Puducherry is a great place to visit. Puducherry is a tourist's paradise and was once a French colony that has left its colonial legacy, and this adds to the old world charm of this fascinating place.
The best time to visit Puducherry is during the winter season from December to February when the climate is pleasant. The question of how to reach Puducherry is best answered by studying a map. The nearest airport and major railway station in Chennai is located 170 km and takes around 3 hours by car or taxi. Luxury buses are also available to and from Chennai. Puducherry Tourism has done a lot to promote tourism in Puducherry.
Great places to visit in Puducherry
Puducherry is best known for the Aurobindo Ashram and the garden city of Auroville. Dedicated to the teachings of Sri Aurobindo, both the ashram as well as Auroville are among the best places to visit in Puducherry. The ashram with its gardens and meditation centres is a peaceful and tranquil place. Tourists like the peaceful ambience, and both the ashram and Auroville see a large number of tourists. Auroville is unique as it lets people of different cultures and countries to live together in a unique experiment in harmony and human unity. Another place linked to the Auroville Foundation is the KarneshwarNataraja temple which is designed like a pyramid and is a Shiv Temple.
Puducherry has several beautiful beaches, and Paradise beach is the best of them all. The combination of golden and silver sands with the crystal blue sea makes a spectacular sight that cannot be missed and is loved by tourists. An added adventure is a boat ride through the backwaters. One of the best ways to travel in the backwaters is to ride in the Chunnamber boathouse. Besides the spectacular scenery, the relaxing ambience of the boathouse is an experience of its own.
Puducherry food is in a class of its own and includes several culinary specialities. Some of the best places to visit in Puducherry include Le Café, which is famous for steaks pizzas and also has a mouth water collection of cocktails in its liquor section.
There are other famous beautiful beaches in Puducherry that are among the best places to visit in Puducherry. These include the Serenity beach, where tourists have the opportunity to learn surfing from professional trainers. The rock beach is another of the great beaches of Puducherry, along with the Yanam beach. These exotic beaches are good to stroll or simply sit and watch the sea.
Puducherry is blessed with several ancient temples. One of the most fascinating is the ManakulaVinayagar temple which is dedicated to Lord Ganesh. This temple is revered down the ages, and there is a fascinating history about how locals and Marathas revolted when the French Lieutenant dupleix tried to destroy this temple. This temple is also revered for this was the site where the local saint ThollaikathuSiddhar attained enlightenment. The spiritual trail of Puducherry, which began with the Aurobindo ashram, continues to the ManakulaVinayagar temple along with the ISKCON, The VaradadarjaPerumal and the KannigaParameswari temple dedicated to the Goddess Shakti.
Gardens in Puducherry are some of the best places to visit in Puducherry and visits to the Puducherry Botanical park, the Ousteri Lake for bird watching and the Bharati government park. Located within the Bharati government park is the AyiMandapam dedicated to a French lady named Ayi who donated her home for building a reservoir.
The Arikamedu ruins are one of the best places to visit in Puducherry. These ruins date back to the only link that ancient India had with the Romans, and this was the site of a trading post built by the Romans. This is fascinating, though many artefacts recovered from this site are now kept in the Puducherry museum.
The French legacy is one of the biggest attractions of Puducherry, and some of the best places to visit in Puducherry include White town and the seafront promenade named Goubertavenue, where the French influence in architecture and culture cannot be missed.
Several museums, markets, eateries, beaches, churches, and temples make up the charm of Puducherry. A holiday in Puducherry is an opportunity not to be missed.
