Chennai to Pondicherry by Force Urbania

Around 150 km and three to three and a half hours on the ECR, including a reasonable stop. The road itself is easy; the variable is getting clear of Chennai. Leaving after eight can add well over an hour before you reach open coast.

The ECR for the experience — it runs close to the sea, passes Mahabalipuram and the salt pans, and is by far the more pleasant drive. The inland route via GST Road and Tindivanam is quicker when ECR traffic is heavy and has almost nothing to look at. Our chauffeur will judge it on the day.

Yes. Puducherry is a Union Territory rather than part of Tamil Nadu, so a commercial vehicle permit applies even though the road never leaves the coast. We obtain it before dispatch and it is charged at actuals with the receipt. Operators who omit it from a quote are quoting for something else.

Yes, and you should. It sits roughly a third of the way along and deserves an hour rather than a five-minute photograph. Tell us when booking so the day is planned with the stop in it rather than squeezed around it.

Only partly. The streets are narrow, some are pedestrianised in the evening, and a 17 seater cannot reach much of it. The chauffeur drops at the promenade end and holds outside the quarter, which may mean walking the last few hundred metres to a heritage hotel.

Often not, and we will say so. The French Quarter is compact, flat and best walked, so a group staying two nights within it can release the vehicle. Keep it if Auroville, Paradise Beach or the outlying temples are on your list, since those are spread out and awkward otherwise.

It is the best we run for that. No ghats, no altitude, no forest timings, and frequent places to stop comfortably. Groups who have been put off by the description of a hill climb usually find this is the trip they actually wanted.

Yes, comfortably — leave early, spend the day, return in the evening. It is one of the few destinations where a day trip does not feel like a compromise. Two nights lets you add Auroville and the beaches without rushing.

November to February for the weather and the driving. The northeast monsoon from October to December can bring heavy rain and standing water on parts of the ECR, and March to June is hot, though the coast road stays pleasant early in the day.

Whichever fits the group. This is one of the few routes where terrain does not decide it — flat, wide roads throughout and no climb to slow a long vehicle. Choose on headcount and luggage rather than on the road.

Yes. Chidambaram, Kumbakonam and the Cauvery delta temples continue naturally from here, and it makes a good three- or four-night circuit rather than a there-and-back trip. Ask us and we will lay out something realistic rather than an itinerary that looks good and drives badly.

It is taxed differently as a Union Territory, which is why the question comes up. Carrying quantities of it back across the boundary into Tamil Nadu is a matter for the excise rules rather than for us, and our chauffeurs will not carry stock on a customer's behalf. Please do not ask them to.