Pondicherry

danger

Hey ya'll

I was thinking about taking it slow and chilling out in Pondicherry. Any thoughts from those that have been there? Is it too quiet? Day trips maybe?

Thanks

docgirl2005

I love Pondicherry...great place to chill out in South India especially if you are landing in Chennai. Auroville and the Aurobindo Ashram are very nice and peaceful.

Is it too quiet? Well compared to Chennai yes it is...but it is not very remote or anything. There are lots of visitors to Pondy every year, both foreign and Indian.

Day trips? You can do a day trip from Chennai but plan on spending more than a day there, the drive itself is a few hours and is tiring..have they improved that road into Pondy yet?

I think Pondicherry is Tamilnadu's answer to relax hangout..sort of Mumbai is to Goa..that's how I percieve it anyway. Lastly, although it is a smaller town, there are great shopping areas, hotels, resorts, and very good restaurants in Pondy(especially French places). I am partial to Rendezvous and Seagulls

Finally, for some reason even though Chennai is only a few hours away, the water and beach in Pondicherry seems cleaner and bluer than brown Chennai beach water..which is always a nice thing

danger

Thanks for the good info. I'm sold

SANJAY_DEL

Auroville is an interesting place to visit. You can spend time at the beach over there and chill out. Beach side accommodation can be arranged thru the ashram itself. Otherwise the Ashram guesthouse at the tip of the sea front at Pondy is good to stay at. You are not allowed to drink or smoke on the premises. But the food served in their cafe is good. Enjoy your trip!

cyberbaba

pondi is great!

http://www.sriaurobindoashram.org/ga...anos/index.php

i spent a couple of years there and just love it.
not much ever happens there but that's why it's cool. wander around in the old french town in the heat of the afternoon. it's magic.
there is no beach but you can hire a scooter and go up to the auroville beach.

full enjoy!

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docgirl2005

You are most welcome

Have a safe and happy journey

vargoje3

Pondicherry is an awsome place to visit. Having spent 4 months traveling across South India. Chennai, Pondy, Goa, Bangalore, Cochin, and Tuticorin. I also visited 10-15 smaller cities or villages and i found that Pondy is where i liked it the best. Good food, good shopping, nice people and generally it was just a really good atmosphere.

dhans

Poni is great, as longs as you avoid the Aurovillains. From our report (see the jpournal section):

(New Year) The breakfast in the cafeteria of the Saradharam was very good, with probably one of the best chais we ever had in India. Gandhi has washed his Ambassador extra well because of the new year and at half past ten we drive to Pondicherry. We arrive there two hours later and first try two of the Ashram guesthouses. Very unfriendly welcome. T’s no problem that you have no vacancies, but could you please tell in a friendly way (and let me use the toilet). Some other observations about the Aurovillains. They have not taken over Pondicherry (fortunately), but do put a distinctive stamp on it. We don’t really like it / them. Unfriendly or uninterested behaviour in their shops. They try to take on a ‘Fair Trade’ image, but when asked they are just working for themselves. Bit negative, yeah maybe, but that’s the impression they left.

Now we got that out of the way; Pondicherry is a friendly place and fun to spent a couple of days. We ended up in the Executive inn, a lovely small suite-hotel at 1-A Perumal Koi Street
Pondicherry – 605001 (www.executiveinn.biz). It’s situated about 400 metres from the sea to the north of the boulevard. The suites are not very big, but are well appointed and very clean. You get two rooms and four beds. An absolute bargain at rs 1200 + tax. Staff are friendly and helpful. It has a small restaurant in the cellar, good breakfast, but not a joyous location for a nice dinner. After checking in we have lunch at the newly opened Pizza Hut on Lal Bahabur street. Staff needs a bit more training on their tea-making but the pizzas are good. In the afternoon we visit the botanical gardens, just like so many Indian families. The park has a train ride, a playground and attempt at a Japanese garden and lots of shady trees. It also has a couple of stands that inspire Frank and Marit to sing songs for a growing Indian audience and their somewhat perplexed parents. Frank has a lot of success with the Dutch version of Prince’s “Seastar and coffee’. Later on some Indian kids also do a performance of their own, so it is an afternoon well spent and great for Indo/Dutch cultural relations.

At night the Boulevard is closed of for traffic and we walk the length of it with literally tens of thousands Indians celebrating the new year. We try to eat at Satsanga’s, but the atmosphere is spoilt by some rowdy drunk western and Indian guests that started celebrating new year early afternoon (or late last night). We have to move to the Rendez Vous restaurant, because all the other candidates around are closed for the new-year. It wasn’t so good nine years ago and it is still a bit of a tourist trap. Nothing wrong with the French Fries, but try to avoid it. We take a Rickshaw through the masses back to our lovely hotel where we decide to stay and not do another move until our last day in India.

(020106) Breakfast at the hotel and a breakthrough. Frank drinks Indian Chai and loves it. He also likes the Puri, as long as he does not have to eat the curries that come with it. We cover everybody in factor 30 and 60 and drive South to Paradise beach. After having paid an entry fee to something (carpark?, government boat departure tax? Whatever), we find out that you need a boat to reach the beach. As it is a Monday there are no other tourists, so we have to rent a whole boat for a price that is ridiculous by Indian and western standards, We drive back North to find another beach. After having been sent away from two places run by (how amazing) the Aurovillains, we finally find Quiet beach. We walk through a beach resort to get to the beach that has no facilities, but the kids are having a good time. After a couple of hours soaking up the sun we have lunch at the resort and leisurely head back to Pondi. In the afternoon we visit the paper-factory run by you know who, where the head of production gives us a short tour, and where the shopkeepers are not unfriendly (just uninterested).

At 1800 hours we walk down to the new Promenade hotel, near Gandhi’s statue, right on the boulevard. It is part of the ‘Hidesign’ group and under German management, so everything is whole, functioning and clean and they have excellent draft beer. Meal service only starts at half past seven, but the snackmenu is extensive, and easily makes up for a real meal. We read the kids from the comic books we bought in Ooty and they draw some pictures for the staff . We love the food, we love the cocktails, the friendly personnel and the atmosphere.
(030106)Another day at the beach somewhere north of Pondicherry. This time the beach has a coconut-vendor for facilities. We open the first Lost Sandal Beach Museum in India and are able to get quite a collection together in a short period. Lunch (well cake) is at a French bakery on Ambour Salai (near Higginbottams). After a siesta we do some souvenir shopping and we go back to the Botanical Gardens for a couple of hours playing and another train ride. Dinner at the Promenade is once again very good, but we have to wait a long time to get our last item, an order of spicy chicken. In the end we cancel it and ask for the bill. Within one minutes the manager and the chief cook turn up to offer their excuses, free drinks and four pieces of mouth-watering chocolate cake. What a good way to make up for a small mistake; we love the place even more.

Have fun,

Hans

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rachelinindia

There are NO cows in Pondicherry. I think this may be directly related to the number of French people who live there...

Nick-H

Cows again.

Always a bad sign when cows turn up in a thread.

Maybe best to close it now before it gets out of control...






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wp7713

I loved just wandering around in Pondy! Lovely squares, shops,Botanical Gardens, waterfront promenade. Went back a second time as I'd enjoyed the first brief visit so much. At night on a January visit, I thought the streets were full of wonderful lights; reminded me of an Italian town (maybe it was just the bikes??)

rachelinindia

another strange thing: no plastic bags on the street in Pondi. if there were cows i could understand this,. delhi cows, at least, seem to love the taste of plastic bags. but there are no cows. so where do all the plastic bags disappear to? one of life's great mysteries i suppose...

Nick-H

Eating plastic can and does kill animals.

I've never been to a Mediteranean town but, if I did, I'd expect it to be a bit like Pondicherry! Everybody says that is what it is like.

Sama

they go into the ocean. I was in Pondy last March and the amount of plastic debris in the ocean, on the beach, was disgusting....and depressing.

but I do like to spend time in Pondy...

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Merchant

There's a lovely old cathedral, and the seawall is a nice place to stroll. It's a good place to spend a day or two.