Poona

Your trip to India is never complete without a visit to the western city of Pune, a city which is the microcosm of the true India and a stunning mosaic of cultures and languages. Another wonderful facet of this 10th century city is the fact that it is India's second most important IT city, after Bangalore and one of its most famous landmarks is Rajneesh's Ashram, Osho Commune International.

Cheap flights to Pune, a city of five million people, are a great way to make your trip to this part of India economical. Presently, Pune is connected to the West by Pune International Airport, which is unique in that it is considered to be the only civilian airport in the world to be run by the country's Air Force. Being part of the Indian Air Force Airbase, Pune nevertheless has sufficient international flights. The airport is located at a distance of about six miles from the city's periphery.

Getting cheap flights to Pune will become more exciting, if the plans for building a new international airport on the city's outskirts materialize. The state government has almost finalized on a large area running into more than 6000 acres along India's National Highway and once completed, this will become India's largest airport. Should that happen, can there be a better reason to find cheap flights to Pune?

Finding cheap flights to Pune from almost any part of the world is never a problem. From any major city in just about any part of the world, getting cheap flights to Pune is easy. There are flights to Pune that operate out of New York, Madrid, Tokyo, Jakarta, Paris, Beijing, Frankfurt, Shanghai, Los Angeles, Houston, Hong Kong, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Rome, Sydney, Kuala Lumpur, Istanbul and various other cities around the world. In other words, no matter where you want to fly from you are sure to get cheap flights to Pune. Air India is undoubtedly the largest carrier from any of these places to Pune with Jet Airways and Lufthansa not far behind and Lufthansa operates a number of indirect flights from JFK Airport to Pune International Airport.

With a lack of international flights operating with any frequency out of any of these prominent places to Pune travelers are advised to chart out their plans for cheap flights to Pune well in advance to avoid any inconvenience.

Pune is the second largest city in India's most industrialized state, Maharashtra, after Mumbai. Purists consider the Marathi spoken here to be the purest version of this language of more than ninety million speakers.

Pune is a true exemplar of the cultural and religious amalgamation as well as a curious mix of the ancient and modern that India is. Included in the ancient is the age-old Pataleshwar Cave Temple, the Rajneesh Ashram, and the ultimate heterodox sect. There is also the Samadhi, or tombstone of Kasturba, wife of Mahatma Gandhi and the Father of the Nation.

Pune is alternatively referred to as the Oxford of the East for its educational institutions and the Detroit of the East for its auto industry. Although considered a Marathi stronghold, Pune is cosmopolitan. It also has numerous Muslim structures the most famous of which are the Aga Khan Palace, Christian places of worship such as St. Mary's Church, and a rare Synagogue along with many Parsee temples.