Alamparai Fort

Alamparai Fort is a ruined coastal fort located in Alamparai village on the East Coast Road between Mahabalipuram and Puducherry in Tamil Nadu. Built in the late 17th to early 18th century, it once served as a trading port with a 100-metre dockyard. Now in ruins, the fort stands on backwaters adjoining the Bay of Bengal and is known for its scenic lagoon, brick ruins and beach setting.

Visitors can expect extensive ruins of brick and stone walls, bastions and remnants of a former dockyard situated on a narrow strip between backwaters and the sea. The site is open and largely unmaintained, with views of the lagoon, sandy beach and fishing boats. Visitors can walk around the fort walls, explore the interior ruins, take photographs, enjoy boating in the backwaters and experience a quiet coastal landscape with limited facilities.

Alamparai Fort was constructed in the late 17th century and completed in 1735 under the Nawab of the Carnatic. It served as a trading port exporting zari, salt and ghee, with a 100-metre dockyard. It was captured by the French in the 1740s and later destroyed by the British in 1760 during the Carnatic Wars. The fort was further damaged in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

The fort is a heritage coastal structure representing the maritime trade history of the Coromandel Coast and is a well-known location for Tamil film shoots. It is valued locally as a historic landmark and scenic coastal attraction.