Travel to Pondicherry at Affordable Budget - A Detailed Cost Breakup

Hello friends, recently I traveled to the Union Territory of Pondicherry with my family. Here in this article, I will share all the expenses of my short and sweet trip to Pondicherry. As I traveled with my family, I decided to choose convenience over cost. You can easily cut on the additional expense made by me if you are traveling with your friends, so without any further delay let's get started.

1) Flight Tickets (Total Cost - Rs. 3,530)

Every time I find some hacks on reducing the cost of flight ticket bookings I will keep on sharing them on this blog Travehealwork. This time while comparing the flight tickets I noticed that the return journey flight tickets are much more expensive than one side journey. Hence, I booked one side ticket from Mumbai to Chennai from Cleartrip and separately booked return flight tickets from Chennai to Mumbai from ixigo. Both the flights were of Vistara Airlines and they provided us with complimentary meals on the flight having the option to choose from the Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian menus.
The Mumbai to Chennai flight ticket cost me Rs. 1,837 per person and the flight ticket from Chennai to Mumbai cost me Rs. 1,693 per person.

2) Hotel Bookings (Total Cost - 9,606)

There are plenty of stay options available in Pondicherry but still, try to book your stay in advance. I booked my stay at Treebo Trend South Avenue from Agoda based on the location and online reviews and it turned out to be a decent hotel. They have unlimited complimentary breakfast with a good number of options to choose from the menu and the hotel is located exactly in front of the Pondicherry Railway Station. Three days of stay at Treebo Trend South Avenue cost me Rs. Rs. 9,606 (Rs. 3,202 per day) with an extra mattress.

3) Cab Booking (Total Cost - 6,540)
I booked an Ola ride from Chennai Airport to Pondicherry but somehow the driver convinced me that an Ola ride will cost me more than a private ride because I will have to pay for Tolls on the way. Hence, I canceled the ride and we mutually agreed on a fare of Rs. 3,140. I still have no idea if it was cheaper than Ola or not, if you guys have any idea then please comment and let me know.
The driver was good, so I decided to again book his cab while returning from Pondicherry to Chennai. While returning we took a stop at Mahabalipuram which is a World Heritage Site. The return fare for the cab was Rs. 3,400 from Pondicherry to Chennai Airport including the sightseeing at Mahabalipuram.

The above were the major expenses during my trip to Pondicherry. From below I will mention a day-wise cost breakup of my trip to Pondicherry.

4) Day 1 (Total Cost - Rs. 2,862)

a) Lunch and Dinner - After hours of travel we were exhausted, so we took some rest in our hotel and went out for lunch. Randomly while roaming around we found a nice hotel nearby named City Punjab Dhaba. Lunch here at City Punjab Dhaba cost us Rs. 472. As we had heavy lunch we did not eat much for dinner, just had a few snacks which cost Rs. 240.

b) Shopping - During our visit to Pondicherry, there was an exhibition near the Gandhi Statue of Rock Beach where there was a stall from each state with unique items representing the culture of the state. We bought some clothes from the stall for Rs. 1,650 and a few cool showpieces which cost Rs. 500.

5) Day 2 (Total Cost - 2,822)

a) Rent a Bike - I was surprised that the laws are not as stringent as they are in Andaman and Nicobar Island and renting a bike in Pondicherry is super east the place where we were staying provides bikes on rent but they were all booked so they provided us the contact of other Rental Service and with variety of option I chose Yamaha Fascino as it looked pretty cool and the rent for the bike was Rs. 700 (Rs. 350 per day) and I filled Rs. 200 petrol in it (Petrol was Rs. 78 per Liter in January 2022).

b) Botanical Garden - There is this beautiful Botanical Garden where you can click amazing pictures with the greenery. The entry ticket is Rs. 20 per person.

c) Paradise Beach - After renting a bike we went to Chunnambar Boat House from where we could take a boat to Paradise Beach. Chunnambar Boat House entry cost us Rs. 42 including the parking. To energize ourselves we had a fruit plate of Rs. 20 and coconut water of Rs. 20 per piece. A ticket to Paradise Beach from Chunnambar Boat House costs Rs. 354 per person.

d) Pondicherry Museum - We went to Pondicherry Museum which is a cool place to visit in the French Colony. The entry ticket is only Rs. 10 per person and it is open from 9 am to 6.30 pm.

e) Lunch and Dinner - We had our lunch at Paradise Beach, there are not many options on the beach, so you really cannot complain about the taste of food here. Lunch at Seagulls Paradise Beach Hotel cost us Rs. 430 and the taste were good. For dinner, we went to a famous Coromandel Cafe in the French Colony where you will always find yourself waiting to have food. Luckily we got a table in less than 30 minutes and the bill here at Coromandel Cafe was Rs. 936. After having dinner we went for a walk to the Rock Beach which is just minutes away from the cafe and had ice cream which cost Rs. 90 per person.

6) Day 3 (Total Cost - 2,527)

a) Petrol - We filled Rs. 100 petrol as we had to travel to Auroville which is an experimental town around 10 km away from Pondicherry.

b) Auroville - At the entry to Auroville we bought a few beautiful showpieces which cost Rs. 650 and parked our bike in the parking, the parking fee is Rs. 20 per bike. We had Lassi which cost Rs. 55 per person. While returning from Auroville we made a stop at the famous Auroville Bakery and bought a few bakery products to eat and take back home. The total bill at Auroville Bakery was Rs. 917.

c) Shopping - After returning to Pondicherry we went to Aurobindo Ashram and must say this place has its own vibe, it is a great place to meditate in such a peaceful environment. You can find a lot of good books in this Ashram. I bought a few books which cost me Rs. 175 and some showpieces for Rs. 300.

d) Lunch and Dinner - We did not have a proper lunch as we ate a lot of bakery products from Auroville Bakery. For Dinner we had local street food like Uttapa and Masala Dosa which cost Rs. 165, Egg Soup and Samosa which cost Rs. 65, and Panipuri for Rs. 30. After all this, we ended up having Ice Cream for dessert which cost Rs. 50.

7) Day 4 (Total Cost - Rs. 225)

On our last day, we checked out from the hotel early in the morning and were heading to Chennai Airport with a stop at Mahabalipuram for sightseeing. Entry ticket at Mahabalipuram was Rs. 40 per person. We had coconut water for Rs. 40 per piece, fruit salad for Rs. 20 and bought some snacks for Rs. 125 for our journey.

Summary:

This was a short summary of the expenses incurred by us on our short trip to Pondicherry. Of Course, we did not cover all the destinations and tourist attractions but the purpose of this trip was to enjoy my time with my family which I did. Let me know in the comment if you need any specific information about Pondicherry and I will surely try to answer.