Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu · premium

Le Dupleix, Pondicherry

★★★★☆

Le Dupleix is an 18th-century mansion in White Town, once the home of the town's mayor and named for the French governor Joseph Dupleix. It is built around a courtyard shaded by a large mango tree, with a small pool, wide teak staircases, and antique-furnished rooms above a colonnaded restaurant. The heritage detailing is kept: shuttered windows, tiled floors, high ceilings with fans. It is a few minutes' walk from the Promenade and the ashram, in the quietest part of the old town. It suits travellers who want the colonial setting with the antiques rather than a contemporary conversion.