To put it all in few words -
->Nice location.
->Ideal and solitary beach.
->Good customer service.
->Accomodation caters to various budgets.
->Good food and Wine, but little expensive.
The resort is spread across huges acres of land just next to the beach, and they have different types of accomodation for various budgets, starts from 4000 - 16000/-, again the tariff depends on the seasonal factor. Anyways let me start my review with my journey from bangalore, Started around 7am from bangalore, and reached pondicherry at 1pm. I took the Hosur->Krishnagiri->Thiruvannamalai->Tindivanam->Pondicherry road, which is in good condition, so if you are planning to commute from bangalore, with your own vehicle, then this direction would be the shortest one, and also has less traffic condtion, I haven’t seen much trucks passing by on this stretch, however coould caution about the couple of big patholes between krishnagiri and thiruvannamalai, otherwise the road condition is good. "Cruise along the road".
There is only one good eat-out on this stretch "Ghar Dhaba", which is inbetween hosur and krishnagiri, So if you are planning to eat your breakfast do not miss this place. Once reaching pondicherry you need to take ECR road to chennai, approximately after 15kms you would sign board on right of the road which leads to "the dune eco beach hotel", you wont miss it because the road is dead end on the beach, until and unless you have an hovercraft :-)
Reception
We were welcomed curtiously (no debate on how honest was the curteousy :-)), but could see they were different in their approach then the rest, after all the formalities, we are taken in an eco friendly 9-seater auto towards our accomodation, which is primarily an hut facing the beach. The only other options to move around the resort is either through walk, or bicycles. Nice huh rural feeling huh!
Accomodation
With my budget, I could only afford the cheapest one they had called it as Baywatch huts, Its totally made up of bamboos, and from the outside reminds you of rural living, but wait a minute, enter the hut, you would find the wide array of all elements of luxury living. Thats when I say "Value for Money". These huts are naturally cooled ones (non-ac), and nice experience get into one of them. You get a mini bar and locker to safeguard your essentials. Nice cosy bed and nice wide bathroom with all the tolietries. However if you are not used to openness, open-bathrooms and all, then do not put yourselves here, rather select other type of accomodation like the general A/c rooms which are away from the beach. Actually in the night we could feel the sea breeze and its sound into the hut, and wow! a nice experience. By the way you get a hammock and lawn exclusive, just incase this interests you.
Food and Wine
Its expensive at their restraunt, but again for the premium you pay, you get the selective and quality of food. Either way, you do not have much options. By the way forget ordering room-service, its way too expensive.
The Beach
Well how could I miss this part, Its fantastic, very solitary and clean beach, you could just enjoy your morning’s and evening beach walk sessions... Beautiful!!!. On the downside, you should know that they won’t serve food/drinks at the beach, and secondly the access to the beach is restricted after 7pm in the night. At the moment they do not have much of water sports on the sea, but they do have lovely swimming pool, and they organise various activities around the pool, especially with artificial beach created just next to the pool, that’s bit of relief!!!
Housekeeping
One word "Excellent".
Other Services,
They have other services like spa, long term disease management treatments and yoga.. We havent explored it, so no comments!
Journey back to Bangalore.
Had lunch at pondicherry and back to bangalore by 7pm.
To Summarize
Its a nice weekend getaway, only if you could afford it .
Hint : check the weather report before you book the slot (assuming you book between 1-5 days). Google weather reports are atleast indicative if not accurate. You do want spend a premium for a storm hit destination. What else if you are planning to visit pondicherry and a beach resort then I would recommend "The Dune".