Founded in 1926 around the philosopher and freedom fighter Sri Aurobindo and his collaborator Mirra Alfassa, known as the Mother, the ashram occupies a cluster of grey-and-white buildings in the heart of the French Quarter. Visitors file quietly past the flower-covered Samadhi in the courtyard, where both are laid to rest under a spreading tree. The ashram also runs schools, workshops and guest houses across the town, and silence is asked of visitors inside.

This Ganesha temple stood here before the French arrived, and survived several attempts to remove it once the French Quarter grew up around it. Its walls are painted with the many forms of Ganesha, the tower and vimana are gilded, and a golden chariot is drawn through the streets at festival time. It is busy from dawn, with devotees stopping on their way to work.

Built in the 1850s near the seafront on Dumas Street, the pink-and-cream Notre Dame des Anges is one of the most photographed churches in Puducherry. Its twin towers and classical front give it a Mediterranean look, and inside hangs a painting of Our Lady of the Assumption said to have been a gift from Napoleon III. Masses are still held here in French as well as Tamil and English.

The cathedral of the Archdiocese of Pondicherry and Cuddalore stands on Mission Street, its present building completed in 1791 after earlier churches on the site were destroyed in the wars between the French and British. Its blue-and-white baroque façade and columns are among the landmarks of the old town, and the interior is bright with altars and statues.

Completed in 1907 by French missionaries, this Gothic Revival church on South Boulevard is known for its tall twin spires, its red-and-white façade and its stained-glass panels showing the life of Christ and the saints, made in France. It was raised to the status of a minor basilica in 2011 and is one of the most striking buildings in Puducherry.

Built by French missionaries in the 1870s, the Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine at Villianur is modelled on the basilica at Lourdes in France. It stands beside a large tank with a statue of Mary at its centre, and a grotto in the grounds draws pilgrims who come to pray and light candles. The annual feast brings large crowds from across Puducherry and Tamil Nadu.

A temple to Karaikal Ammaiyar, one of the 63 Nayanmar saints and among the earliest Tamil women poets, who was born in Karaikal. Her story, in which mangoes appeared by miracle to reveal her devotion to Shiva, is re-enacted every year in the Mangani festival in June and July, when mangoes are thrown from rooftops to the crowds in the streets.

The Dharbaranyeswarar temple at Thirunallar is the most important shrine to Saneeswara, the planet Saturn, in South India. Pilgrims bathe in the Nala Theertham tank before worship, believing it eases Saturn's hardships, and huge crowds gather on Saturdays and at Sani Peyarchi, when Saturn moves into a new sign roughly every two and a half years.