You feel Chennai before you understand it. The heat settles in first, then the traffic, then the steady movement of people already deep into their day. The drive from the airport offers a quick introduction: temple gopurams rising between flyovers, glass-fronted offices, roadside breakfasts unfolding without pause. It is a city that does not ease you in. You arrive, and it is already in motion.
My base was in T. Nagar, one of the city’s busiest neighbourhoods, where retail corridors and transport routes converge. This is also where I checked into The Residency Towers Chennai, a hotel that sits within the city’s density but creates a noticeable pause once you step inside. The city’s volume drops, replaced by a quieter interior, marked first by a faint patchouli scent.
Eighteen years had passed since my last visit to Tamil Nadu. What remained in memory was only a loose outline. Returning filled in the details, sharper, more immediate.
The Stay
By the time I reached T. Nagar, what I wanted was simple: space to slow down. The Club Suite at The Residency Towers Chennai, part of the hotel’s 174-room property, offered that without complication. Spread across 762 sq ft, the room is built around ease. Lights, temperature, drapes and even room service run through a single iPad, everything responding quickly without trial and error.
Once I settled in, the contrast between the city outside and the room became more apparent. Days moved quickly in Chennai, but the room gave me a place to reset in between. I found myself returning not just to rest, but to pause. I even finished a book I had been carrying for weeks, something that had felt unlikely before the trip began.
The next leg of the journey was a four-hour drive to Puducherry. Leaving the city behind brought a gradual shift. Traffic eased, the road opened up, and the pace changed. By the time I reached the coast, the transition felt complete.
In Puducherry, I checked into The Residency Towers Puducherry, a 75-room property, located close to the seafront and within easy reach of White Town. The setting was different, but the logic of the stay remained consistent. My Executive Suite, spread across 749 sq ft, carried over the same ease of use. The systems worked the same way, while small details, like hand-sketched illustrations, added a sense of variety without altering the overall experience.
Food And Drink
Food followed a similar pattern of continuity across both cities, with each space offering a slightly different setting without breaking the overall rhythm of the stay.
At The Residency Towers Chennai, Carnaby, the all-day dining restaurant set the tone early. A robotic assistant, Carny, moved across the floor, clearing plates and supporting service. Breakfast was straightforward, with dishes like avocado toast and podi masala dosa doing what they were meant to do without excess.
Dinner at SKY shifted the setting. The city stretched out below, while the menu moved through Asian flavours with local references. The lotus petal salad, turmeric soup, spicy tofu maki, and chicken chilli basil dumplings stood out. The Kollywood mocktail, built with curry leaf–infused lotus petal syrup, watermelon juice and tender coconut water, felt suited to the climate.
Triniti, the lounge bar, offered a slower pace with live jazz. The Spectrum cocktail, combining jasmine, cardamom, citrus and tequila, held its ground, while small plates like avocado and green chickpea chaat and braised mutton in paratha folds rounded out the experience. Outside, Chin Chin continues to operate as a familiar dining room, part of The Residency Chennai since 1991, adding a sense of continuity beyond the hotel itself. Dishes like shrimp and scallion dim sum, truffle-edamame mushroom, and crystal dumplings kept things consistent.
In Puducherry, the experience expands across multiple venues within The Residency Towers Puducherry. Pavilion handles multi-cuisine dining, while Abov, the rooftop space, focuses on pan-Asian plates. At Abov, dishes like pork belly skewers, ivy gourd dim sum, young jackfruit lotus stem rendang, and prawn moringa curry stood out. Bike & Barrel offers an English-style pub setting, while Krave focuses on pastries and breads. A pain au chocolat from Krave closed the evening on a measured note.
The Wellness Advantage
Wellness, too, follows the same continuity between the two properties, with each space adapting to its setting without changing the overall approach.
At The Residency Towers Chennai, Aavraa Spa approaches treatments with structure. The experience begins with a selection of drinks, followed by therapies such as Thai Herbal Poultice Therapy, which uses warm compresses to ease muscle tension. The floatation therapy, set in Epsom salt water, works well after long periods of movement.
In Puducherry, Respa continues along similar lines. The Ashwagandha therapy combines exfoliation and massage, ending with an herbal tea made from ashwagandha, brahmi, and liquorice. Other treatments, including Rasayana and mineral masks with neem, tulsi, or spirulina, follow a similar pattern, focusing on recovery.
Sustainability Woven In
Across both properties, sourcing is local. Ingredients come directly from nearby farmers, and food waste is converted into manure and returned to the soil. This closes the loop by connecting the kitchens back to the regions they operate in.
What stayed with me was not any one feature, but how easily the journey moved between places. Chennai did not slow down for the visitor. Puducherry did not need to explain itself. The transition happened along the road, through the rooms, and in the spaces in between.
By the end of the trip, the line between travel and stay had begun to blur. The Residency Towers no longer felt separate from the journey itself. Instead, it folded naturally into its rhythm, becoming less a place to return to and more a quiet extension of the experience.
The Information
Best time to visit: The best time to visit Chennai and Puducherry is between November and February, when the weather is relatively cooler and more pleasant for sightseeing and beach walks.
Getting there: The Residency Towers Chennai, on Sir Thyagaraya Road in T Nagar, is about 15 km from Chennai Airport and 6 km from Chennai Central, and can be reached by taxi, auto, metro (Teynampet), or bus. The Residency Towers Puducherry on Anna Salai is accessible by taxi from Puducherry Airport, while travellers from Chennai can reach by bus, train, or car via the scenic ECR in about 3–4 hours. Rooms at both properties can be booked through platforms such as MakeMyTrip, Booking.com, and Goibibo.
Looking for more such exciting and meaningful stories? Grab our latest issue on Amazon.
