Pondicherry Executive Inn Reviews

We booked into what they call their Annex, 50 metres or so down from their main hotel building. The price was right through cleartrip.com and the rear room fine. When a front room became vacant, mine host graciously transferred us to a front room. The front room opened on to a balcony,The rear rooms do not open on to a balcony. There is no refrigerator in rooms in the Annex rooms, but the room has aircon. The bathroom is clean,the hot water is available 24 hours,and it has an english toilet. The manageress at the main hotel gladly offered us ice cubes to take to our room at the Annex for our own drinks. The shower as in most indian hotels is in the bathroom next to the toilet, so the toilet floor will be always inconveniantly wet. The Annex reception had a very helpfull young guy 'Rick" who understood English very well.There is also a chilled drink frig in reception. Although we pre booked and paid through cleartrip,we were hit with the new "government" service tax on checkout, very unusual for a cleartrip booking. Also the car and driver we booked at reception to take us to Chennai after we had agreed on a set price, reception tried to add the extra so called Govt Service tax to the quoted price. We cancelled and sought other quotes. So in Pondicherry and Tamil Nadu,watch out for these hidden Govt taxes. The "main" hotel building is very pleasant and well kept, and the rooms slightly more superior to the Annex, and there is also a fine restaurant there as well, also offering a breakfast buffet and A La carte menu. The street front rooms in The Annex only drawback is the temple a few doors down the road, and although picturesque, do start with the drums fairly early in the morning. Overall, this hotel and Annex are an excellent property,very clean and well managed. An Internet cafe is a minute walk away and several good restaurants a walk away. If you like Tandoori, the Salt & Pepper Restaurant around the corner,fires up the Tandoori oven outside, cooks a superb Tandoor chicken,and you can eat in or take away. Bottled Booze can be bought a block away at the dark dingy & Grubby government run wine shops, You can walk to the very fine paved esplanade area,and will find ATM's in that area, also the classic Colonial Town Hall [Hotel De Ville] and a splendid 4/5 star hotel "the esplanade" offering cocktails and buffet dinner. The tourist information office is also on the esplanade a bit past the the Gandi Statue, and just before the tourism office is an attractively located coffee shop "Le Cafe" on the water front with excellent expresso coffee, but bad food as we found out after ordering. Nomad

Best Experience: Pondicherry has some nice old french Colonial buildings in the hotel area.

Worst Experience: The Liquor shops and attached bars, are grubby grotty and dark.

The service of the hotel was pretty nice especially the staff of the hotel being very accommodating and friendly. It was a nice visit as the hotel staff directed us to the best places to visit and also provided rental vehicles facilities to help us move around town. Executive Inn is a wholesome hotel with fantastic prices, service and accommodations. Highly recommended. If you\'re out to Pondicherry, you are inevitably going to spend most of your evenings out at the Stone Beach just enjoying the breeze and relaxing to the slight hum of wind passing through the many rocks on the shoreline. There are quite a few places you can visit and the sand beach around 10 kms away is a good spot to enjoy. I would advise everyone to rent two wheelers to maximize their time checking out places cause there are many things to see, even if it may not look like it in the beginning. The variety of cuisines and fresh sea food is a delight.

Best Experience: Everybody should try out the fresh fish fries and prawn fries at Auro Beach, its a different experience having it on the beach. Various other delicacies and the rooftop restaurants are also very nice. Listening to music and reading books near the stone beach is a brilliant way to enjoy some time alone. The ride to Auroville till date remains one of the most fun rides I have had while going to a place.

Worst Experience: Beware of the smooth talking auto rickshaw walas.. our Rs 20 fare becoming a staggerring bargain down to Rs 70 from his demand towards the end. And watch out for some Hotel owners who can trick you in the peak seasons to take up rooms in the annex block while charging full rates. (Soorya International, you won\'t be forgiven)

not to see much and no more than 2 days required

Best Experience: proximity to beach road