Top Tourist Places To Visit In Pondicherry

Pondicherry is the capital city of Indian union territory of Puducherry. Pondicherry is a popular tourist destination in South India. The city has many colonial buildings, churches, temples, and statues which, combined with the systematic town planning and planned French style avenues, still preserve much of the colonial ambiance. While the sea is a popular draw for tourists, Pondicherry no longer has the beautiful sand beaches that once graced its coastline. The breakwater to the harbour and other hard structures constructed on the shore caused extreme coastal erosion and the sand from Pondicherry’s famous Promenade Beach was permitted to disappear entirely. Pondicherry is also popular for its eateries that cover a wide variety of cuisines ranging from French, Indian and Italian to Mexican, Thai and Chinese. Some restaurants also serve a unique Indo-French cuisine that gives tourists a taste of Puducherry’s colonial influences. Most popular eateries include Baker’s Street, The White Town Cafe, Zuka, Carte Blanche and La Maison Rose.

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Promenade Beach or Pondicherry Beach is the popular stretch of beachfront in the city of Puducherry, India, along the Bay of Bengal. It is a 1.2-kilometre-long stretch in Pondicherry, starts from War Memorial and end at Dupleix Park on the Goubert Ave. This beach is called by multiple names like rock beach due to rocks along the beach, Gandhi beach because of statue of Mahatma Gandhi and also as Promenade beach. It is one of the top Pondicherry Tourist Places to visit.

The Botanical Garden is located south of the New Bus Stand. The Botanical Garden along with Aquarium was established in 1826. The Botanical Gardens is spread over an area of 22 acres in the center of the city. The garden is a famous retreat for locals and tourists.

The Statue of Mahatma Gandhi is located on the beach front of Pondicherry. Built by the famous sculptor Roy Choudhary from Madras School of Art and Crafts, it is one of the major landmarks in Pondicherry. It is surrounded by eight exquisitely carved monolithic granite pillars which were brought from Gingee Fort.

Pondicherry Museum is situated in the Bharathi Park and is known for its unique collection of sculptures. This museum has an excellent gallery with sculptures and has the remains of archaeological findings from the Arikamedu Roman settlement. This gallery is known to have artifacts belonging to Cholas and Pallavas rule of Pondicherry and Karaikal. Burial urns, French furniture, terracotta figures, crockery, guns, swords, paintings, mirrors and several other things dating back to different periods are preserved here. The painting section includes Tanjore and glass paintings, colonial prints and contemporary oils, pastels and water colors. It is one of the best places to visit in Pondicherry.

Paradise Beach, also known as Plage Paradiso, is an isolated beach located at Chunnambar. This is one of the most famous beaches of Pondicherry and also one of the best Pondicherry tourist places. The beach is extremely attractive as the sands are very clean and the water is crystal clear.

The Government Park or Bharati Park is in the green centre of the Town. The Aayi Mandapam is a famous monument which lies at the center of the Bharati Park. The Government Park in Pondicherry is aptly located in the central region of the old colonial town. The significance of this park is derived from the fact that it is surrounded by some of the most important government buildings like the Lt. Governor’s Palace, the Legislative Assembly, Government Hospital, Ashram Dining Room, the Cercle de Pondichéry private club, and the old Hotel Qualité.

The Matrimandir is an edifice of spiritual significance for practitioners of Integral yoga, situated at the centre of Auroville initiated by The Mother of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. It is called soul of the city and is situated in a large open space called Peace. Matrimandir does not belong to any particular religion or sect. The Matrimandir took 37 years to build, from the laying of the foundation stone at sunrise on 21 February 1971 — the Mother’s 93rd birthday — to its completion in May 2008. It is in the form of a huge sphere surrounded by twelve petals. It is one of the main attraction in Pondicherry Tourism.

The Sri Aurobindo Ashram is a spiritual community located in Pondicherry, in the Indian territory of Puducherry. The ashram grew out of a small community of disciples who had gathered around Sri Aurobindo after he retired from politics and settled in Pondicherry in 1910. On 24 November 1926, after a major spiritual realization, Sri Aurobindo withdrew from public view in order to continue his spiritual work. At this time he handed over the full responsibility for the inner and outer lives of the sadhaks and the ashram to his spiritual collaborator, “the Mother”, earlier known as Mirra Alfassa.

Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, situated on the south boulevard, is an oriental specimen of Gothic architecture. It contains rare stained glass panels depicting events from the life of Christ. This church was supposed to have been erected in the 18th century by French Missionaries. Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a Catholic church and is a white-and-brown structure.