When I asked Ryan if there was anywhere he wanted to check out during our India trip, he didn’t hesitate at all to request a few days in Puducherry (Pondicherry).
*A quick note: The town is now formally called Puducherry, but is still widely known as Pondicherry and is known to locals as “Pondy,” so I’ll refer to it as all three interchangeably in the following post.
After we wrapped up our time in Anjuna, Goa, Ryan and I caught a flight to Chennai, and then took a taxi ride to Pondicherry.
Unfortunately, Ryan and I lost two days of our four-day trip due to two separate bouts of illness.
We arrived into town and had one afternoon/evening and one day, and then Ryan got sick so I was on my own for a day. Then we had a second day together… and then I got sick, and spent a full day confined to our hotel room. Then the next morning we had to check out of our room and leave.
It was a bit of a bummer because we had a lot of really cool things planned: A day trip to an experimental town, a kayaking excursion through a mangrove forest, a tour of Gothic-style French churches…
…but, alas.
At least we did get to sneak some fun things in!
Instead of giving a day-by-day recap of our trip, I just wanted to share a few things we did that I’d definitely recommend if you ever find yourself in Pondicherry.
WHERE WE STAYED:
Gratitude Heritage
Ryan actually picked this boutique hotel out for us, and he did a phenomenal job!
Our hotel was more of a homestay/ guest house/ retreat than an actual hotel.
The building is about 200 years old, and was recently restored.
There’s a gorgeous courtyard (that our room overlooked) with a dining and sitting area.
Because it was such a small property, breakfast was served communally every morning at the same time. It was a great chance to meet some of the other hotel guests and share stories.
Our room was also really nice with a big four-poster bed covered in mosquito netting, a writing desk and a massive bathroom.
I highly, highly recommend Gratitude Heritage if you stay in Pondicherry.
A few things to note, though, if you’re accustomed to Western-style accommodations:
The WiFi service in our room was pretty weak, so if we wanted to us it for anything (downloading maps, browsing things, etc.) we had to head down to the courtyard to do it.
Our shower was solar-heated so we didn’t have 24/7 access to hot water — we had to time our showers to coincide with the sunniest part of the day if we wanted hot showers.
The bathroom — while gorgeous, spacious and clean — didn’t completely separate from the bedroom. There was a gap in the ceiling. While it wasn’t a problem for myself and Ryan, it might be a problem for others. Also, in the typical style of Indian bathrooms, it didn’t have a shower curtain.
Our vintage window blinds didn’t have screens, so we did end up using the mosquito netting on our bed every night since mosquitos were pretty bad during our stay.
But with all that said, we did know we were not booking Western-style accommodations, so we weren’t disappointed in any way, shape or form. We really loved our hotel.
…which is great, since we both spent so much time there recovering from our food poisoning.
WHAT WE DID:
White Town (French Quarter)
If you see photos of Pondicherry, they’re likely taken in White Town. We didn’t venture outside of White Town too much but we found plenty to see and do here.
White Town is full of gorgeous French-colonial buildings that highlight the city’s previous occupation.
The French occupied Pondicherry for more than two centuries, and White Town is a living reminder of that history.
It was so crazy to walk past these gorgeous colonial buildings and see tuk-tuks and scooters whizzing past, and to watch women in colorful saris wander through the streets at the same time.
White Town is a colorful mix of France and India, with French street signs, English store advertisements and Tamil posters and notices.
We weren’t alone in our love of White Town. Come the weekend, it was almost impossible to walk down a street because they were full of other tourists like ourselves.
We stumbled upon two music video shoots as well as multiple influencers (?) with full camera and light set-ups.
Which is to say, I get it. I wish I’d done a better job taking photos, in retrospect. Every street turn was a new quaint surprise, and we found so much to do in French Town that we didn’t leave the neighborhood at all.
Puducherry Museum
I killed one of the afternoons that Ryan was sick with a quick trip to the Puducherry Museum.
You can’t take photos inside, but for 50 Rupees (foreigner admission cost) it was a decent way to spend an hour and a half.
The museum focuses heavily on Pondy’s seaport history. There’s a large exhibit on French occupational history, complete with artifacts and relics — mostly furniture.
The museum also has galleries centered around arms, local geology and archaeology, transportation and Hindu art.
This museum did have a few shortcomings: Exhibits weren’t clearly labeled and often had very minimal details and explanation.
I actually found myself growing frustrated because there were a lot of exhibits I was interested in learning more about, but I had no way of learning more about them. I wanted to take photos of a lot of the placards just so I could go research more in my own time, but there’s a heavily-enforced “no photos” rule.
I walked away with a very long iPhone “Notes” list as a compromise.
Rock Beach/ Puducherry Beach/ Promenade Beach, Goubert Ave, Beach Road and Old Port Pier
Rock Beach, Puducherry Beach and Promenade Beach all run alongside Pondy’s coast.
They aren’t really beaches for swimming, but it’s a lovely place to explore. Ryan and I spent a good amount of time walking up and down Beach Road — a pedestrian-only (!!!) road that runs alongside the shore, and Ryan went for a few runs while I was down for the count with food poisoning.
There’s also a large statue of Gandhi to see, as well as several local shops and vendors, a fountain, a lighthouse and other things to see.
Eden Beach
Ryan and I took a tuk-tuk to Eden Beach — which ended up being a completely welcome surprise after our Goa beach weekend. We were shocked at how clean and empty it was.
We spent an entire afternoon laying in a shady spot reading and wading in the water.
There’s no entry fee, and while there are a few stray dogs, there weren’t any cows, and Ryan and I didn’t get any stares from other beach visitors.
There was also a really nice shop where you could buy snacks and drinks.
WHAT WE ATE:
We ate so much in Pondy — and I still feel like it wasn’t enough and we could have eaten more. I had so many restaurants pinned on Google Maps that we didn’t get a chance to visit.
While Ryan and I aren’t exactly sure what caused our food poisoning, we thing it was the water that was served at restaurants. We were offered filtered water at most places we went. Ryan had filtered water (and a cocktail with ice) at Sola and ended up sick afterward, and I had filtered water at Mira, and ended up sick afterward.
We both had the exact same symptoms, so we think that the water just wasn’t properly filtered. With all that said — just order bottled water. Be smarter than we were.
Sola Bistro & Bar
We had the steamed fish wrapped in banana leaf, prawn khow suey and several cocktails.
The chef literally walked out of the kitchen to hack a banana leaf off one of the trees for our appetizer, which we got a good laugh over.
Also, this khow suey is one of the best things I ate during my entire stay in Puducherry, no joke.
It’s customizable, so you could add toppings to your dish as desired.
Coromandel Cafe.
This cafe is built into a hotel and (if you’re picking up on the theme, here) had a gorgeous courtyard to eat in.
I had the pink hummus and an iced coffee blended with ice cream, and both were delicious.
Baker Street.
We had several pastries from Baker Street during our stay in Pondicherry, and none of them disappointed!
I still can’t get over how cheap everything was. A 75-cent macaron?! Seriously.
1 Rue Suffren
I had pan-grilled fish with mushrooms, potatoes and olive tapenade.
I sat outside on the balcony which had a really nice view of a nearby park, and it was perfect for people watching.
My server, Khushi, was also such a sweetheart.
Hope Cafe Pondicherry
I had the grilled cottage cheese with barbecue sauce, which was one of the top recommended items on the menu, along with a lemon kombucha.
Mira
Mira is built into the Grand Hotel D’Europe. Ryan and I had several things, including fondue and a French onion soup.
・・・
I really, really loved our stay in Pondy, and I just wish we hadn’t lost so much of it due to illness.
After seeing how ubiquitous litter and trash seem to be everywhere in India, it was a really pleasant surprise to see that the city of Puducherry is so conscientious about keeping itself clean*.
*at least in the parts of town we visited
There were public trashcans everywhere along the streets, which people seemed to be mostly diligent about using.
The city also seems to have a huge public service campaign in place aimed at preventing litter and street trash.
It was really refreshing, and cool to see.
Once Ryan and I had fully recovered, we checked out of our hotel, hopped in a taxi, and made our way back to the Chennai airport for our next destination: Jaipur!
More soon!
