TOP
Pondicherry Travel

A Perfect 2 Nights 3 Days Pondicherry Itinerary

Puducherry, better known as Pondicherry, is a scenic and charming town on the south-eastern part of the India. With a few remains of the French colonial spread across the town’s architecture and crystal clear beaches surrounding it, the city is among the most admirable destinations in South India.

A visit to Pondicherry is an experience that no one would miss. While there are plenty of places to visit in Pondicherry in one day, a trip of 3 days is an even better choice, especially, if you wish to explore the union territory to the fullest. This is a perfect weekend getaway for all those people looking out for an adventure.

ITINERARY

    Arrival at Pondicherry 

Start off your journey to Pondicherry and arrive by afternoon. Check in to your hotel and have a delicious meal at Coromandel Cafe.

Hotel to stay

  • Hotel Atithi – Situated in close proximity to the commercial district and tourist attractions, Atithi is the perfect choice for visiting all the places in walkable distance.

Places to Visit

First location – Puducherry Museum

The Pondicherry Museum is an art and history museum noted for its collection of lost wax bronzes from the period of the Chola Empire.
The Museum’s collection includes 81 Chola bronze sculptures, ranking as one of the largest collections of Chola bronzes.

Time required : 1 hour
Cost : Rs. 15
Timings : 10:00 am – 5:00 pm (Tuesday – Sunday) 
Closed on Mondays

Second location – Goubert Avenue

Situated near the the Rock Beach / Promenade Beach is a road where you will find all the tourist attractions nearby in walkable distance.
You will find :

  • Rock Beach / Promenade Beach
  • Old Light House
  • French War Memorial
  • Mahatma Gandhi Statue.

Time required : 3 hours
Cost : Free

While exploring all these places, you can visit the famous GMT Ice cream and have delicious ice creams. Enjoy the street food in Goubert Avenue or explore various restaurants in this place and grab a quick bite.

After you finish exploring all the places enjoy your dinner at Villa Shanti. Later return back to the hotel for an overnight.

    Arikamedu and Local Sight Seeing

Wake up peacefully and start your adventure. It’s going to be a long day as you will be visiting all the places in Pondicherry that you missed visiting the previous day.

Places to Visit

First location –  Serenity beach

Wake up and head to this beach. Enjoy the waves and get inside the water and play like a kid.

Time required : 1-2 hours 
Cost : Free

After having fun in the beach, have a yummy breakfast in your hotel itself or head to different cafes and enjoy the French Food.

Second location – Arikamedu

This archaeological site being a seven-kilometer drive from Puducherry, deep inside a jungle, crosses the bridge over Ariyankuppam River. It is actually the remains of a 250-year-old French mission, built around the time the first rudimentary excavation took place. Here you can see the final few columns, bricks and mortars of the structure in ruins standing like along the river.

This is an ideal place if you love to explore old, architectural sites.
The best time to visit is during the months extending from October to March.
Locating the spot might be a tough task, you can ask the locals around to guide you to the location.

There are guided tours, where people are taken by boat and they tell them about the various settlements through the ages, and artifacts that have been unearthed. You can either go by boat or by road.

Time required : 2 hours
Cost : Free (by road)

Third location – Aurobindo Ashram and Vinayagar Temple

Located in the White Town of Pondicherry, Aurobindo Ashram has been named after its creator- Sri Aurobindo Ghosh. The foundation of this ashram was laid on 24th November in the year 1926. This ashram was set up with the aim of helping people attain moksha and inner peace. Thousands of tourists from all over the country visit the ashram to experience and achieve spiritual knowledge. The ashram is by far one of the wealthiest ashrams in the world. Also, the ashram does not have any branches and solely exists in Pondicherry.

Due to the pandemic situation you are not allowed to visit the ashram fully, you can just have a brief tour inside and visit the Samadhi to offer you prayers.

Located just 10 meters from the ashram is the Arulmigu Manakula Vinayagar Temple. This temple has quite a beautiful architecture with lots of Lord Ganesha Idols and paintings inside the temple. The temple is very peaceful having an illustrious history of more than 500 years and it is one of the oldest temples in the region.  

Time required : 1 hour
Cost : Free 
Timings of Aurobindo Ashram : 8:00 am – 12:00 pm
2:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Timings of Vinayagar Temple : 
5:45 am – 12:30 pm
4:00 pm – 9:30 pm

Fourth location – The Sacred Heart Basilica Church

Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, situated on the south boulevard of Pondicherry in Puducherry, India, is an oriental specimen of Gothic Revival architecture. It contains rare stained glass panels depicting events from the life of Christ and saints of the Catholic Church.

Time required : 1 hour
Cost : Free 
Timings : 5pm – 9pm

With this the local city tour is done, head out to street market and enjoy the local shopping and street food. Have a delicious dinner at your favorite cafe and get back to your hotel & rest.

If you are someone who isn’t interested in local sight seeing and want to explore water sports and beaches then skip this day’s itinerary and follow the below one : 

Wake up and visit the Chunnambar Boat House to reach Paradise Beach. To access this beach, you need to take a boat ride from boat house. The beach route between Pondicherry town and the Paradise Beach itself is mesmerizing. This beach is perfect for water sports and chilling around the beach

Boat House Timings : 9:00 am – 6:00 pm
Beach Timings : The beach is subject to the availability of the ferry rides.
Cost : Rs.150 for entry
Rs. 20 for camera
Activities cost has to be enquired over there. Packages for these activities are also available, choose it depending on what activities you wants to explore.

    Auroville and Departure

Wake up peacefully and have a delicious French Breakfast at Cafe des Arts. 

Start your journey to Auroville.
Located around 15 km from the city of Pondicherry, Auroville is located in Tamil Nadu and was founded in 1968 by Mirra Alfassa, a disciple of Aurobindo known as the ‘Mother’ of Sri Aurobindo Society.
This place is a perfect escape for the ones in search of peace.

The Auroville Visitors Centre is a place where visitors begin to discover and learn about Auroville’s history. There are exhibitions, information and guest reception centres, shops for Auroville products and handicrafts, a bookshop, cafes and a food court.

How to reach the Matrimandir View Point :
A 10-12 minute walk (1km approx) leads from the Visitor’s Centre to the Viewing Point. A free electric shuttle service is available for those who may find it difficult to walk.
Free bus service is available for the return journey from the Viewing Point to the Visitor’s Centre for all those who wish to avail it.

Some important information to note :
– Due to the pandemic, you are allowed to visit only till the viewing point. You are not allowed to visit the Matrimandir Inner Chamber
– Please book your time slot well in advance so that you can visit the place without any issues.
– You need to pay a parking fee if you come by your own vehicle, apart from this fee there is no other fee to visit this place. This fee is collected when you book your slot online.

Link to book your pass : https://visit.auroville.org/#book-now

Time required : 3 hours 
Cost : Parking Fee mentioned above

If you interested in visiting another beach, then visit the Auroville Beach located 20 min (8.8 km) from Auroville. 

If not have lunch inside the cafes in Auroville or explore the various cafes outside Auroville and head back to Pondicherry. Catch the flight or hit the road for your home destination. Your trip ends here.

Overview

  • Day 1:  Arrive at Pondicherry, Visit Pondicherry Museum and Goubert Avenue – (Rock Beach / Promenade Beach, Old Light House, French War Memorial, Mahatma Gandhi Statue).
  • Day 2:  Visit Serenity Beach, Arikamedu, Aurobindo Ashram, Vinayagar Temple, Sacred Heart Basilica church. and explore Pondicherry Street Shopping.
    OR
    Paradise Beach
  • Day 3 : Auroville and Departure.

Overall, I loved visiting this place. I’d highly recommend Pondicherry for everyone out there.
Hope you found this guide helpful. Let me know about your experiences in the comment section below!

If this itinerary appeals to you, feel free to contact Flip To Trip (Our Travel Company) to create a personalised travel experience just for you.

Link to the website : https://www.fliptotrip.com

Akhila Maram

«

»

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Home
Shop
Account
0
Cart