Special Events
From early January for four weeks there's the Mamallapuram Dance Festival. Dances from all over India are staged here including Bharatha Natyam ( Tamil Nadu), Kathakali (Kerla), Kuchupudi (Andhra Pradesh) as well as tribal dances, puppet shows and classical ,traditional music. Pick up a leaflet of events of the tourist office in Chennai.

Beach
The village itself is only a couple of hundred metres from the wide beach, north of the Shore temple, where local fishers pull in their boats. The local toilet is also here and a walk along the beach is an exercise in sidestepping the turds, south of the Shore temple or 500 m or so north, it becomes cleaner.