Basilica of the Sacred Heart
Puducherry, Puducherry, India
Nearby attractions
Notre Dame des Anges
Puducherry, Puducherry
The pink-and-cream Greek-Roman church facing the sea — mass still said in French, its twin towers the promenade's prettiest backdrop.
Old Lighthouse Puducherry
Puducherry, Puducherry
The 1836 red-capped lighthouse that guided ships to French India for 150 years — the promenade's most elegant sentinel.
Ananda Ranga Pillai Mansion
Puducherry, Puducherry
The 1738 Indo-French mansion of Dupleix's famous diarist — Tamil courtyard below, French colonnade above, history's best gossip within.
Rock Beach Gandhi Promenade
Puducherry, Puducherry
The evening ritual of Pondicherry — the traffic-free seafront around the Gandhi mandapam, old lighthouse and French war memorial, waves on black rock.
Promenade Beach
Puducherry, Puducherry
Pondicherry's 1.5-km seafront where French colonial facades face the Bay of Bengal — traffic-free evenings fill it with strollers past Gandhi's statue, the old lighthouse and café terraces; sunrise here, croissant after, is the Pondy ritual.
Immaculate Conception Cathedral
Puducherry, Puducherry
The 300-year 'Samba Kovil' — mother church of Pondicherry, its blue-and-white Portuguese-baroque calm rebuilt thrice since 1692.
Bharathi Park & Aayi Mandapam
Puducherry, Puducherry
The green square of old Pondicherry around Napoleon III's white Aayi monument — five gates, deep shade and government-quarter calm.
Puducherry Museum
Puducherry, Puducherry
The old law building's trove — Arikamedu's Roman amphorae, Chola bronzes, French furniture and Dupleix's bed.
Raj Nivas
Puducherry, Puducherry
Dupleix's 18th-century palace, now the Lt. Governor's residence — French India's grandest surviving building, open on select visiting days.
French War Memorial
Puducherry, Puducherry
The seafront monument to soldiers of French India who fell in the World Wars — lit each Bastille Day as tricolours share the sky.
White Town French Quarter
Puducherry, Puducherry
The grid of mustard-and-white French streets — Rue Romain Rolland's bougainvillea walls, colonial villas, cafés and gendarme-capped policemen.
Manakula Vinayagar Temple
Puducherry, Puducherry
A pre-French Ganesha temple in White Town's heart — 40 Ganesha forms in gold frieze, and Lakshmi the temple elephant's famous blessings.