A leisure trip to the French town - Pondicherry

When I first decided on going to Pondicherry, everyone around me was like, "It's just another beach town, why go there". But Pondi has always excited me with it's colourful streets and French culture, hence throwing away everyone's opinion, me and my best friend decided to visit Pondi in December 2021.

December is one of the best months to visit Pondicherry, as though it is sunny there is a mild cool breeze blowing throughout the day.

We reached Chennai by flight (the tickets were booked about 1 month ago, hence the return ticket to Mumbai costed us around INR 5k, which was a great deal). We had booked a cab through Sawaari to go to Pondi via Mahabalipuram. Cab charges- 5k)

Mahabalipuram too is a beach town, but it's Shore Temple is mesmerizing. Also it's bylanes were quite pretty but were for reason very deserted. It also has some really cute cafes, shops & libraries. We had lunch in one of these cafes called Le Yogi (good food, decent prices, good ambience). The Mahabalipuram beach is just 3 mins walking from Le Yogi.

Post lunch we set out for Pondi. Our 5 days/4 nights Pondi trip was divided in 2 areas. For the 1st 2 nights, we decided to stay near Auro beach and Auroville. We had booked a hotel called Lamel Cove. Great location, good rooms (we got an upgrade to a sea facing balcony room) and very helpful staff. (Cost - 8k for 2 nights). We didn't really try the food here. On the day we reached Pondi, we were tired to explore much, hence we just rented out an Activa from a vendor beside Lamel Cove (charged us 2k for 4 days), filled up the tank and had dinner at Tantos, which is one of the must visit places in Auroville. Their pizzas and pastas are to die for, and though the prices initially might seem a little steep, their portions are huge, so keep that in mind while ordering.

One thing to keep in mind is that the entire Auroville area shuts down pretty early, max by 8.30-9 p.m in the night. Hence, plan your dinner timings accordingly.

The next morning we had a filling breakfast at yet another recommended places from Auroville, Bread & Chocolate. Super cute cafe, amazing food, good location and it also has 2 shops right next to it, one which sells chocolates & breads and another which sells apparel, decor, accessories etc. Both are really beautiful and worth a visit. That day's plan was to visit Pichavaram Mangroves. It is a 2 hrs drive from Pondi, but is totally worth it. We hired a cab for the Pichavaram visit for 2k bucks from the same vendor we had got the Activa from. You can very well drive till there on an Activa, but the roads are pretty rough and during the day it gets hot and dusty, so an AC car ride suited us the best.

A boat ride into the mangroves costs 400 bucks and can be shared with 4 - 5 other passengers. Once the boat ride starts, the person rowing the boat asks for another 200 bucks for taking inside the mangroves, which is completely worth it. The boat ride entirely is beautiful, you get some amazing pictures and the rowers are very sweet people who patiently wait for you to get the best pictures and also suggest some good poses (lol). It was a very calming experience overall and the weather around here is very cool and lightly breezy. At Pichavaram, there aren't fancy places to eat. But I recommend you visiting Mass Restaurant there, as it's a very local joint with the sweetest family running it. Amazing home cooked traditional food (especially seafood) and cheap prices. We filled our stomachs with so much food, and the bill was only around 250 bucks per person! Have to mention, that the portions were unlimited.

The next day was for exploring Auroville and shifting to our next hotel in the White town. We went around Auroville, visited the Matrimandir (which is good 15-20 mins walk as vehicles need to be parked outside) and bought some Auroville handmade stuff from a variety of stores there. You get some really classy, handmade and organic stuff in these stores, so even though they are slightly expensive, they are worth every single penny spent. Auroville truly is an incredible place and according to me, is the highlight of Pondicherry.

In White town, we had booked a room in a hotel called Villa Krish. The rooms were pretty classy and big, but it is literally between 2 buildings, so there was no scope for any view from our room. The area though is something that you pay for. It's near to the promenade and all the classy and fancy places to eat are nearby. That night we had dinner than Villa Shanti, where I recommend getting a reservation done. Ambience 10/10, food 7/10, pricing 5/10 (a good meal for two along with a glass of wine can cost around 2-2.5k)

The next day we set out early for Paradise beach. You have to take a ferry to get there, and I suggest you to visit this early during the day, because later it starts getting very crowded. It's a pretty beach overall. They also have changing rooms with showers there, so you can takes dips in the water if you like. The food shacks there serve food and alcohol, though the cost is really high as compared to other parts of Pondi. We didn't really eat anything here, so we came back to White Town and had a late lunch at the very famous Cafe Des Arts. Decent food, good ambience, but overall I felt it was over hyped. We spent our rest of the day going around White Town, clicking pictures on the colourful streets and walking on the Promenade. We again had a fancy dinner at yet another recommend restaurants, Cafe Coromandel. This is a must visit! Food and ambience 10/10. Though reservation is a must here.

And with that our last day at Pondi arrived. We had an evening flight from Chennai, so before that we went around to grab some stuff for home. Got some amazing cookies from Baker's Street Cafe (we also had breakfast here on one of the days, and it's totally recommended for English breakfast), did some splurge at the Hidesign Factory outlet and then just simply strolled on the Promenade one last time to soak ourselves in the Pondi air.

And with this our 5 day Pondicherry trip came to an end. Highlight of this was the mangrove forest at Pichvaram and Auroville. But overall, Pondi is an experience that one must live atleast once. And yes, it is definitely much more than just another beach town!

P.S our overall trip cost for the 5 day trip was around INR 25-28K (incl. airfare and excl personal shopping). I feel, though one can spend much lesser than this by saving at many places, you have to keep in mind what kind of trip do you wish to take.