Pondicherry: Serene beaches and french beauty

Image source- TrueHAB

Puducherry, more commonly known as Pondicherry, is a quaint town in Southern part of India. Famous for it's beaches, French architecture and boutiques, it can be a relaxing getaway vacation.

Getting here

One can take a train journey to Pondicherry or at Chennai airport, from where it will be 4hr road trip to Pondicherry as the services are suspended in Pondicherry airport.

Stay

We had stayed at Club Mahindra Puducherry. The resort is not as big or developed as other Club Mahindra resorts. The interior of the rooms aren't so great. The only interesting thing about the resort is access to private beach for those staying at Club Mahindra. One day can be spent here playing games within the resort and access to its private beach. But if you want to reduce your time travelling from city to resort, I will suggest to take up any hotel or resort within or near the city.

How many days

1 or 2 days is enough for travelling in Pondicherry. While I was searching things to do in Pondicherry, there came so many things, I had booked for 5 days😅. After getting to know from guides it only takes 1/2 days to travel whole of Pondicherry, I was like- 

Things to see in and around Pondicherry

1. Auroville- Matrimandir, the main attraction, which was earlier also accessible for meditation inside it. But post COVID, they do not let you near or inside the Matrimandir as COVID precautions. At some 500-700m distance from the Matrimandir, you can see it and take photos from there. It put me off a little to walk for 20-30mins and not able to see it from close. Well...

2. Promenade beach- The best time to visit would be evening around 6:30-7:30. The breeze at the beach is quite soothing. Later you can walk till a small garden there which has some dolphin statue and then take a walk on the nearby road in street lights where no vehicles are allowed. It truly looks like Mall road of Shimla at that time.

3. French Colony- Its french architecture captivated me the most. I am someone who likes European architecture very much. Evening time will be good to visit and click photos. I know as we had travelled around French colony 3 times in the whole day (cab driver would have surely got bored😂), trying to postpone the photography session for the evening as afternoon were too hot to be able to get good photos.

Captured by- Aastha Jakhotiya

4. Manakula Vinayagar Temple- What my sister Aastha Jakhotiya most liked about it is the elephant present there. The architecture is good ofcourse (only reason I enter any religious place, other than because of my family). If you are trying to save your time, do not take all the offering and join another line which moves fast (you can ask the locals). We got the offerings and joined the line which moved slow. As we were short of time, we had to leave in between.

5. Bharathi Park- You can take a walk in evening here and kids can play in kid arena. It seems more maintained than Botanical Garden which I didn't quite much liked. 

6. Rocky beach- It is just infront of one of the gates of the Bharathi park, but I didn't seem to like Rocky Beach so much. It was quite littered and the water seemed black in colour.

7. Serenity Beach. It was actually calming. And as we had went at a quiet an odd time, there was hardly anyone around and we got to quite enjoy it unlike at a crowded beach.

Captured by- Aastha Jakhotiya

8. Shri Aurobindo Ashram

9. Handmade paper factory (Couldn't visit here)

10. The Sacred Heart Basilica

11. Boat House- If you are interested in boating, you can go to boat house. There are also a few adventure activities there but Jet Ski and Banana Ride have been stopped temporarily or permanently when I went there 2 weeks ago.

12. Museum- The Pondicherry Museum is an art and history museum located in Pondicherry, India. 

13. Nehru Street- If you just wanna relax and pass time, you can spend it shopping in Nehru Street.

14. Providence Mall- We entered the mall because it was peak hour heat, so just spending a little time at mall won't do harm😝. 

15. Thillai Nataraja Temple in Chidambaram- If you booked some more days just like me, you can go to the temple in nearby district. Make sure to either go in morning (reach there by 9am) or evening. Why I am saying is at around 11am, it does get hot there and feets start to burn (being from Mumbai, we aren't used to it). I had to run from one temple to another within the temple complex, even in white painted areas (Other visitors might have thought I got inspired from Milkha Singh).

16. Boating in Pichvaram- Boating in lake with mangrove forest was soo nice. It is soothing. After the temple, you can leave for boating Pichhvaram. 

Captured by- Aastha Jakhotiya

 

17. Mahabalipuram- If you have plan to go to Chennai (we had our flight back to Mumbai from there), you can take a stop at Mahabalipuram which falls on the same road. Group of Monuments, shore temple, Mahabalipuram beach, Butter Ball and light house are main tourist attractions here.

18. Chennai- If you had booked a week long vacation, after 2/3 days of Pondicherry, Chidambaram & Pichhvaram (covered in single day) and Mahabalipuram (wont take more than 4-5hrs), you can spend 2-3 days in Chennai.

When it comes to food, I fell in love with the filter coffee. I dont know how will I be able to shift back to instant coffee again😥. The taste of filter coffee is the best- strong and woody type.

If you are someone who is visiting from North India, Maharashtra or foreign countries, it's preferable to take a 5-7 days vacation here and tour nearby areas as well. As travelling so far for 2 days won't make much sense. 

Happy travelling!