Ok so after a lot and I will be really honest here – A LOT of procrastination , I finally literally out of frustration booked a ticket for myself and that too for Chennai. Why Chennai ? Well wait for it 🙂

Now since I could not find any companion for the Trip, that means I was travelling solo for the first time : I choose a place which was both safe and also could keep my adventurous soul satisfied.

Pondicherry is just 150 kms from Chennai and this is a place which was long pending in my bucket list of places to travel so thought of taking the route of Chennai – Pondicherry which helped me in covering not just one but a couple of new places .

The whole trip was exciting and self indulging.

Day 1 :

I started from Mumbai at 8:00 am and reached Chennai airport by 10:30 am. Check- in in my hotel was from 12 pm which I had pre booked on booking.com . I would suggest for all hotel bookings always go for Booking.com as they offer bookings at minimum price, without taking Card details as well and allow cancellation even one day before of your check-in . I find this site quite useful for all accommodation bookings.

Since I had some time so I utilized it in having my brunch at the airport itself . After reaching Hotel , I freshened up and booked Uber rental for 5 hours to cover all tourists places in Chennai. I found this mode of travel within the city quite convenient and quite affordable.

Places I covered –

Fort St.George

Kapaleeshwar Temple , Mylapore

St Thomas Church

Parthasarathy Temple

Marina Beach

Elliot Beach

Restaurant to definitely try :

Bay 6 , in Akkarai – Best Retro Bars near the shore

Day 2 :

I decided to visit Mahabalipuram/Mamallapuram from Chennai. It was just an hour and half journey from Chennai and there were a couple of places worth visiting on that route. Hence I would suggest one to book a cab for this journey.

Places covered:

Dakshna Chitra ( prefer to visit on a weekend around 9am and keep 2-3 hours separately for this place)

Crocodile Bank ( Remember it is closed on Mondays)

Muttukadu Beach / Boat House

Arjuna penance

Covelong beach

Panch Ratha

Krishna Butterball

Lighthouse

sea shell Museum

Mahisasurmadini mandap

Rojagoparan

Shore temple ( the most beautiful place )

Mahabalipuram Beach

Most of the above places are very near to each other and hence can be covered within the same day.

Day 3:

Now here I made a little bit of mistake where I could have saved some money if I would have known earlier. I knew I had to take a bus to Pondicherry from Chennai but first of all didn’t book it in advance . Also stayed very near to Chennai-Pondicherry exit but still booked a cab to Chennai bus stand in the morning .

Well, Lesson Learnt!!

Hence I would suggest you to book a bus from redbus.com and reach one of many departure stops that they share on their site as per your convenience.

So on Day 3 I reached Pondicherry at around 12 PM and rested for a couple of hours in the hotel that I booked in advance.

One can visit all tourists places in Pondicherry within three days and leave . I had 5 days with me so I spent my days in leisure.

I used one day to visit Chidambaram Temple and Pichvaram Mangrove forests. Believe me these places are worth visiting when you are in Pondicherry.

I would recommend taking a guided Cycle tour as well in Pondicherry as it will give you a great insight into how this place came into existence.

Places I covered in Pondicherry :

Rock Beach

Paradise Beach – I personally loved being here.

Serenity Beach

Bharathi Park

Manakula Vineyagar

Botanical Garden

Aurobindo Aashram

Auroville

You can rent a bike to cover all these places at Rs300-350 per day .

Also try Scuba diving while in Pondicherry if interested.

I ended my trip here and next day travelled back to Chennai Airport.

I suggest to cover a couple of more places around Pondicherry if you have time like Thanjavour , Yercaud and Karaikudi.

This was my first solo trip so had made a couple of mistakes as mentioned earlier but as they say “A journey of thousands miles begins with a first step” , I am going to take this as an experience for my adventures ahead and keep collecting memories .

Ciao for now!!! Follow precautions and stay safe .