About Pondicherry

I was brought up in Pondicherry. Did my school and College at Pondicherry!!

Pondicherry (now called Puducherry; & I stopped calling Pondi for reasons I realized after moving out ;-)) always brings all those pleasant memories of those days. Now I have completely shifted out to Bangalore - I'm a Bangalorean!!

I get frequent enquiries about traveling to Puducherry from Bengaluru. Most folks want to spend about 2 days [ie a weekend out there] by Car. So decided to add another blog on this topic!

Over night / day buses are being plied by KSRTC and Tamilnadu Govt Transports. Checkout for the same in the respective websites. They ply Normal to Volvo buses. Advanced booking would be required for the weekends.

Following is from an excerpt I sent to a friend. Will try to make this more descriptive and useful later.

Pondicherry Tourism Website has very comprehensive information about Pondicherry. Do visit this page. Also has a section for Hotels in Pondicherry / Puducherry.

Within the town, Surguru / Annamalai / Jayaram / Ginger are pretty good and the room charges would be around 1.5K to 2K. Quite a few budget Guest houses too are available within the town.

Dune Beach Resort looks interesting - have never visited.

There are several Guest Houses in Auroville as well- these come with recommendation from my friends.

Try to reach Pondicherry on Friday night [it takes about 6 hrs of continuous drive at moderately high speed]. If leaving on Sat morning, then start at least by 6:00 am. The Sunrise near Shoolagiri after Hosur is a fantastic view.

Google Map Bengaluru to Puducherry

Route: Electronic City -> Hosur -> Krishnagiri -> Take Chennai rd and take almost immediate right to Pondicherry / Thiruvannamalai road -> Thiruvannamalai -> Gingee -> Tindivanam -> Pondicherry. Just ensure its not a Full moon day/ night - if so expect delays at Thiruvannamalai and be prepared for nasty diversions

Once you take the Pondicherry / Thiruvannamalai road, the road doesn't have median; but the traffic is pretty less in early mornings and late evenings. Be watchful for people crossing the roads near villages.

En-route Eating places:

A2B restaurant inside BP Petrol Station closer to Krishnagiri in the same side as the travel. [About 60Kms from Bangalore and probably about 1.5Hrs of travel]

Hotel Saravana Bhavan [I don't think this is Original] at Thiruvannamalai [About 150Kms or 3 Hrs from Blr]

A hotel just at the Main entrance of the Tiruvannamalai temple - it has decent lodging as well [AC dbl room was about 800/- in 2007]

All of the above are Vegetarian restaurants.

En-route places of Interest:

1. Thiruvannamalai Temple [takes about 1 Hr to see the entire temple]

2. Gingee Forts [needs a bit of trek]

Once in Pondicherry, following is a good itinerary:

Day One

1. Visit Panchavati temple in the Tinidivanam road. It would be about 4-5 Kms from Jipmer Hospitals
2. Next proceed to Auroville village and report to Visitor Centre. You could do some shopping at the visitor centre - auroville handicrafts etc
3. Once done, exit from the other side of Auroville, which would be Marakkanam road. Take a right turn here to head back to town
4. Auroville beach at the above exit - though not mandatory
5. Head back to Pondicherry and have lunch at Suruguru / Hotel Saravana Bhavan
6. After lunch, head to Chunnambar Beach Resort and take an Island trip. The last trip is before 4:00 pm. This trip takes you across the backwater / river to reach a neat and clean beach. Caution: the beach is treacherous, so be careful and stay close to the shore all time.
7. Get back to hotel freshen up and reach beach road and spend evening

Day Two

0. Don't miss the sunrise at beach road. Typical Sunrise is around 6:00 am
1. Head to Manakula Vinayagar temple. Plan for break fast near the temple .. A2B?
2. Proceed to Aurobindo Ashram building
3. Central park, which is close to beach road and hosts the Pondicherry emblem
4. Visit Museum if interested
5. Could visit Jawahar Bal Bhavan garden - there used to be a toy train - not sure if its functional now
6. If interested in shopping - visit MG Road , you get good deals for cotton dress at Thiruppur summer collection near the petrol bunk in the beginning of MG Road from the temple side
7. Leave Pondicherry by around 3:00pm
8. Visit Thiruvannamalai temple. This place is about 2 Hours from Pondicherry
9. Head back to bangalore

There are stuff like Dolphin watch etc [I have never done this]. If you have more time, this might be a good activity. Contact the Pondicherry Tourism department in the Beach road. Another place of archaeological interest might be Arekemedu Excavation center. Again I have never been here - its about 1 hour from Pondicherry towards Cuddalore. You would find the excavated articles in Pondicherry Museum.

You would find most of the Hotel Names / Numbers in the Pondicherry website mentioned in the beginning.

If you would like to enter Matri Mandir, you would need prior-appointment. Else Matri Mandir in Auroville could only be sighted form a viewing point. Particular areas in auroville are motor vehicle free. You have to either walk; senior citizens can take battery-operated transportation vehicle or you could rent a bi-cycle.

If you are staying in the town, try to go around the town by walk or tempo. Finding Car parking might be tough in weekends. Try to go to the town beach either late in the night or early morning. Beach road would be crowded in evenings in weekends. Beach Road is traffic free between 6:00 and 9:30 pm. In fact try to take a bi-cycle on rent!! You could checkout in the Cycle Repair shops for renting.

Within the town our favorite would be to be take a walk in Beach road after 9:30 pm; and head to the ice-cream / coffee shop at one end of the beach road [to the right side if you face the Beach].

Food in general is good in most hotels. Non-veg you may want to try Hotel Mass; Anandha Inn; will quote a few more later.