Things to do in Puducherry (Pondicherry)
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Coffee.Com
Puducherry's cosmopolitan vibe is typified by this hip little internet hang-out. It's a meeting place where you can go online, read magazines, drink espresso coffee and there's a widescreen TV and a selection of DVDs. The café also serves up great baguettes, pasta, pastries and milkshakes.
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Rendezvous
The steaks here are superb, but then again, so is just about anything at this suitably romantic restaurant, where diners can lounge in AC comfort or pick at their coq au vin under the stars on the lush garden terrace.
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French Quarter
The best way to see the slightly tattered heritage buildings and broad streets of the French Quarter (bounded roughly by NSC Bose St, SV Patel Rd and Goubert Ave) is to take Puducherry's heritage walk. Start at the north end of Goubert Ave, the seafront promenade, and wander south, past the French consulate and the Gandhi Statue.
Turn right at the town hall on Rue Mahe Labourdonnais, past the shady Bharathi Park. From there it's a matter of pottering south through Dumas, Romain Rolland and Suffren Sts. Focus Books sells heritage walking trail brochures.
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Sri Aurobindo Ashram
Founded in 1926 by Sri Aurobindo and a Frenchwoman known as ‘the Mother’ (whose visage, which you’ll either find benevolent or vaguely creepy, is everywhere here), this ashram seeks to synthesise yoga and modern science. After Aurobindo’s death, spiritual authority (and minor religious celebrity) passed to the Mother, who died in 1973 aged 97. A constant flow of visitors files through the main ashram building, which has the flower-festooned samadhi of Aurobindo and the Mother in the central courtyard.
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Puducherry Museum
Goodness knows how this cute little museum keeps its artefacts from rotting, considering there’s a whole floor of French-era furniture sitting in the South Indian humidity. As you amble through the colonial-era building, keep an eye peeled for Pallava and Chola sculptures, a small Versailles’ worth of French Union–era bric-a-brac, and coins and shards of pottery excavated from Arikamedu, a once-major seaport a few kilometres south of Puducherry that traded with the Roman Empire during the 1st century BC.
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Sightseeing Tours
The Puducherry tourist office runs half-day sightseeing tours that take you to the water sports complex at Chunnambar, Hanuman temple, Auroville and Sri Aurobindo Ashram. Full-day tours cover the same area plus the botanical gardens, paper factory, sacred Heart Church and a couple of Hindu temples; both tours need a minimum of six people to operate.
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Jayalakshmi Fine Arts Academy
Jayalakshmi Fine Arts Academy is an established place with classes in bharatanatyam (dance), singing, veena (Indian stringed instrument), tabla (drums) and a range of other musical instruments. Private tuition fees start at Rs200 per hour for a minimum of five hours, and there’s a one-off registration fee (Rs350).
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Sri Manakula Vinayagar Temple
Don’t miss the chance to watch tourists, pilgrims and the curious get a head pat from the temple elephant who stands outside Sri Manakula Vinayagar Temple, dedicated to Ganesh and tucked down a backstreet just south of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram; the temple also contains over 40 skilfully painted friezes.
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Seagulls Restaurant
Although this is a restaurant, the waiters generally look bewildered if you order food. But the location, with a balcony overlooking the sea and views north along the promenade, makes it great for a cheap beer on a warm evening; an expansive downstairs veranda was being constructed when we visited.
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Fabindia
This shop has a good variety of quality woven goods and furnishings, traditionally made but with a contemporary feel. In operation since 1960, one of its selling points is its ‘fair, equitable and helpful relationship’ with village producers.
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Promenade
The Promenade is a supremely modern beachfront boutique dripping with contemporary design flash. It’s owned and operated by the swish Hidesign group, and is trying to magnetise itself as a centre for Puducherry’s small social scene.
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La Coromandale
Tasty South Indian thalis, rice, noodles and cold drinks and a relaxed atmosphere for meeting and chatting are the attractions of this open-fronted restaurant, situated on the promenade. Beware of eccentric opening hours.
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La Terrasse
This simple semi-open-air place near the southern end of the promenade has a wide menu but is best known for good pizzas and safe salads, as opposed to their Indian food (which is frankly wanting). No alcohol is served.
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Geethanjali
The sort of place where Indiana Jones gets the sweats, this antique and curio shop sells statues, sculptures, paintings and furniture culled from Puducherry’s colonial, and even pre-colonial history.
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Le Club
This club wraps three restaurants into one, with heavy French fare, a simple garden terrace and – unique to Pondy as of our writing – Vietnamese and Southeast Asian fare in the attached Indochine.
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Notre Dame de Anges
The mellow pink-and-cream Notre Dame de Anges, built in 1858, looks sublime in the late-afternoon light. The smooth limestone interior was made using eggshells in the plaster.
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Sri Aurobindo Handmade Paper Factory
Fine handmade paper is sold here, and you can ask at the counter about tours of the factory. There’s a wider choice of goods at Auroboutique near the ashram; all sales support ashram work.
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Kasha ki aasha
You’ll get a great pancake breakfast, good lunches (try the European-style thali) and delicious cakes served on the pretty rooftop of this colonial-house-cum-craftshop-cum-cafe.
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Paradise Beach
Paradise Beach, in Chunnambar, 8km south of Puducherry, has some resort accommodation, water sports and backwater boat cruises. The tourist office has details.
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Your Daily Bread
Neighbouring bakeries Your Daily Bread and Hot Breads are on Ambour Salai, selling terrific French bread, croissants and other baked goodies from 07:00 daily.
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Hot Breads
Neighbouring bakeries Your Daily Bread and Hot Breads are on Ambour Salai, selling terrific French bread, croissants and other baked goodies from 07:00 daily.
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Surguru
Simple South Indian served in a posh setting. Surguru is the fix for thali addicts who like their veg accompanied by the strongest AC this side of Chennai.
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Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception
The Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, completed in 1791, is a robin’s-egg-blue-and-cloud-white typically Jesuit edifice.
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Botanical Gardens
Established by the French in 1826, the botanical gardens form a green, if somewhat litter-strewn, oasis on the southwest side of town.
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La Boutique d’Auroville
It’s fun browsing through the crafts here, including jewellery, batiks, kalamkari (similar to batik) drawings, carpets and woodcarvings.
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