The 1.5 km long Promenade beach takes a place of pride in Puducherry. It is one the best places in the city to jog, walk, and skate or do yoga early in the mornings and enjoy delectable delights in the evenings when the stretch is closed for vehicular movement. There are a number of landmarks on the seafront  the war memorial, the Joan of Arc statue, an old Light House, a Mahatma Gandhi statute, the town hall, remnants of customs house and an old pier, as well as Ashrams nursing home and hospital. For foodies and health enthusiasts, beaches in the morning are speckled with juice vendors, and in the evenings, chaat and local food vendors line the beach and offer delicacies that make for a veritable feast.

Heavy soil erosion had almost depleted the 50 m or so of beach that used to exist here. Until recently, visitors could not walk down to the edge of the ocean due to the cement blocks that have been stacked so as to form a high platform, which was originally built to fortify this side of the city against tsunamis. In recent months, however, serious efforts by the government of Puducherry to recreate the beach by pumping sand into the shallow waters close to shore have proven successful. Little by little, Promenade Beach is growing, with almost 100 m of beach having already been created.