Pondicherry, Chennai, Kerala and Tirupati?

dhananjay

Hi All IMers,

Need your help. My Mom and Aunty are traveling to Pondicherry, Chennai and Tirupati this october. From there they want to do the Backwaters in kerela.
1) there is an Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry. Is it a good place to stay. Is it near the sea. IS it better to stay at the ashram or somewhere outside. What would be your recommendations for staying outside? Budget 800-1000/-. Also they insist on some other ashram in pondicherry near the sea. Which one is that and is aCCO AVAILABLE THERE.
2) Accommodation in Chennai same price?
3) Accommodation in Tirupati?
4) because they insist on traveling by air what should be the central point from where they can reach other places easily? Also as they want to go to Kerela.
5) If Kerela is a bit further what would be the best way to get to Cochin from Chennai?
6) To do the backwaters is it better to get to Cochin and organise from there or go someplace else and organise on your own. Would a pre booking help.
7) Any recommendations for Acco, good places to eat.

Looking forward to all your inputs.

Cheers,
Dhananjay

kaushiks

For doing the back waters, it is best if you go there and orgainze it yourself. We went to Ernakulam. From there we went to Allepey, a couple of hours or less. At allepey, you can go to the docks and find a houseboat. If you call up by phone you will end up paying as much as 8000Rs per night. If you go there and bargain, it may come down to 2000Rs. We paid 2500Rs for a wonderful houseboat with great service.

In pondicherry, we stayed at Hotel Ram international. It was excellent and much cheaper than your budget. You can find their phone number among many others here.
http://www.hotelstamilnadu.com/pondicherry.htm

However, from what I have heard, I am sure staying in the Ashram would be the best.

ericd

The Aurobindo Ashram is a great and cheap place to stay. It is indeed, near the sea.
There is one disadvantage though, you will have to be in at 22.00 ( i think, could be a bit later or earlier ). So if you want to go out for drinks or party, make sure you are back in time

On the backwaters, try to take a public boat as well. You can make a 1 hour trip for less than 20 Rs. There is a great thread about the backwaters where you can find all kinds of information:

Kerala Backwaters - A cruise on budgets!

dan37_123

Hi,
We were there in Pondichery last month, and we stayed at the "seaside guest house". It is an excellent play to stay. It is worth taking a seafacing rooms, though they are a bit expensive. We had to pay them an advance of Rs.1500.00. All meals, have to be ordered one day in advance, so in case if you happen to arrive at the ashram at odd times (and with kids), you better order the meal as well. The food was good, but was too spicy for the kids.

The staff are not very friendly, and it was compensated by the very clean and well maintained and well priced rooms. Yes you have to be back in the houes before 10.30 pm, no booze and no smoking.

Good luck.

Dan

AvidTrekker

The official acco on top of the hill belongs to the temple [ the entire top, in fact..]. It is a most quite place, better than a hill station. Various bungalows and rooms at reasonable budgets available. I don't know how to book it. We were taking a stroll cuz it was monsoon, not many ppl around, and the darshan had "closed" for the morning. [ to be "opened" at 13:00 hrs ] So we were strolling around Tirupati [ the thick forested property behind the main temple ]. I marvelled at the various bungalows on the various forested parts and asked someone who they belonged to. I was told "by the trust" and also that "I could hire them".... I never went again... but the top is beautiful and really worth spending two days in splendid isolation. Try the TTD website.

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