When & How
Pondicherry
November to January is the best time to visit when the weather is much milder and cooler and you can enjoy the ocean breeze.
Pondicherry has a tropical climate and the summer here feels like a sauna i.e. high humidity and unrelenting heat.
Pondicherry also experiences heavy rains during the monsoon season between July and September. The temperature does come down during this time but of course the rains can limit one’s ability to get out and about.
For a visit close to December bear in mind that rooms get booked quickly, so try and arrange things a few months in advance.
Getting around
The best way to explore the heart of Pondicherry is either on a two-wheeler or on foot. You’ll find more cycles and scooters than cars on Pondicherry’s roads.
Rent a cycle at any roadside cycle shop or ask your hotel if they can arrange for a bike to explore the area.
Getting around the Tamil area can be difficult at night and safety should be kept in mind (take the usual precautions).
How to get there
We recommend bus or plane to get to Pondicherry. Here’s why:
By air:
The fastest way to get to Pondicherry is to take a flight to Bangalore and then a separate, 50-minute flight from Bangalore to Pondicherry. However, currently there is just one lunchtime flight which is operated (most days but not all) by SpiceJet.
By rail:
Getting to Pondicherry by rail is not really an easy option. There is a station in Pondicherry but being a minor station on the network it is not well served.
Villupuram Junction is 40km away and is better served by trains coming from Chennai, but again there are only one or two daily trains running from here into Pondicherry. Villupuram however, is well connected to Chennai, Madurai, Bangalore and even Mumbai.
The closest major railway station is in Chennai, 4 hours away from Pondicherry by train, and currently there are very few trains running on that route. At present there is just one train per day from Chennai to Pondicherry and this will be hard to book online thus necessitating a visit to the station.
A better alternative is to take a train to Chennai, then an auto to the Koyambedu bus stand in Chennai (which is half-an hour away from the station), and a bus from there to Pondicherry which takes about 3 hours.
Smart Tip: take a prepaid auto from Chennai City Station to Koyambedu. Auto drivers in Tamil Nadu are notorious for fleecing tourists, the meter here is not an iron-clad law!
By bus:
There are government and private buses travelling from Koyambedu in Chennai, the bus stands for which are separate. It is advisable to shell out a little more and take a private bus from Koyambedu. Take a bus that goes via the scenic ECR route to Pondicherry. The journey takes about 3 hours.