Chunnambar Beach, Pondicherry

Here's what one website says about Chunnambar:

"One can swim, row a boat, stay on a tree house and watch the sunrise, have a picnic at the beach and play beach volleyball, go trekking, or even fishing! It has a fully functional water sports center and a breathtaking pool amidst the backwaters."

I'm not sure there's a pool or fishing facility, but the beach here is blissfully relaxing. You won't find a huge crowd about. Chunnambar is around 7 kilometers from Pondicherry, at Ariyankuppam. Get that right. People you ask directions from just might not know Chunnambar. So ask for Ariyankuppam.
The beach is at the mouth of the backwaters. The sand is clean and sprinkled with shells. Boy! That's something you don't find on beaches these days. Plastic, maybe, but shells in such numbers... oh no.

To reach this beach called Plage Paradiso or Paradise Beach, you need to take a boat ride that lasts about twenty minutes or so. If that's too many names to handle - Chunnambar Beach... Paradise Beach... rest assured. They are the same. Though I must confess that I didn't hear anyone refer to the beach as Paradise Beach.

I was so taken in by the ride along the rather dense forest that closely fringes the waters that I didn't exactly count the minutes. The waters are even fringed with palm groves in some places.

And then, quite abbruptly, you spot a small sandy bar in the distance and beyond it, the bright blue sea. The boat berths at a tiny wooden pier, below which you'll find the water teeming with tiny black fish.

The small bamboo deck on Paradise Beach, quickly knocked up as it appears, is still a good observation point. I guess the beach would be more attractive with fewer crowds, which would be on working days after the schools and colleges open. We went there during the beginning of the summer vacation, on a holiday and found the place a bit too crowded. Not crowded like Marina Beach on a Sunday, but a little too crowded for a beach that is supposed to have just a few people about.

You better not swim out far into the sea as the undercurrent is pretty strong here and there was no lifeguard in sight while we were there. But the waters close to the shore are perfectly safe. Quite a stretch of it is shallow too.

You might want to check out the Chunnambar Beach Resort and the Sea Gull Chunnambar Beach Resort if you plan on a longer stay and not a picnic. I guess both these resorts are the same. Mine was a quick trip to Chunnambar. We didn't stay here.