In early September I went to Digha with my family. It was a short vacation after two years of never-ending lockdown. Digha is a small sea-facing town of Purba Medinipur in West Bengal. This town, for many years, has been the number one choice, especially for the people of West Bengal when they need a quick vacation. The major three beach locations I went to were Mandarmani, New Digha and Old Digha. Here is my experience of travelling to the coastal town of West Bengal.
We had an early morning train from Howrah to Digha. I and my parents with my few relatives hopped on the train hoping for a nice mini vacation to Digha. Digha is well connected with Kolkata by road network and trains. From Kolkata, it's approximately 190 km and takes around 4:30 min by road. Digha, Mandarmani, Tajpur, and Shankarpur are on the same road few km here & there. There are several trains also. For Digha, you can avail of Digha railway station situated in New Digha. For Mandarmani you can either use Digha or Kanthi railway station.
Day 1 Digha
Old Digha, as the name suggests is the oldest part of Digha. The beach here is not ideally accessible for taking a dip as the whole trail of the beach is covered with boulders. Despite this hindrance, it is a beautiful place to visit. We visited the beach in the evening when it was crowded and lively. People were sitting along the guardrails made of marble to witness the waves crashing on the boulders. It was a full moon day with the high tide going on at that time so the waves crashed higher than they usually do. It was a surreal experience. That was the first time I saw waves crossing the guardrail. We also visited the Bishwa Bangla Market along the beach. It is very beautifully made; there are several different markets inside the area. There are several street food options along the beach that makes the area perfect for spending time in the evening.
Visiting New Digha
Again as the name suggests it is the newer portion of Digha beach. It is also very well constructed which helps visitors like us to sit at a safe distance along the beach and enjoy the view. This beach is suitable for taking a dip and also enjoying camel and horse rides. We went to the beach every morning and it was one memorable time of the whole trip. The early morning breeze of the sea waves crashing on the boulders was enjoyed by us with a hot cup of tea and egg toast. From new Digha, we booked a car to visit Udaipur and Talsari.
Here, you will have numerous hotel options according to your budget.
In general, Digha is affordable to common people, hence around the year, it's crowded. There are many sacks who cook food for you. You can visit the local market to shop for the fish of your choice, they will take care of the rest.
The distance between Digha & New Digha is just 1.5 km. You can walk this distance across the beach road. Alternatively, you can higher a local toto or auto to transport between these two locations.
You can also visit the Famous Chandaneshew Temple from here. This temple is situated in Odisha and approximately 6 km from New Digha. Apart from this, you can also visit Amaravati Park, Marine Aquarium etc.
Talasari Beach
Talasari is a quiet beach inside the Odisha border which can be easily accessed from Digha. We went there around noon during low tide. The sand on this beach has a mix of gold and black making the beach very picturesque. We clicked some really good pictures, collected some sea shells and went to Udaipur beach.
Udaipur Wave
Udaipur beach is like the beach of New Digha but does not have any marbled guardrails. There were some shacks selling grilled fish, crabs and prawns with beverages. The atmosphere here is as crowded as the New Digha beach. We took a dip here which was as always a very fun activity.
Our day in New Digha ended with sitting all evening while watching the endless waves and bingeing on ice creams and papri chaat as we headed to our last destination Mandarmani.
Day 2 Mandarmani
Mandarmani is an exquisite place to visit if you want to avoid the hustling crowd of Digha. It was my favourite part of the visit. We stayed in a sea-facing resort. The view had us on its hold since the moment we entered the resort. It was low tide when we got inside the resort but the strong breeze said otherwise. It was unbelievably windy, unlike anything I saw in Digha. The best thing about the resort was it was right beside the beach so close that we were able to enjoy the view right from our balconies. We wasted no time and quickly went to the sea to take a nice dip. It was raining that day which made the experience better for all of us. The resort had a restaurant where we were able to get all kinds of food. The food was really good both quality and quantity wise. After our lunch, we quickly went back to enjoy the sea. Most of our time in Mandarmani was spent sitting on the balcony and enjoying the breeze. There was a time early in the morning around 5:00 am when the waves were so strong that they sometimes came inside the resort. That was something I never thought I would see.
Return
And just like that, the memorable vacation approached its ending. With heavy hearts, after breakfast, we left Mandarmani and reached Kathi Railway station for our train back to Kolkata.
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