Pondicherry – A City of Vibes

Traveling is something that each one of us wishes to do in life to truly experience it. We all want to travel to different places to experience specific types of foods, cultures, and people. However, there is one city in India that does not just offer a diverse range of cultures and cuisines, but an entirely different mood altogether. This is a palpable emotion that you will feel the minute you step into this quaint little town with its emphasis on preserving a certain ancient mood in all its walls and street corners. Welcome to Pondicherry, or Pudducherry, the city of vibes!

At first, you may think Pondicherry is a tiny place for India, with just about a million people living there. However, it is only when you step foot into this glammed-up version of rare French history brought to life, as a result of French colonisation, that you will realise what I mean when I say you can experience a different vibe. With architecture built by the French when they captured this town, and an artsy, design-oriented destination with a bubbling French culture, this town overflows with a confident French mood that you can only quite otherwise capture in the heart of Paris.

The streets of Pondicherry beg you to buy yourself a beautiful beige trench coat, hold a cigarette between your fingers and wear sunglasses on a cloudy day, and walk through the corners of this city, in an authentic French style. Because of the government’s efforts to boost tourism in this part of the country, the old French buildings have been redone and repainted in gorgeous shades of pastels and pinks, that add to the scenic view of the cityscape.

Pondicherry hotels provide accommodation that adds to this charm. With beautiful ornate four-poster beds in Pondicherry’s hotel rooms, with dark-wood wardrobes and framed paintings on the pastel walls, you will feel like you have somehow been transported halfway across the world straight to the heart of France. When you step out in the balcony to take in the breathtaking views of the Parisian buildings, you will notice one important thing that is unheard of in most Indian cities. There is no honking, no hawkers yelling at buildings in a verbal facsimile of advertisement, and no traffic sounds. You can truly wake up to the sounds of chirping birds and the brisk wind blowing on your windows.

The Pondicherry hotels aim to provide the real Parisian experience every step of the way. The hotels offer a beautiful French garden for their patrons, so you can really soak in the view of patrons relaxing in the shade, having their little picnics and dangling their feet in a swimming pool.

It is said of Pondicherry by a lot of its patrons, that there is not much to see, but a lot to feel. Which is extremely true. This is indeed a city of vibes all the way. While it may not provide you with picturesque scenery or tourism-oriented sightseeing destinations to haul yourself every day of your vacation as if you are checking off a list, it will rejuvenate you in a way that no other holiday of yours genuinely could. The mood is infectious, and you will find yourself turning more and more French the longer you stay here.