Generally, we recommend Visitors to start from the Visitor’s Centre where you can find the Guest Information point, Cafes and restaurants and shops.
You can join the Guest Introduction Tours or other programmes, if you want to be guided into the project of the town. But if you prefer to discover the place by yourself, get a map (from us or the Visitor Centre) and start your adventure!
- Below some tips about the main programmes you can join in:
- To participate in the morning Matrimandir Introduction Tour, that includes a short sitting in its Inner Chamber, click here
- To join a general Introduction Tour, click here
- Join programmes which are focused on Auroville’s more Spiritual Vision, by calling Savitri Bhavan or Inside India.
- Enjoy one of the many educationals, health care and multiple activities that are open to visitors: for example at Quiet Healing Centre, Pitanga and Arka. I WOULD ADD also , Veritē, Shranga, Jiva, Bharat Nivas, Auroville Green Practices
- Sit and browse in one of the libraries.
In our meeting hall you can find the Auroville’s weekly News & Notes bulletin (or you can download it from the link http://www.auroville.org/contents/186), which publishes in great detail the many programmes, courses, performances, exhibitions, and other events available for residents and visitors that week.
You are, of course, more than welcome to actively participate in the work to be done in order to build a city! Go to our Guest Service, located on top of the Solar Kitchen, where you can receive suggestions regarding short-term volunteering opportunities. Most of all, take your time to absorb Auroville’s energy field, walk around, talk with residents, sit and relax, be here…
Our guest house is surrounded by nature, a pleasant and a calm place. The following are the beautiful places that can be visited.
MatriMandir- To visit the MatriMandir from the viewing point requires no booking but it requires free pass which is free of cost that can be received at visitor center only. To visit the meditation chamber in MatriMandir would require pre-booking; the bookings are taken at the Visitors Center.
Booking timings are closed due to COVID 19.
Svaram– Svaram is a unit of Auroville, producing musical instruments which are manufactured in Svaram. To take tour to this unit an appointment would not be required. Svaram is 2.7 km from our guest house which is a travel of 9 min. At Svaram Instrument Community Settlement, there is a beautiful and thrilling Sound Garden, where you can play harps, xylophone, bell-storm and many other original instruments!
For further detail-
Postal Address:
Kottakarai, Irumbai B.O
Auroville 605111
Tamil Nadu, India
Phone: +91(0) 413 262 2220
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.svaram.org
The Colours of Nature- At The Colours of Nature
Set up as a research unit in the experimental township Auroville, in south India, in 1993, The Colours of Nature has revived the ancient traditions related to natural dyes. A long search led the Founder, Jesus Ciriza Larraona, to a small village and a family that had handed the knowledge of natural indigo fermentation dyeing down for generations. Most of our team remains until this day. We continue to explore the cultivation, harvesting and processing, adding natural elements such as sea shells, to improve our processes. Key parameters are color palette, fastness and eco‐friendliness. We have used the same water in our vats since 1993 and no water is ever wasted.
For further details:
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: +91 (0)413 2622587
Sadhana forest- Sadhana Forest is a reforestation project and a sustainable living community in Auroville, Tamil Nadu, South India. Visitors are most welcome to visit Sadhana Forest at any time! Every Friday the community offers a big tour, screens a documentary and serves a vegan organic dinner. All activities are free of charge and reservations are not required. Check the Sadhana Forest website for more info.
For further details:
Telephone: +91 413 267 7682, +91 413 267 7683
E-mail: [email protected]
Auroville Papers: Auroville Papers is a factory that makes beautiful papers for gift wrapping, book covers, gifts and even products like lampshades, artworks, wall hanging, vases from waste like cottons, banana trees, etc. The setup in the factory is a bit simple and still using traditional man operated machineries to make these papers. (Probably to give more employment opportunities to the local people). The tour was fun and educational for us. They also run workshops on paper making that is suitable for adults and kids of a certain age. All the paper products can also be purchased at their shop. It is 5.3 km from our guest house, which is a travel time of 16- 19 minutes.
For further details-
Address: Aspiration, Auroville, Tamil Nadu,
605101, India.
Phone: 0413 262 2122
Email: [email protected]
Auroville Botanical Garden- The Auroville Botanical Garden has been established in response to the disappearing Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest of the Coromandel Coast, South India, and to the global need for the conservation of genetic diversity in the plant kingdom in a wide range of climatic conditions.
this incredible site of beauty is situated in the southern part of Auroville. Established in 2000, it covers 50 acres and now have a collection of over 1,300 plant species displayed in a number of thematic gardens.
Environmental education programs run at the gardens for local school children and they have had over 50,000 children visiting them, other then all other visitors who love nature.
For further details:
Website: https://auroville-botanical-gardens.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Auroville-Botanical-Gardens
Ph. 0413-2623498
The Youth Centre : a self-managed space, where youth of all ages and backgrounds can collectively and constructively come together to relax, work, learn practical life skills and play. All people are welcome to spontaneously take initiative and build up the community. It organises a lot of activities, most of them open to everybody. The area itself deserves a visit, to see and enjoy the creativity and a different perspective on things.
Location: Auroville Road, behind Town Hall
The Bamboo Centre: produces a wide variety of handicrafts, furniture, jewelry, soap and takes on construction projects within Auroville. It organizes workshops how to use the bamboo material in different fields. Visit aurovillebamboocentre.org
Pitchandikulam forest: it is an environmental organisation and community based in the green belt of Auroville consisting of seventy-acre forest and following features:
- social outreach and external consultancy offices
- a wildlife research unit
- a bio-resource education centre
- classrooms and meeting rooms (both indoors and outdoors)
- an art studio
- a seedling nursery and display seed room
- a medicinal plant garden
- a museum of rural Tamil life
- an architecture and structural design practice
- volunteer accommodation and communal kitchen
- private housing for the Pitchandikulam community
Visit: pitchandikulamforest.org
Auro Orchard Farm: is the oldest and the second largest farm of Auroville, that grows most of the fruits and vegetables produced in the community. It also serves as the main poultry farm of Auroville. Since its inception, Auro Orchard’s main vision was to provide food for the Auroville community. For many years, to meet the immediate needs of the Auroville community in food, conventional farming practices were used, but since 2012, Auro Orchard is being converted into an organic farm.
Pebble Garden: 8 acres of severely eroded, barren land in the West of Auroville, along the Kootroad, have been successfully regenerated since 1994, without external inputsno soil or organic matter from outside – and no hired labour. Pebble Garden has today a vibrant indigenous forest with returning wildlife, a productive bio-diverse garden and a fledgling fruit tree area. A guided tour is offered every Friday at 4 pm.
Visit: pebblegarden.org
Sadhana Forest: Sadhana Forest is a community of individuals from all over the world. They welcome people of all ages and abilities to go to stay and get involved with in the project. Their experience with guests, from all over the world, has been very positive. They have created here a vibrant community atmosphere. Living and participating together, and sharing experiences brings us into harmony with nature and ourselves. One of their community members put it very nicely in her letter when she left: “May there be many more forests to grow people”.
Visit: sadhanaforest.org