A short trip to Pondicherry

Hello Readers,

When I told my friends about my one day trip to Pondicherry in approximately Rs. 900/- they just laughed at me and said I was crazy. But if you really have a craze to travel, and are curious to explore the beautiful places and since in Pondy the most visited spots are nearby the centre of the city, it is indeed possible to cover a lot in just one day. The only thing you need is a “Glucone-D” packet of Rs. 35/- to get you energized J

Let’s go through following details to find out more about how I achieved this :

Source Station: Yeshwantpur Junction - Train (Friday Chalukya Express 21:30 hrs), Fare 130rs /- for General, 260rs /- for SL coach. Journey start time 9:30 PM.

Guys, if you choose to travel in a General Seat, don’t worry because you will definitely get a seat. The logic is, this train is coming from Mumbai, Maharashtra. So most of the crowd will get down at Yeshwantpur. Only passengers going down South will be travelling further. What you need to do is reach the station at least 30 min before train arrives, and you will easily be able to grab your seat. Particularly, if you are looking for more comfort and privacy, take the upper seat. There won’t be much crowd to bother you.

We reached Pondy station at 7:30 AM.  Of course now we had to freshen up. One advantage is that, since Pondy is last station for your train, it will halt there for more than 30 min. Also this train is well maintained, neat and clean. So all the morning activities we completed in the train itself. Except for taking a bath. If you want to take a shower, you can use waiting rooms at the railway station as well J 

We had our breakfast at a nearby hotel. Also took a few snacks with us. We were really excited and ready to go.

Now that we were happy that we reached Pondy comfortably, we were ready to explore all the tourist spots.

Places we visited:

1.     Basilica of the Sacred

2.     Rock Beach

3.     Gandhi Memorial

4.     Botanical Garden

All these places are on a route of approximately 3.5 km. One can easily walk while having fun. Beaches are better to visit during the morning hours before the hot sun rises. We had a really relaxing time at the beach.

We can opt for a time-specific private tour buses which you can board from Pondicherry tourism office which is near the Gandhi Statue. They will charge around Rs. 200/- per person. But walking on the beach is a better option, as we could enjoy a lot more.

We could cover all the above listed spots within 3hrs which was sufficient time to spend on beach.

Pondicherry- Local Spot- Near to City Center 

Lunch: After visiting all the above spots it was time for lunch. There are many restaurants within the city. As per your convenience you can have lunch at any of these restaurants. Some, I found, were not clean or well-maintained. So choose a good place after careful inspection. We spent about an hour having lunch and left for our next destination.

5.     Paradise Beach :

Paradise beach is the most famous and beautiful spot in Pondy compared to all the places we visited in the morning. We reached there a little after 1:00 PM. 

Getting there: It is about 6.5 km away from the city center. But there are a lot of buses from the city, it takes nearly 20 min to reach there. Just ask for the Paradise beach stop. The bus fare is approximately Rs. 10 – Rs. 12 /-.

Pondicherry City to Paradise Beach

Once you reach, you will find a long queue which is for a Cruise ticket which take us on the beach. Depending on the crowd you may have to stand in the queue for at least an hour.  Cruise ticket costs about Rs. 100 one way. We bought a two-way ticket for Rs. 200/-.

It’s a 10 min journey to reach the beach. But the journey is a lot of fun. There was a nice view of the back waters. You can really enjoy the back drop of a beautiful, relaxing nature, enjoying the waves against the sand, and the cool breeze. You can also taste a variety of sea food, like fried fish along with some refreshingly cool coconut water.

We spent about 2 hours experiencing the beauty and decided to leave around 5 PM because we had a train to catch.

We took the public transport from same spot and got back to the Pondy railway station. Bus fare was same around Rs. 10/-

Dinner: If you manage to make it back in time you can enjoy a filling dinner at any restaurant. Otherwise do make sure to carry a parcel because remember we have to grab a seat in train by reaching the station early.

Return Journey:      Pondy to Yeshwantpur Junction - Train (Saturday Chalukya Express 20:50 Hrs), Fare Rs. 130/- for General, Rs. 260/- for a Sleeper Coach. Journey time 9:10 PM.

We were able to catch the same train by which we came the previous night and were at the station an hour early. The train will already be there with more vacant seats because Pondy is origin station. There was no crowd. But because we were completely tired, were a little sleepy. Nonetheless, this was an exceptionally fun trip and worth every penny we spent.

We reached Yeshwantpur Junction the next morning at 6:00 AM.

Note : There are many other temples to visit in Pondicherry. But since we didn’t have much time, we could only cover a few specific spots. If one wants to take rest and want to enjoy the beaches in the evening, you can book a hotel in the city center for the night, as it is worth to sit on the rocks at the beach in evenings and night. The market displaying home-made and hand crafted stuff opens in the evening. If you are a shopping buff, you wouldn’t want to miss it.

Photos :

Overall Trip Review :

Trip review i'll give 3.9 Star. If you want real joy of Beaches, Goa is the best place to visit. I will come soon on how to manage Goa trip in low cost.