Karaikal (kāraikkāl also Karikal or Karaikkal) is a major port city of east coast of India and a municipality in Karaikal district in the Union Territory of Puducherry, India.

The French government acquired Karaikal in 1674 and held control, with occasional interruption from the British and Dutch, until 1954 (de jure in 1956), when it was incorporated into the Indian Union along with the rest of French India.