The Pondicherry tour from Chennai begins with hotel pickup at 7:30 am in a private air conditioned vehicle. The two hour drive south along the East Coast Road brings you to Pondicherry by mid morning.

The day begins at the Aurobindo Ashram, the memorial and spiritual centre dedicated to Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, poet, philosopher, freedom fighter and mystic, arguably the most intellectually remarkable figure associated with Pondicherry. Your guide introduces his life and ideas: the revolutionary who was imprisoned by the British, who heard a divine voice in his jail cell and emerged transformed, who came to Pondicherry in 1910 and spent the rest of his life developing a philosophy of spiritual evolution that drew followers from across the world. The ashram also honours Mirra Alfassa, the Mother, his most famous disciple, the French Egyptian woman who ran the community for fifty years after his death and founded Auroville.

The French heritage walk follows, a guided walk through the heart of the French Quarter, past yellow and white colonial villas with bougainvillea tumbling over compound walls, Catholic churches with Tamil inscriptions, and the grid of streets that the French laid out in the 18th century and which survive almost intact today. Your guide explains the French connection with Pondicherry, how they came, why they stayed, and what they left behind.

The handmade paper factory is one of the most unusual stops on the Pondicherry day trip from Chennai, a workshop set up by the Aurobindo Ashram producing handmade paper from cotton rags using silk screen printing and marbling techniques. It is a craft tradition that has almost disappeared everywhere else.

The promenade along the Bay of Bengal follows, a tree lined esplanade where the French placed their finest villas facing the sea, and where Pondicherry residents still walk in the early mornings and evenings as they have for two centuries.

The final stop is Auroville, the most ambitious social experiment in India. Founded in 1968 on the vision of Mirra Alfassa, Auroville is a community of over 3,000 people from 60 nations living together without the usual divisions of nationality, religion or caste. At its centre is the Matrimandir, a golden sphere used for silent meditation and one of the most architecturally extraordinary buildings in India. Your guide explains the founding vision, the reality of daily life in Auroville, and what forty years of experiment have produced.

Hotel drop in Chennai by 7:30 pm.

This private Pondicherry day trip from Chennai is fully inclusive. We take care of hotel pickup and drop in a private air conditioned vehicle, your English speaking cultural guide throughout the day, all entry fees, and a traditional Indian vegetarian lunch.