Rock Beach or Promenade Beach in Pondicherry
Rock Beach or Promenade beach in Pondicherry is the most popular beach in India. If someone visits Pondicherry, then they will visit the promenade beach road first before going to anywhere else. It is located in the white town stretches around 1.2 km from the Kargil war memorial in the north end to the Dupleix statue at the south end of the beach road. Promenade Beach road is most enjoyable after 6 Pm where people from all ages go for walk or just relax at watching the sea where the waves crash the beach relentlessly. You can park your vehicle at the north end, where it is less crowded, and start working towards Rock beach road. It has Kargil War Memorial at the start just opposite to the IFP (French Institute of Puducherry), after that Chief Secretariat of Puducherry building on the right. Opposite to the chief secretariat, the government has made an artificial sandy beach for the tourists, you can wet your feet there and just sit around and relax. Shops like KBS Coffee Bar, Ponlait Milk Parlour, and Selva’s Sea View Restaurant are located near the Chief Secretariat. When you walk towards the famous Gandhi Statue, you will see “Aura” boutique store on the right and they have a coffee and Fresh Juice Corner on their building. After that, you will see the famous “The Promenade” Hotel on the right. A few years back, promenade beach had a lot of eatery shops here and there and the waste from the eateries was spilled all over the beach. The government allotted shops behind “The Promenade” Hotel to control the garbages and it is working very well now. You can taste all the local flavors here, you should try the famous Pondicherry Beach “Thatha Sundal”. “Thatha” means grandfather in Tamil, No one knows his name, but he got famous because of his mouth-watering hot Sundal (Chickpea with mango) that he used to sell at the promenade road. In no time that sundal from him sell like hotcakes. He is no more but his daughter is taking his legacy forward and set up a shop in the food street area. behind “The Promenade” Hotel. Grab a sundal and move towards the Gandhi statue at the center of the beach road which is the main attraction, you can go for few clicks for your memory. After that lies the French Memorial on the left side while the famous “Le Cafe restaurant” on the right, where you can sip your favorite coffee while gazing at the sea.
If you want to taste good icecreams then you should march towards the south end of the promenade road where the famous “Gelatario Montecatini Terme (GMT)” is located. GMT is famous for nature flavor ice creams. You should try once, it is always better to grab a few icecreams and get out. It has fewer tables and it always occupied. On the way to GMT, you will see the Pondicherry people’s favorite shop “Richie Rich”, it is famous for ice cream but they do offer few snack items like french fries, pizzas. Do check out, they have more tables to offer for the customers. “Waffles on the rocks” waffles shop next to the Richie Rich is the new snack shop that came up recently. There is a handicrafts shop next to the Waffles shop, which has a very good collection of handicrafts from the Pondicherry local artisans. Opposite to GMT is where “Dupleix Park” is located. You can cross the Dupleix park and reach the dead end of the beach where they laid rocks on the sea itself. It is a kind of selfie place, where you can take few pics. Be careful not to venture too deep into the sea. On the southern end, rocks were laid inside the sea. You can walk and take some good pictures from that location.
Best Season: July to March, April to June will be hot.
Time: 5.00Am to 11.30Pm
Entrance: Free (Open on all days) Vehicles are not allowed from 6 Pm till 6 Am
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Pondy Marinaa : Food-based theme beach in Pondicherry Town
Pondy Marinaa is the new attraction for the tourists located near the new lighthouse, which was developed by the government of Pondicherry. It was developed under the theme-based beaches programs by the Pondicherry government and “Pondy Marinaa” is based on a food theme. Pondy Marinaa is located at Dubrayanpet, which is 1.5km from the White town. Don’t mistake with the “Pondy Marina” location that you will see on Google with “Pondy Marinaa”. Unlike the rock beach, where the tourists can hardly venture into the seashores, here as the name suggests it has a reasonable length of sandy beach. One can enjoy sitting on the sands and play on the shores.
Inside the Pondy Marinaa facility, there are places for kids to play. Most important thing is that the restrooms are available at both ends; I feel the government should focus on it. Apart from that Pondy Marinaa has 34 food courts that are allocated and in that 8 to 10 shops are operational now. Shops like Richie Rich, Arun Ice cream, Baskin Robbins offers you different flavors of Ice creams, Popeye’s Kitchen offers you Snacks, Bamboo Biryani offers you Kerala style Biryani, Big Chips offers you chicken nuggets, momos, etc and Chennai Kulfi offers you different varieties of Kulfis. One of the advantages of Pondy Marinaa is that it offers you different varieties of food at a reasonable price and at the same time you will enjoy the food under the moonlight with the soothing breeze from of sea.
Right now they are offering horse riding on the beach road. They are planning to develop this place into an activity zone with the food court. A lot of adventure sports are planned to come in the near future like ATV, Para-Sailing, Beach Volleyball, etc.
Best Season: July to March, April to June will be hot.
Time: 10.00 Am to 11.30 Pm
Entrance: Free (Open on all days)
