After  four long years of engineering our plan of visiting pondi was on. Well, most south Indians prefer to call it Pondi than Pondicherry or Puducherry.  In the middle of all our final semester chaos  we made time to walk under the sun in the beaches of this beautiful union teriitory.  For one of those times, when you want to experience the calm of a beach, Pondicherry is just the place. Located around 156 kms from Chennai, Pondicherry is one of the seven Union Territories of India. Also known as the French Capital of India, the place is famous for its pristine and untouched beaches, cheap liquor and the French architecture.

Travel

From Bangalore, you have two options available:

• Train at 21.50 PM (11005) which reach Pondicherry early in the morning
• Multiple buses available on Redbus, KSRTC.  Please make sure you choose a Volvo Multi-axle

Many state road transport buses are available from Chennai and Bangalore to reach Puducherry. From Chennai, one can get a bus from CMBT in Koyambedu (100 INR) or from Guindy. The East Coast Road(ECR) from Chennai to Puducherry runs along the sea route and is very scenic.

GETTING AROUND PONDI

We reached pondi early in the morning and we booked a house to stay near French colony. The price was pretty reasonable.

The best way to explore Puducherry and its nearby areas is by renting out a cycle or a motorcycle. There are plenty of rental outlets on Mission street and MG road. The price range from 200-700 INR/day depending on the vehicle. An original ID proof and an advance amount (around INR 1000) is needed to be paid. Auto rickshaws are also an option but they are comparatively more expensive.  

As said, we took rental bikes to roam around the city. The town is well planned and hence its quite easy to move around. You can see all must visit places in a day however I am certain that won’t do justice to such astounding spots. Additionally, the town offers probably the most stunning sunrises in the nation from the immense breadth of Bay of Bengal.

FRENCH COLONY

 We first wanted to give a look at the villas and bungalows built on French architecture in the French colony. This is also one of the places to enjoy night life of Pondicherry. There are many good eating and drinking places here famous for their sea food menu. The best way is to park your vehicle at one street go through a stroll in the colony. It’s all covered with trees. The variety of colours and the design of the buildings in itself is quite mesmerizing. Added bonus you have the rock beach just at the end of the colony.

CHUNAMBUR BOAT HOUSE

After French colony we took a long ride to the The Chunnambar Boat House, run by the Pondicherry Tourism, is situated on the Cuddalore Main Road, around 7.5-8 Kms from the city centre. It is situated on the banks of the Chunnambar backwaters. It has a boat house where one can get boat rides in big passenger boats or speedboats. The boats take you to mouth of the backwater where you have the Paradise Island Resort. The beach here is very good and ideal for swimming or sunbathing.There are also other entertainment like horse rides, ATV rides and Ski jets.

The boathouse has a large paid parking and an entry fee to enter the boat house area. The boat rides are charged extra, depending on the mode and number of people. They also advertise overnight stays in their various Tree Houses and House Boats. 

They close by 5 pm, so it is better to leave for the place in the morning. The visit should take you around 2-3 hours, depending on the activities you take up.

AUROVILLE

After having lunch in a nearby restaurant it was time to visit the famous auroville. There are brilliant coffee shops, restaurants and places to shop also in this area and the entire village is full of greenery so even riding around is fun.Definitely visit the visitors’ centre here where you will get all the information about the town.

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After looking around the place we headed straight to the auroville beach to see the mesmerizing sunset and took the rest of the day to look around the city.

From here the next stop was Chennai which is just three hours away and there are plenty of AC, Non-AC buses available from the Pondicherry bus stand . Oh and if you’re going on this route (to Chennai), remember to take a bus which goes via the ECR (East Coast Road) and take a seat on the right (when you move northwards towards Chennai). The view of the beach and the coconut trees just make the entire journey beautiful.