Places to visit inPuducherry

The best places to visit in Puducherry combine French colonial streets, a seafront promenade and spiritual centres. This guide to Puducherry attractions lists timings and entry fees, with unverified figures clearly marked.

Puducherry, long written Pondicherry, is the capital of the Union Territory of Puducherry on the Bay of Bengal coast of South India. The territory has four separate districts: Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam. It became a French colony in 1674, passed to India de facto on 1 November 1954 and de jure on 16 August 1962, and took the official name Puducherry on 1 October 2006.

That history is still visible in the old French Quarter, where Catholic churches such as the Immaculate Conception Cathedral and the Basilica of the Sacred Heart sit alongside Hindu shrines like the Manakula Vinayagar Temple. The Sri Aurobindo Ashram, founded in 1926, anchors the town's spiritual reputation, and Auroville, about 12 km to the north in Tamil Nadu, is the township built around the golden Matrimandir.

Most sightseeing can be done on foot or by bicycle in the compact centre: the Promenade Beach, Bharathi Park with the Aayi Mandapam, and the Pondicherry Museum are close together. Further out are Eden Beach, a Blue Flag beach to the south, and the Arikamedu archaeological site, about 4 km from the city. Puducherry is reached by road from Chennai and other Tamil Nadu towns. Many fees and hours in this guide are marked as needing verification.