A few years ago I traveled to the East coast of India to discover a small town called Pondicherry, also known as Puducherry. Puducherry is located some tens of kilometers south of Chennai along the East coast of India.
I chose to stay in a hotel called Sunway Manor, which was a four-star hotel located by a main road called Hundred Feet Road.
My room was spacious and tidy and there were two chairs and a table in addition to the bed, TV and the desk. From the window I was able to see the tops of the palm trees further in the horizon and also the sun rising from the East.
The hotel room service was impeccable and on some afternoons one could find an elephant folded of towels on the bed.
There were two swimming pools in the inner yard of the hotel: a large pool for adults and a small pool for children. There were also a few sunbeds with shadows around the pool, and the shadows were really needed as the sun was shining hot almost all day.
However, in the indoors the climate of Pondicherry did not bother as the hotel was fully air-conditioned.
Puducherry’s common history with France was evident only in the hotel breakfast, where the morning buffet menu included traditional South Indian breakfast along with French delicacies such as pancake, croissant and toast. Fresh papaya, watermelon and fruits along with pongal were also served.
The hotel’s buffet dinner was a wonderful discovery trip to South Indian meals, but a few Indian dishes common even in Finland were also served, and the dishes were not too spicy.
For a small hunger one could order masala dosa from the room service, and it was brought with coconut and other chutneys. My experience was that masala dosa may look as modest as in the photo attached and still taste good.
I was very pleased with the hotel, and if there was something to improve, it would have been having a roof terrace and the sea near by. However, the location was by a major road, and one could have an air-conditioned taxi from the hotel, or even pick up a yellow rickshaw in front of the hotel if one wanted to get to the beach. However though, for cultural reasons, sunbathing was only possible by the hotel’s swimming pool.
The best thing about this hotel in my humble opinion was its SPA, which refreshed the tired and flabby Finnish skin totally. Ayurvedic facial treatments and massages given at the Bodhi SPA, together with high quality ayurvedic SPA products, alleviated the prickly heat problem which is often experienced in them tropical climates. And the customer was able to continue her journey with good memories.
Here’s a short video by me of the Sunway Manor hotel in Pondicherry:
Find your own hotel in Pondicherry, India
(Ad: The following chapter contains 2 affiliate links marked with a *star)
From the following link * good hotel in Pondicherry you can find more information about this Sunway Manor hotel. You can find more than 600 other * accommodations in Pondicherry here, in case you are searching for cheaper hotels or bed and breakfast in Pondicherry, India. Note: By booking a hotel through this starred affiliate link attached, you are giving a positive feedback to this travel blogger.
Check also my ework INDIVUE – a Trip to India, which will guide you throughout India. More articles from the East Coast of India are coming, so subscribe to my blog to be among the first to read them!
Read also other genuine hotel experiences from around the world.
Find this article in Finnish here!
