me want to stay! The place is so beautiful and the food is perfect. Hopefully, I can visit India someday.
I come back to your blog almost everyday and I am really amazed at the beauty India has to offer. I wish I could visit someday. Those hotels are awesome!
I’m so glad you included the full coconut photo because I zoomed right in on it up top. I’ve only heard the loveliest things about Kerala. I would love to visit. It truly looks like an architecture junkie’s dream!
What an epic adventure! I love how some days one thing morphs into something totally different.
The GRT hotels from your glimpse look wonderful to stay at; definitely an affair to remember. I enjoyed the details about the dish at Salt Co 531. How neat to have the food presented on the himalayan salt. I look forward to your detailed post about the GRT hotels.
Pictures are awesome in the blog.
Volleyball on the beach would never fail me, that’s for sure. And oh, that first photo of the food just made me drool. The way foods were presented were beyond arts. Lovely Xx
This place looks amazing! I would love to visit, and the food looks so good too!
Looks like a great experience! I have been to Mahabalipuram a few times when I lived in Chennai but never went to a GRT hotel in the area. Glad you enjoyed yourselves so much!
The Salt Co 531 restaurant caught my eye immediately. It looks fantastic. India is very much on my ever growing wish list.
It looks like quite an experience indeed. I love that you have access to the beach and that would be the perfect spot to watch the sunrise or sunset!
I loved that the restaurant was themed as a salt mine in yore. It certainly looks like you had a grand experience. I would love to know more about the weavers who weave kanjeevaram sarees, those sarees are so much loved in my native place, Kolkata.
Looks super inviting! Thanks a lot for sharing. Would be great to visit this place one day.
What a fun experience! I use pink Himalayan salt often when I’m cooking, but have never seen food served on a block of the salt – fascinating! I would also love to watch the sarees being weaved.
Very beautiful place to visit and relax. Take in all the food. Believe I have commented on this before. Wonder around the grounds and work up an appetite.
Lovely photos. Looks like a beautiful place to visit. I also use pink Himalayan salt often when I’m cooking.
What a beautiful photo tour you’ve given us! That watermelon (I think that is what it is!) looks so ripe and delicious! I’d love to visit all of those places.
Chennai and all pictures looks great. I can’t wait to go India. Thanks for writing, keep traveling 🙂
Dear Sandy & Vijay,
Love how you’ll have covered so many aspects of your experience in one post! You’ll are definitely amongst the few travel writers and bloggers whose writing style I love. Keep those posts coming 🙂
What an amazing experience you all had indeed. The photos are all amazing and the GRT hotels all seem wonderful. You can see it is much more than just the hotel stays. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
This place is remarkable! I love your trivia about Alexander and his horse. I’ll add this to my wish list.
This looks like it was an amazing trip! I love your photos, they really captured the whole experience
It sounds like you had a brilliant time! The photography is stunning too. That food! Wow, my mouth is still watering!
The photos are really nice. May I suggest that you break up the paragraphs more? Your first paragraph is super long with no breaks which makes it hard to read.
What a beautiful place to visit and stay at. It sounds like you all had an amazing time.
That looks like an absolutely amazing place to stay! Sign me up for about a week at that spa!
What an awesome post with great pictures! Looks like you had a wonderful time and experience.
I’m a sucker for great food, the food from The Salt Co 531 restaurant looks good. I love a great experience.
Sounds like a great experience. The food looks delish. ATV riding, zorbing, spa! Amazing!
Wow, what beautiful captures of your special journey. Thank you for sharing this with us and letting us see some glimpses of the beautiful journey you have.
Amazing photos. India has so much to offer its visitors. I would love to see someone weave in action. That is so labor-intensive! I hope to visit India someday.
I happened to get a taste of the Radisson Blu Mahabalipuram during my Golden Chariot trip when we stopped there for lunch. It struck me as lovely and from your pics I can see that I was not wrong! Did they also, greet you shell garlands? 🙂 I still use mine as an accessory.
Wow – it seems like you got to experience so much! The hotel looks beautiful and all that food looks so delicious. And topping it all off with the spa – it seems so relaxing!
You write this piece with so much gusto. It’s like reading a very enthralling novel about the GRT properties. I was hooked from the beginning. Great writing.
This is a great write up and sounds like an amazing experience you had! The food looks delicious and I love all the activities that are available!
Beautifully composed images. The food looks quite inviting and the interiors are welcoming. Tamilnadu has always been popular for its traditional meals and your post here reassures that fact.