Tempo Traveller on rent in Chennai

Chennai families travel in numbers, to temples, to weddings, to the beach on a Sunday evening, and a Tempo Traveller in Chennai is how a group of twelve or twenty stays together through all of it. RutzIndia.com rents Force Travellers in 12, 17, 20 and 26-seat versions with a chauffeur for city days, airport runs from Meenambakkam, ECR trips to Mahabalipuram and Pondicherry, and pilgrim drives to Tirupati, Kanchipuram and Tiruvannamalai. Fares are fixed online before you pay.

Chennai Tempo Traveller fare guide

Chennai is on national base pricing. Below are the fares for the trips Chennai groups ask about most often, calculated from those rates.

On top of the vehicle fare, tolls on the ECR, OMR and national highways, parking, and the Andhra Pradesh permit for Tirupati trips are charged at what they actually cost. Each night the chauffeur spends away adds an allowance of Rs 1,500. The minimum-distance rule means a relaxed two-day Pondicherry weekend costs the same as a packed one, so take your time. Details sit on our fares page.

Kilometre rate, daily floor and bata for each van

Temple tours from Chennai often run four or five days, so organisers want the kilometre rate, the daily minimum and the driver's bata in one place. Here they are for every van we run, with Madurai and Rameswaram over four days, about 1,150 km, as the worked example.

For the Madurai-Rameswaram tour, three nights of bata, tolls and temple parking are extra, along with 5% GST on the fare. Inside Chennai, weddings that start with a pre-dawn muhurtham and end with an evening reception usually outrun eight hours; for them we quote a 12-hour, 120 km day, calculated as the full-day fare increased by half plus 40 km at the van's per-km rate. That puts a Traveller at about Rs 32,370 Pay Now to Reserve, an Urbania at about Rs 44,580 Pay Now to Reserve and a mini bus at about Rs 68,400 Pay Now to Reserve, all before tax.

The five Traveller sizes, seen through Chennai trips

Every Chennai van is a high-roof Force Traveller with ceiling AC vents over each row, reclining seats, Bluetooth audio and a covered carrier. Chennai's roads are mostly flat, so length matters mainly in temple towns with tight car streets and in Mylapore's lanes.

9 recliners: families with elders on temple tours

Grandparents on a Navagraha or Divya Desam circuit spend long hours seated. A cabin with only nine broad recliners in the 12-seat body gives them room to stretch at the ordinary Traveller rate. The 10-seat Force Urbania, with its lower step, is the other comfortable choice.

12 seats: airport runs and Tirumala

For arrivals at Meenambakkam with suitcases, and for the Tirumala ghat, the 12-seater is ideal: a real boot and a body that climbs the ghat road without drama. Layouts are compared on our 12-seater Tempo Traveller page.

17 seats: OMR team outings

Seventeen is a common team size in the Sholinganallur and Siruseri IT parks, and the 17-seater suits a day at an ECR beach resort or a trip to Mahabalipuram. A city day at Rs 19,500 Pay Now to Reserve split seventeen ways is under Rs 1,170 each.

20 seats: wedding guests between hotels and mandapams

Twenty-seat vans shuttle relatives between hotels in T. Nagar and Egmore and kalyana mandapams across the city. They are long enough to move a family block and fit most mandapam driveways.

26 seats: colleges and big families

College study tours and very large families use the 26-seater for ECR days and for Pondicherry. Inside temple towns such as Kumbakonam, it parks outside and the group walks in. For more than 26, compare the mini bus on rent and a larger bus.

Plain, premium or Urbania: the comfort ladder

Most Chennai bookings are for the plain Traveller, whose bench-style reclining rows are perfectly fine for a day at Mahabalipuram or an overnight at Tirupati. If your dates catch one of the premium-fitted vans, with individual armchair seats instead of benches, you get it without paying more per kilometre. The Urbania is where comfort genuinely jumps: independent suspension, a flat floor, a low entry step and a hushed cabin. Its price is Rs 102 per kilometre, or Rs 27,000 Pay Now to Reserve for a day within Chennai, and on a five-day temple tour with grandparents we think it earns every rupee.

More trips from Chennai, budgeted per van

Read each row from right to left: what a treasurer should collect per van is on the left, worked out as the fare with 5% GST added and then the smallest and largest possible bata. Road tolls, border fees, parking, rooms and temple fees are separate.

If only four or five of you are going, temple circuits cost far less in a sedan or Innova; see the pilgrimage taxi options. Tours that end in Bengaluru or Kerala rather than back in Chennai can be split, with the last days run by our Bangalore Tempo Traveller or Kochi Tempo Traveller crews.

Border levies from Chennai

Inside Tamil Nadu, our Chennai-registered vans pay no entry levy. Tirupati, Srikalahasti and Sriharikota are in Andhra Pradesh; Pondicherry town is in the union territory of Puducherry; Bengaluru, Mysore and Coorg are in Karnataka; Munnar and Kerala's hill stations need a Kerala entry. Their check posts collect a tourist-vehicle fee on the way in; our chauffeur settles it and the invoice carries the same figure as the receipt, nothing more. The schedules are set by the states and published through the national transport portal, Parivahan.

Chennai localities we serve

Pickups run across the city and its suburbs:

• Central and south: T. Nagar, Mylapore, Alwarpet, Royapettah, Nungambakkam, Egmore, Kilpauk, Adyar, Besant Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur
• West: Anna Nagar, Kodambakkam, Vadapalani, Ashok Nagar, KK Nagar, Porur, Valasaravakkam
• South and airport side: Guindy, Velachery, St Thomas Mount, Pallavaram, Chromepet, Tambaram
• IT corridor and ECR: Perungudi, Thoraipakkam, Sholinganallur, Navalur, Siruseri, Neelankarai, Injambakkam
• North and west industrial: Ambattur, Avadi, Sriperumbudur, Oragadam

Office groups sometimes find a metro station the easiest meeting point; the Chennai Metro links the airport, Guindy, Alandur and the central stations.

On board a Chennai van

Vans leave the yard swept and wiped, with a medical kit, a fire extinguisher, a belt at every seat and charging sockets on most rows. On temple tours families often carry flowers, coconuts and puja items; the chauffeur keeps a clean space for them. Summer heat from April to June is intense, so carry plenty of water or ask the travel desk to add some. No smoking or alcohol in the vehicle.

Monthly vans and staff transport

IT companies on OMR and manufacturers in Sriperumbudur and Oragadam often need vans every day. Our employee transport services plan shift routes, and a monthly car rental with driver plan fixes a chauffeur and a monthly kilometre allowance, invoiced once a month with GST.

Airport, station and OMR pickups

Chennai International Airport (MAA) at Meenambakkam is one of the closest big-city airports to its centre: typically 15 to 20 km to T. Nagar, Egmore or Nungambakkam, and 25 to 30 km to the OMR IT corridor at Sholinganallur. Almost every hotel falls inside the Rs 10,740 Pay Now to Reserve transfer. The chauffeur tracks your flight and waits with a name board at arrivals; after an international landing the first 60 minutes of waiting are free, after a domestic one 30 minutes, and further waiting is billed at the hourly rate. The Airports Authority of India publishes terminal information on its Chennai airport page.

Rail groups arrive at Chennai Central (Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central) or Egmore; both have busy forecourts, so the chauffeur fixes a meeting point at a named gate. Corporate groups are usually collected from office campuses on OMR, in Guindy and around Ambattur. Families of four can use the Chennai airport taxi for less.

Meenambakkam transfer fares by neighbourhood

Chennai's airport is unusually close to the city, so the Rs 10,740 Pay Now to Reserve transfer, which covers 40 km, reaches almost every address. Beyond 40 km, the van charges Rs 78 per kilometre.

The GST Road and the Guindy-Kathipara flyovers carry most airport traffic; the chauffeur picks the route by the hour.

The Navagraha temple circuit

Families from Chennai often book a Traveller for the nine Navagraha temples around Kumbakonam, each associated with one of the celestial bodies: Suriyanar Koil, Thingalur, Vaitheeswaran Koil, Thiruvenkadu, Alangudi, Kanjanur, Thirunallar, Thirunageswaram and Keezhaperumpallam. They lie within about 60 km of Kumbakonam but are scattered along small roads, so a full circuit takes two focused days on the ground. With the drive from Chennai, about 280 km each way, most families take four days, which bills at least 1,000 km: Rs 78,000 Pay Now to Reserve in a Traveller before GST, plus three nights of bata. Thirunallar, the Saturn temple, is in Karaikal, part of the union territory of Puducherry, so one entry fee applies. Temple timings close in the afternoon, so the chauffeur plans mornings and evenings around them and uses the midday break for the drive between clusters.

Planning vans for a Chennai wedding

For a Tamil wedding with a 6 am muhurtham at a mandapam in West Mambalam or Kodambakkam, and a 7 pm reception, a plan for about 80 guests staying in two hotels might be:

The total is about Rs 1,54,020 Pay Now to Reserve before GST and parking. The couple's own car is covered on our Chennai wedding car page.

Who drives our Chennai vans

Our Chennai chauffeurs hold commercial passenger licences, are police-verified and speak Tamil and working English, many also Hindi or Telugu. They know the temple-town car streets, the Alipiri checks at Tirupati and the ECR's weekend bottlenecks. They do not drink on duty, keep to passenger-van speed limits and never overload the van.

Mahabalipuram and the East Coast Road

The ECR is Chennai's weekend road. Mahabalipuram (Mamallapuram), about 55 to 60 km south, is home to the Shore Temple, the Pancha Rathas and Arjuna's Penance, protected monuments maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India. A day trip usually adds Dakshinachitra's heritage village, the crocodile bank near Vadanemmeli, and seafood at Kovalam (Covelong) on the way back. The round trip is around 130 km, billed as one outstation day at Rs 19,500 Pay Now to Reserve. Leave early; the stone monuments get very hot after noon from March to June.

Continuing down the coast, Pondicherry is about 150 km. A one-way Traveller drop costs 150 x Rs 78 = Rs 11,700 Pay Now to Reserve before tolls, and a weekend return is billed at the two-day minimum. For cars on this route, see the Chennai to Pondicherry taxi page. Auroville, the French Quarter's Rue Romain Rolland and the Promenade are all easy by van, though the White Town's lanes are narrow and parking is regulated.

A Pondicherry weekend for a group of fourteen

Pondicherry is the most booked weekend from Chennai, and a Traveller keeps a group of friends or a family together without anyone driving. A plan that works:

• Saturday 7 am: leave Chennai on the ECR, breakfast at a roadside tiffin stop near Kalpakkam, a short photo stop at the Mudaliarkuppam backwaters.
• Saturday 11 am: reach Pondicherry and check in. Afternoon in White Town: the French Quarter's yellow villas, the Aurobindo Ashram (quiet, with its own visiting hours), and the promenade at sunset, which is closed to traffic in the evenings.
• Sunday morning: Auroville's visitor centre and the Matrimandir viewing point, then Paradise Beach by the backwater ferry at Chunnambar.
• Sunday 4 pm: drive back, reaching Chennai around 8 pm.

Two days bill 500 km at the daily floor, Rs 39,000 Pay Now to Reserve in a Traveller before GST, plus one night of bata, the Puducherry entry fee, ECR tolls and parking. Split fourteen ways, the van costs under Rs 3,000 a head for the weekend. White Town's lanes are narrow and parking is regulated, so the chauffeur drops at the hotel and parks outside the quarter.

ECR resort offsites for OMR teams

The resorts between Muttukadu and Mahabalipuram are the default offsite venue for OMR's IT teams, being 20 to 40 km from Sholinganallur. A 17 or 20-seater collects the team at the office, drops at the resort and returns in the evening; as long as the day stays within 8 hours and 80 km it is billed at Rs 19,500 Pay Now to Reserve. Many teams add a sunset stop at the Shore Temple, which pushes the distance a little past 80 km and adds a few kilometres at Rs 78 each.

Medical visitors to Chennai

Chennai's hospitals draw patients from across India, Bangladesh, the Gulf and Africa. Families often arrive with several relatives and luggage for a long stay. A Traveller or Urbania on the arrival day moves everyone and the bags together; after that, a sedan or Innova is usually more practical for daily hospital runs. Tell the desk if a passenger uses a wheelchair; the Urbania's lower step helps.

Temple circuits from Chennai

Tirupati and Tirumala

Tirupati is about 140 to 150 km north-west, three and a half to four hours. Groups with darshan slots usually leave Chennai at 3 or 4 am. At Alipiri, the foot of the hills, vehicles and luggage are checked before the ghat road up to Tirumala, where traffic follows one-way up and down roads. An overnight trip is billed at 500 km, Rs 39,000 Pay Now to Reserve, plus the Andhra Pradesh tourist permit and one night allowance. The temple trust's official site lists darshan booking and dress code rules.

Kanchipuram

The temple town of Kanchipuram, about 75 km west, has Ekambareswarar, Kamakshi Amman and Kailasanathar temples and the silk-weaving streets. A day return of about 150 km is billed as one outstation day. Many wedding families combine it with silk-sari shopping.

Tiruvannamalai

About 190 km away, Tiruvannamalai's Arunachaleswarar temple and the Ramana ashram draw large crowds on each full-moon night for the Girivalam walk around the hill, and enormous crowds for Karthigai Deepam in November or December. On those nights the town restricts vehicles; the chauffeur drops and collects at agreed points.

Vellore and Yelagiri

The Sripuram golden temple at Vellore is about 140 km. Yelagiri, a small hill station 230 km away, suits a two-day family break.

Book a Chennai Tempo Traveller

A Chennai city day for visiting relatives

When the family flies in from Delhi or the Gulf and everyone wants to see the city together, this is the day our chauffeurs suggest, and it fits the 8 hr / 80 km package at Rs 19,500 Pay Now to Reserve.

1. 7:30 am, Kapaleeshwarar temple, Mylapore. Early darshan before the crowds, a walk around the temple tank and filter coffee at one of the old tiffin rooms nearby.
2. 9:30 am, San Thome Basilica and a short drive along the Marina, India's longest urban beach, past the lighthouse.
3. 11 am, Fort St George and St Mary's Church, then the Government Museum and the Bronze Gallery in Egmore, which holds one of the finest collections of Chola bronzes anywhere.
4. 2 pm, lunch in T. Nagar, followed by an hour of silk and jewellery shopping around Ranganathan Street and Pondy Bazaar while the van waits nearby.
5. 5 pm, Besant Nagar, the Ashtalakshmi temple by the sea and a sunset walk on Elliot's Beach before the drive back.

If the group would rather keep it short, the first three stops fit the 4 hr / 40 km slot at Rs 11,700 Pay Now to Reserve.

What the Chennai fare covers

Included: the vehicle, a verified chauffeur, fuel for the package or billed distance, air-conditioning throughout, and the chauffeur's meals on single-day trips. Not included: 5% GST, tolls, state permits, parking, entry tickets and darshan fees, and the night allowance on trips with an overnight stop. Nothing is added after you pay except those actual costs, each with a receipt where one is issued.

Chennai traffic, festivals and the monsoon

Chennai's busiest corridors are Anna Salai, the Kathipara junction at Guindy, Poonamallee High Road and OMR, which crawl roughly between 8:30 and 11 am and 5:30 and 9 pm on weekdays. The temple lanes of Mylapore are too tight for a 26-seater, so the chauffeur drops near the tank and waits in a permitted spot.

The city's rain comes late. The north-east monsoon from October to December brings heavy spells and occasional cyclone warnings that can flood subways and low-lying roads; the chauffeur will re-route or pause when the police advise. The same months are also festival season: Deepavali, Karthigai Deepam and the Margazhi music season in December, when the sabhas around Mylapore, T. Nagar and Alwarpet fill every evening. Pongal in mid-January sends families home to their villages, and Travellers for that week sell out quickly. The Chennai district administration posts public notices during floods and festivals.

Luggage, temple items and what to keep inside

A 12-seat Traveller's boot takes roughly eight to ten medium suitcases, and the roof carrier takes more under a rain cover, which is essential from October to December. On temple tours, keep puja baskets, flowers and prasad inside the cabin; the chauffeur keeps a clean corner for them, away from shoes. Most Tamil Nadu temples require footwear to be left outside, so leaving it in the van is easiest. For Tirumala, remember that phones and bags are deposited before darshan; the van is the safest place for anything you will not need in the queue.

Why the minimum is 250 km a day

People sometimes ask why a relaxed trip costs the same as a busy one. The reason is simple: when the van and chauffeur are away with you, they cannot take another booking. The 250 km daily floor is how that day is paid for, whether you drive 90 km to a temple and rest, or 400 km across the state. The upside is freedom: once you have booked the day, extra detours up to 250 km cost nothing, so an unplanned stop at a coastal temple or a longer lunch is on the house. On a Pondicherry weekend, for instance, the group can add Auroville, Paradise Beach and a detour to the Chunnambar boathouse without changing the bill, provided the day stays within its 250 km.

Weddings, offices and college groups

Tamil weddings often begin before dawn with the muhurtham, and guests need to reach the kalyana mandapam from hotels across the city on time. Travellers on the 8 hr / 80 km package shuttle relatives from hotels in T. Nagar, Egmore and Vadapalani to the hall, and back for the evening reception. The couple's car is covered on our wedding car rental in Chennai page.

IT companies along OMR and in Guindy book Travellers for team outings to ECR resorts and for client visits to the Sriperumbudur and Oragadam industrial belts, with a GST invoice in the company's name. College groups use 26-seaters for educational tours to Mahabalipuram and Kanchipuram, and sports teams book them for tournaments at the stadiums in Chepauk and Nehru Park, where the van can wait in the team parking area rather than on the road outside. Hospitals in Chennai also draw families from across India and abroad for treatment; a Traveller booked for the arrival day moves the patient's relatives and luggage together, and the desk can then switch the family to a smaller car for daily hospital runs.

Seat choices and other vehicles

For ten people with luggage, a 12-seat Traveller; for fifteen with day bags, the 17-seater; for school or office groups of twenty-plus, the 20 or 26-seater. Senior travellers heading to Tirupati often prefer the Force Urbania, which rides more smoothly on the ghat road. Groups of 25 to 35 should look at the mini bus on rent. For six or fewer, the Chennai taxi service with an Innova at Rs 12,600 Pay Now to Reserve for a city day is far cheaper. Travelling on to Bengaluru? Compare our Bangalore to Chennai taxi fares for the same road in reverse.

Booking and cancellation

Book on the RutzIndia.com booker, check the fixed fare and pay by card or UPI. The chauffeur's name and number plate reach you the evening before; call us or WhatsApp the desk for changes. All vehicles are within four model years, air-conditioned and cleaned before each duty.

There is no cancellation charge up to 72 hours before your pickup. Closer than that we keep 10% of the fare, half of it inside 48 hours, and all of it inside the last 24 hours or on a no-show. The cancellation policy page explains date changes and monsoon disruptions.