Snack to your heart's content on cheap, South Indian favourites – dosas, vadas, uttapams and ₹20 filter coffee – at this Pondy institution. It's also, incidentally, where Yann Martel's novel Life of Pi begins.
Indian Coffee House
Puducherry (Pondicherry)
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
0.64 MILES
Pondy is a seaside town, but that doesn’t make it a beach destination; the city’s sand is a thin strip of dirty brown that slurps into a seawall of jagged…
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Founded in 1926 by Sri Aurobindo and a French-born woman, ‘the Mother’, this famous spiritual community has about 2000 members in its many departments…
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To some, the large, golden, almost spherical Matrimandir (Auroville's focal point), set amid red (cement) lotus petals and surrounded by pristine green…
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Looking out to sea, past a statue of Joan of Arc (opposite), Notre Dame des Anges was completed in 1855, and is arguably Pondy's most attractive church…
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École Française d'Extrême-Orient
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Nearby Puducherry (Pondicherry) attractions
1. Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral
0.19 MILES
Begun in 1779 but not completed until 1791, this splendid Jesuit church (in whites, blues and yellows) is reminiscent of Goa's Portuguese-style churches,…
2. Sri Manakula Vinayagar Temple
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Pondy may have more churches than most Indian towns, but the Hindu faith still reigns supreme. Pilgrims, tourists and the curious get a head pat from the…
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Founded in 1926 by Sri Aurobindo and a French-born woman, ‘the Mother’, this famous spiritual community has about 2000 members in its many departments…
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Once home to Governor Dupleix, the neoclassical governor's residence looks out over Bharathi Park from the north. You can't go inside.
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0.38 MILES
A shady green haven that's always busy, Bharathi Park faces the neoclassical governor's residence, Raj Nivas, on its north side.
7. Institut Français de Pondichéry
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This grand 19th-century neoclassical building is also a flourishing research institution devoted to Indian culture, history and ecology. Visitors can…
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Pondy's lighthouse was completed in the 1830s and functioned for more than a century before being replaced in 1979.