Nice place to stay. Review on Hotel Ajanta Sea View, Pondicherry

HOTEL AJANTHA SEA VIEW - PONDICHERRY

All those who fondly cherish memories of their hostel tuck, mall roads and the now extinct soda pop; do drop in for a stay at Hotel Ajantha Sea view…

LOCATION: Close to the lighthouse at Beach road,

ABOUT THE PLACE: A disarmingly quaint place. The hotel structure in its entirety reminds you of a magnificent French Villa. There is this really picturesque restaurant which runs in the lobby. Trust this restaurant to rekindle your memories of hostel / boarding school days .(if you have ever stayed/studied in one that is). It’s so strikingly pretty that you are transported to the good ol’ days of soda pop joints on mall roads close to the hostel where you go for your weekly tarriance.

And hey if you have spent your teen years devouring Archie and Gang’s antics in their comic books you will find this whole place to be quite akin to a Riverdale style joint. The lobby which also doubles up as a restaurant serves soda pop; which is now extinct in almost all parts of the country. The lone survivor here is also prey to hungry hordes and you may not get it on most days. They have fabulous sundaes and the banana split is yum. I had 2 in one go … calories be damned.?The frankies are decent too.

Also they have this STD booth inside the lobby which doubles up as a store for assorted stuff. from imported cosmetics.(fake ones too.) to cigarettes imported again and a whole lot of deos and chocolates… imported yet again…! The blue FA roll on deodorant which is again in the list of endangered items was …. surprise surprise!available here.(Endangered because you do not get it in the whole of Bombay, you can get it in Pune on FC road. Do not confuse it with FA Sport in blue…) Also there are these really dainty little nailpaints for sale. the bottles have tiny plastic shrubs growing inside the glass cover…way too cute.

Before I get on to the rooms, all you perverts with a fetish for white skin there are a lot of really pretty firangs who stay here; expect to see a lot at the restaurant downing the goodies… ROOMS: Pretty much decent.there are sea facing and non sea facing rooms. try grabbing the sea facing ones. The price ranges from Rs.850 for non sea facing A/C rooms to Rs.1300 for sea facing ones. Hey did I tell you there is this smart  a ss who mans the reception counter and he would try to palm off non sea facing rooms to us Indians while doling out the nice sea facing rooms to the firangs. Deal with the kind old man instead, probably the owner who is really sweet unlike his imperious younger counterpart.

The A/C’s work really well and most rooms have a nice bubblegum pink shade inside. The rooms are quite clean and neat. Nothing spectacular though. The service is nothing to write home about. We had no towels and soaps in our room. We got two towels soon after a call but one had a nice big gaping h0le in it…. But must say the service was still prompt. Also next door there is a nice place with a French twist called “La Terrase” if my memory serves me right. It is a nice, cheery and bright yellow restaurant. Resembles a French sidewalk café. You get good continental breakfast. But not filling for Indians who like to stuff themselves to the gills even for breakfast. Everything they serve is freshly made. You can sit there and enjoy your early morning grub as the blazing sun singes Pondicherry streets.

All in all Hotel Ajantha Sea View is definitely worth staying for a very touristy feel in a small town.