[rk_sans]

This trip was done at the end of Sept 2009 and i was able to do it only because of the help from the travelogues in the forum.
Special thanks to fellow bhpians travelogue which helped in planning this trip perfectly.
@akroy(Weekend Travelogue: Bangalore - Pondicherry - July 2008)
@esteem_lover(3 day trip to pondicherry - June 2007)
@dadu (Reclaiming Pondicherry - Feb 2008)
Even though these travelogues are more than a year old, it was a perfect guide for me.

For the last 4 months before the trip, i was so busy at work that i was treating my home as hotel(only for Sleeping). As our company year ends happens to be Sept, i got a chance to take leave as we are not suppose to mendle with systems during the year end close. So i decided to take off for almost 12 days and planned for a trip to Pondicherry. I had seen most of the
cities in south except Pondicherry. And our main agenda was to relax with no intention to see any place around.
So called up couple of resorts like Nalla Eco Resort, St.James beach court, Kailash beach resort, Ashok beach resort, etc and then finalized with James Beach court resort and booked it for 2 nights. James Beach court is around 9 Kms away from Pondicherry city on ECR road.
So the itenary was to start on 23rd Sept 09 and back to bangalore on 25th which makes it up as 3 days and 2 nights.

Mode of transport - i10
No of people - Wife, son and myself.

23rd Morning (2.00 am)
My wife gets up to do some final food packing for my son and we realise that my son is running very high temp. What a way to start the trip . We decided that we would consult our family doctor in the morning and then decide to go or not. Thinking about this, we hit the bed after giving some medicines to my son.

8.00 am
Called our family doctor and took an appointment.
9.30 am
We were Off to meet the doctor. By this time my son is all pumped up and jumping all around the hosiptal as if nothing had happened to him. Doctor does his usual checkup and tells he is perfectly alright. We tell him our plans and he asked us to go ahead with the plan and nothing to worry. Just keep the necessary medicines.
10.15 am
Out of the doctor's cabin and we decided to go for the trip.
Immediately called up St.James court beach resort and tell them that i am struck because of this problem and i would be reaching there the next day (24th)

So there comes the change in itenary. Starting on 24th and back to Bangalore on 26th.

24th Morning (2.00 am)
Route Taken
Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Chengam - Thiruvannamalai - Gingee - Tindivanam - Pondicherry

Got up again, first thing was to check my son. He is sleeping sound and doing good. Quickly got ready and dumped all the bags into the car. Wife gets ready with some breakfast and snacks for son.
3.30 am
We are out of the house and on the road. Whew!! at last started the trip. It was drizzling all through till Gingee.
Both wife and son slept all the way till we were almost near to pondicherry.
Reached pondicherry city entrance around 10 am. I did not bother to stop anywhere in between except for one stop for nature's call as both my wife and son were enjoying their sleep.
Called up James court beach resort and informed them that i have reached pondicherry and would reach their in 30 mins. We decided that we would see the other resorts which we enquired to see how they are before we go to James Court and so visited Nalla eco beach resort, Ashoka and also The Dunes.
Reached James court and we spent the afternoon in the hotel as it was pretty hot outside. Rooms are very good but the food was not good at all. In the evening visited the beach which is just 400 to 500 mtrs from the resort. And
then back to room which marked the end of day 1.

25th
Woke up and headed straight to the beach again. Came back from the beach, got ready and left towards the city. A real very quick visit to Aurobindo Ashrama and Paradise Island and after lunch, it was again back to hotel.
In the evening left to city again and spent time on the beach road and Le Cafe, Coffee shop on the beach front. After dinner came to back to resort.

26th
Route Taken
Pondicherry - Left near Kalpakkam Township - Chengalpattu - Sriperumbudur - Kanchipuram - Vellore - Krishnagiri - Bangalore

Headed to beach for a final visit and then vacated room after breakfast. Initially we planned to visit Golden temple on the way back, so left Pondicherry around 10.30 am. Took ECR route to head back home. And as usual luck was not on our side. There was some DMK rally in Kanchipuram so had to take deviation which led me in joining the BLR - Chennai road after
Sriperumbudur. That extra 35 kms was really very bad. Because of the changes in route and time lost, i had to cancel the Golden Temple visit.
So headed back to bangalore with a stop after Vellore to visit a friend of mine. Reached bangalore at 9 pm.

I have very few pics as we were just did nothing but to relax all the while.

Last but the least, the car gave a milage of 18.5 Kmpl with almost 100% AC.

[n.devdath]

Nice one, so do you feel that St James is the better resort when compared to the rest that you had been to? What about the rates etc??

[ravibhat]

Thats good report, You have visited Pondicherry in right time. How is road condition from Krishnagiri to Pondicherry ?

Ravi.

[vdiatech]

Hi next time when a pondy visit is planned, please dont skip Auroville.

Look for info online and make an appointment for visiting 'MatruMandir'.
It is mandatory that ( in case your first visit to MM) you visit the Visitor Center in Auroville and learn about the MM.

Strict silence is observed inside MM. My aunt is with the ashram and I have been visiting it every month for a 20 min meditation inside MM ever since I was a kid.

Most of the tourists see it from a distance and walk away. It is truly amazing inside the main dome and the petals on which it is housed!

So make an appointment , learn about the strict guidelines and visit MM!

Pic attached ( sourced from google as cams not allowed!)

[StarVegabond]

This is a place i want to visit, hopefully i would visit some time next year.

Request to the thread starter : Pondy is not a French Colony now. It was a Former French Colony, please change the title of the thread

[Majic]

Wow, that was a quick and short travelogue, i hope that you would be elaborating on the narrations

Originally Posted by ravibhat

How is road condition from Krishnagiri to Pondicherry?

I visited Puducherry [Pondy] two weeks back. From Krishnagiri to Thiruvannamalai, there are many bad, rough-surfaced/pot-holed stretches. From Thiruvannamalai to Tindivanam, the road is fine. From Tindivanam to Pondy, 4-laning work is in progress in many stretches.

[rk_sans]

Originally Posted by n.devdath

Nice one, so do you feel that St James is the better resort when compared to the rest that you had been to? What about the rates etc??

James is ok sort of resort. Best is the "The Dunes". I believe they are 3 star resort. Next time i visit Pondy, i am planning to stay in "The Dunes"
James, Nalla are in the range of 2000 - 2750.
Kailash is around 3000
Dunes starts from 5000 onwards.
But in James i got a 15% discount as it was weekdays when we visited. We need to bargain with them before we book.

Originally Posted by ravibhat

Thats good report, You have visited Pondicherry in right time. How is road condition from Krishnagiri to Pondicherry ?
Ravi.

Thanks Ravi. It was a perfect weather, not too much heat and no signs of rain at all for 2 days .
Road condition from Krishnagiri to Pondy is ok. Its a single lane. But after Tindivanam, double lane is under construction.

Originally Posted by vdiatech

Hi next time when a pondy visit is planned, please dont skip Auroville.

@vdiatech, We intended to visit the place but my son was very cranky and we thought he might distract other people over there. In fact we went till the entrance and came back.

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

Request to the thread starter : Pondy is not a French Colony now. It was a Former French Colony, please change the title of the thread

@Starvegabond,
Thanks for the suggestion and you are right.

Mods: Could you please edit the title to "Former French Colony"

[gopikb]

Hi RK, that is a nice narration of your trip to Pondy. Can you also share the cost of stay in the resort per day ?

[navan49]

To Add the French Colony's beauty here are some missing Photos.They are the Aaye mandap inthe park near the beach.That is also the state symbol.The other one is the beautiful Sacred Heart Church.Have a nice feast for the eyes

[rk_sans]

Originally Posted by gopikb

Hi RK, that is a nice narration of your trip to Pondy. Can you also share the cost of stay in the resort per day ?

The one we stayed in St.James Court beach resort was "Super Deluxe Room" and costed around 2750 per day(Double Occupancy) and on that i got a discount of 15%. This included the morning breakfast with coffee/tea.

Need to mention that @royalcruiser's trip to pondy during starting of Sept 09, actually gave me the status of the roads which i was going to take. Thanks @royalcruiser for the quick travelogue which you put out in @akroy's thread.
There are lot of other bhpians who travelled that month like @misquitas, @gpa, etc. And all their reviews helped a lot.
I am mentioning all these here because i couldn't thank them when i actually did the trip and also i was not a member at that time.

[navan49]

There is one more place to be seen from the beach. You don't have to strain, just look on the opposite side of the southern side of the beach, you can find the war memorial as shown in the Picture here.

[samish_g]

A very short and crisp travelogue @RK.
Did you enquire with Hotel Anandha Inn and Hotel Atithi? I heard both are good hotels and very near the beach as well as the Boulevard.

[rk_sans]

Originally Posted by samish_g

A very short and crisp travelogue @RK.
Did you enquire with Hotel Anandha Inn and Hotel Atithi? I heard both are good hotels and very near the beach as well as the Boulevard.

Thanks @samish_g.
Nope, I believe both of these hotels are inside the city, right ?
Actually i wanted a hotel/resort which is open to beach front where my son can play, as it was his first meeting with beach .

[brat001]

hey, just got back from a weekend trip from pondy, well did stay at st james too,the route there is not too good,bad roads,hit a pothole at 120 and suffered a tyre blow as a result. Overall,wife and kids (also me) really had a blast,rk, you should have gone to auroville, and also tried the great "wood baked" pizzas. Food in auroville area is rather good and cheap as well(but for the millions of flies )Sr james or any of the resorts around that area of the beach are good as it isnt too crowded.The beach around repo area is terrible and rather crowded.Main pondy city dosent really have a beach so to say.just rocky. was impressed with the new walk way that has been constructed. the city looks rather spruced up from the last time i had been there, also the renovated le cafe (supposedly 24 hrs now) was a welcome change.