Location

The Healing Hands Center is located on the outskirt of Pondicherry, India, midway between Pondicherry and Auroville. A ten minute drives from Pondicherry when traffic is fluid. The place is peaceful and not crowded, a ten minutes walk to the sea. If you want to swim, the closest beach is a five minutes drive by auto rickshaw and it will cost you 60 INR. You can rent a small scooter for 100 INR to 120 INR per day or 70 INR per day if you rent it for ten days or more. A nice swimming pool is located just one minute away from the Healing Hands Center. You can have some nice walks in the adjacent coconut plantation.

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Getting there

A number of major airlines fly into Madras/Chennai, the nearest major airport handling international flights. From Chennai, it is best to take a taxi direct from the airport to Puducherry, though there are also buses available to Puducherry. If you have arranged accommodation beforehand, a taxi can be sent to pick you up from the airport. The journey from Chennai is about three hours by road. Buses from Chennai are frequent, and cost about 60 INR A taxi to Puducherry from the airport costs up to 2,000 INR but it is probably cheaper (1,500 INR) and more convenient to book an Auroville taxi, they will be at the arrivals exit to pick you up with a sign with your name on it. See Auroville Transport Service or Om Taxi Service or UTS Unity Transport.

One can get a bus from CMBT in Koyambedu or from Thiruvanmiyur or Guindy. You can be sure of a seat only from CMBT in Koyambedu.

The road from Chennai to Pondicherry (the East Coast Road, commonly called ECR) is a scenic highway and a normal journey would take about 3 hours. Most tourists however, cannot resist the seashore kissing the ECR and take a number of stops en route. This route passes through Mahabalipuram, Kalpakkam, Pudupattinam, Idaikkazhinadu (Alambara Fort), Mudaliarkuppam (has a cool boat house), Marakkanam (contains large areas under salt pans), Kanagachettikulam / Kalapet etc. before reaching Puducherry.

The other route that can be taken to reach Puducherry is through the National Highway 45 (NH-45) famously called as the Grand Southern Trunk GST Road. This route passes through Tambaram, Madhurantakam, Melmaruvathur, Tindivanam before reaching Puducherry. Both the major roads from Chennai are toll roads and approximately take the same time.