A magical world that will come alive at night with hundreds of flowers that will light up, seats that will glow when you sit on them, 3D animals and selfie points is getting ready in Mamallapuram. It will also have a toy train that will run for a distance of 700 feet. After the tourist town’s monuments close for the day, the garden will be a place for families and children to enjoy themselves.
Coming up inside the ‘Maragatha Poonga’ belonging to the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC), the night garden will also have facilities for entertainment during the day time like arcade games, soft play areas and bumper cars.
“We also have an indoor garden that will have six sections with indoor waterfalls, bird and animal zones, butterfly zones and paintings,” explained a source.
Sources in the TTDC said that the work was nearly complete and that the trial run was on. “Of the one lakh square feet of area, about 10,000 sq. ft. has buildings, which amounts to just 10%. The rest is open to sky. We have worked around the existing trees inside the Maragatha Poonga,” said another source associated with the project.
These also focus on the concept of glow in the dark.
The project is coming up under public-private partnership mode with land being provided by TTDC and Sunvin Mamallapuram Glow Garden LLP developing, operating and maintaining the facilities, including an amphitheatre, small food court, rest rooms and seating arrangements.
Balan, a tourist guide, said that the plan to redevelop the tourist town had not yet been implemented. “Traffic management is a huge problem. Designated spots need to be earmarked for the large number of tourist buses frequenting the place. Hawking zones too need to be identified. Hawkers should be given identity cards and welfare measures implemented for them,” he added.
Published – January 11, 2026 12:34 am IST
