Discovering Pondicherry!

Pondicherry has been a french colony since the French East India Company made it it's headquarters in 1674. It is officially written as "Puducherry". With a populations of more than 6 lakh, the city covers an area of around 492 sq. km.. The city is surrounded by the state of Tamil Nadu is very convenient to reach from any city of Tamil Nadu like Vellore, Chennai, Tiruvannamalai etc. There are government as well as private bus services operated on this route. Puducherry also has got a railway station for convenience of the passengers through rail travel. The city has got a handful of beaches, hotels, restaurants and clubs. We discuss about the travel guide and places to visit hereafter.

Firstly, we have got to categorize our trip into two. One being the trip in which we want to cover most of the places and not care much about luxury and relaxation. And the second one being the one in which we want to relax and spend some leisure time in the city. I will discuss the possibilities in both the cases.

If we want to cover maximum places in the city and outskirts I would recommend to hire a 2 wheeler or a 4 wheeler as per your choice and accomodation limit. This makes it easy to travel across the various places of your own choice and spend as much time as you want at each site. Offcourse, the load of driving would be there and in some cases you will have to take help from google maps and GPS for confirming routes.

On the other hand, in case of you want to lead a leisure life in the city and only want to visit some specific places, you can go for renting cabs and rickshaws and avoid renting your own vehicle for the whole day or two.

There are plenty of Hotels available ranging from 500/- per night to more than 10,000/- per night as well. The tariff depends upon the locations and ratings of the hotels. Some of which i am able to recall are "Hotel Ram International, Hotel Lotus View, Hotel Promenade" etc.. You can find a complete list over the web.

The first place that any Pondi visitor reaches after checking into the hotel is the "Rock Beach", This is the heart of the city, there is no swimming facility here as the waters here are quite deep. This is an excellent place to enjoy a sunset or take long walks alongside.

There are restaurants and food courts on this beach for foodies. People usually just sit in the mornings and evenings to enjoy the view here.

Another good place to visit in Pondicherry is Auroville. There is a "Matrimandir" in here that contains a golden globe that opens once a year or so for medication. The globe is worth seeing and clicking selfies with. The place is named after Aurobindo Ghosh and has a green environment. The walking inside this place feels like walking in a deep forest. Free bus services are also available here for those who do not prefer walking or are running out of time. The architecture at Auroville is a master piece and for the same reason many educational tours of srchitecture students are also organized here.

Next the Aurobindo Ashram, is a very unique and peaceful place to spend some quality time. It has been in the same state for years by Sir Aurobindo Ghosh's followers. It's a complete peace in mind.

Then there are beaches like the Auroville beach, serenity beach, Paradise beach.

The paradise beach was my favourite spot in the entire trip. The Paradise beach is not one where you can reach by road, It's a beach inside the oceanon an island. Once you reach the gates, there are ferries and motor boats that take you there through through the ocean. It's hardly a half an hour travel on a boat and then the Paradise Beach is reached. I would say the best beach among all to swim and have fun. There are restaurants, huts etc. for leisure. If not on paradise beach, swimming can also be enjoyed on the Serenity Beach.(As the Paradise beach is few km away from the main city)

Apart from all these scenic beauties, there is a Subway outlet, KFC outlet and other good quality local restaurants where you can complete your trip with a healthy and tasty meal.