Chunnambar Paradise (Plage Paradiso)Beach - Pondicherry

3rd Feb, 2014 Monday

When I was planning to go to Pondicherry, I was just browsing on the net about Pondicherry and came to know that one of beautiful thing that this city also called as “French Riviera of the East” has to offer is its Sand beaches. 

The 2 most popular beaches are Serenity beach and Paradise beach; however there are numerous offbeat beaches along the Cuddalore road which I will unleash in other posts. 

Paradise beach, quite true to its name, is located 8 km past Pondicherry on Cuddalore road and is famous as Chunnambar beach. So, Ask for Chunnambar boat house while asking for directions. To reach this beach, one has to take the 20 minute Boat ride in Chunnambar backwaters from Chunnambar boat house. It is located at the place where Chunnambar River enters into the Bay of Bengal. The charges for shared boat for to and fro journey are 150 bucks and are fixed. One can also take a solo boat, speed boat but that can be little expensive. 

On Our way to Paradise Beach

There is also motor route to this beach but local people are not even aware of that and that route is quite isolated too. We tried to go by that route as we have hired Activa but at the end give up upon the advice of other people. But I am Curious till date about that route because once you see the beach; it is difficult to imagine that there is road route to this place also and I am sure it would be quite scenic and isolated.

As we boarded the boat at 4pm, we were quite excited to see what lies ahead and if it is really paradise. The boat ride in backwaters offers splendid views though not as beautiful as that of Allepey, keral Backwaters but still they are strong enough to remind me of my Kerala trip. As the boat took turn, the view takes our breath away. And we started waiting eagerly for it. Once we reached, we ran towards the beach.

This is the view of Beach as we get down from the ferry

This is the View of Chunnambar backwater after we get down from ferry

Boatman announced that last boat to return is at 5:30pm and also his colleague obstructed him to say that last boat is at 5 pm. We got the point he is trying to make.

It was really very beautiful. Fine sand, little crowd, Crystal Clear water on both sides: one side Chunnambar river and other bay of Bengal , all this is adding to its beauty and making it really a great paradise. 

Paradise Beach

There is also 1 restaurant that offers only Cigarettes, Beer, water and Beverages. The vastness of sea makes you feel like a speck of dust on earth and yes which we are in front of nature. There were also lifeguards at this place ensuring that nobody crosses the limits. 

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We took long walks over there with some great chats we ever had. Then at 5 pm, we started back and reached back at 6pm across Chunnambar.

On our return Journey to Chunnambar

 It was little late for us as we have to reach Club Mahindra resort which is on the same Cuddalore road but it is 3.5 km off the highway and it was unsafe to travel that road during night on 2 wheeler though not a big deal if you are travelling by car. 

I highly recommend this place to people going to Pondicherry. If time is less, skip serenity beach but not this one. We have also skipped serenity Beach. Also, prefer, early morning or evenings to get some good photograph and some good time. The most enjoyable activity is stroll across the not so crowded beach.

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