Puri.. the Place of Lord Jagannath and beautiful Marine beach drive, Konark Sun Temple

Puri.. the place of Lord Jagannath always facinate people across the globe. Besides the world famous Lord Jagannath temple, one can also enjoy the beautiful sea beach. Driving from puri to Konark sun temple by the marine beach gives ample happiness and satisfies the hunger for holiday.

Puri is a renowned city and headquarters of Puri District in the Indian state of Odisha (formerly Orissa) (Latitude: 19° 48' 0 N, Longitude: 85° 50' 60 E), also known as The Abode of Lord Jagannath.

Understand[edit]

The Shree Jagannath Temple of Puri during car festival

Jagannath Puri or Purusottama Puri (approximately 1 and a half hours or 60 km from Bhubaneswar by bus {about Rs. 25 to Rs. 150), about 2 hours by train) is a pilgrimage town with the famous temple of Lord Jagannath (means Lord of the Universe) and is a major tourist destination with all its beautiful and pleasant sights. There are many hotels, most overseas tourists stay near to Chakratirtha Road (C.T. Road) - try Hotel Lotus - for the best of star hotels like hotel holiday resort, mayfair beach resort or you can ask rickshaws for 'Sea Beach Road or Swargadwara'. Some good hotels are Hotel Puri and Hotel New Sea Hawk (in Swargadwar) The Sun temple at Konark is also near by. If you go to Puri by road from Bhubaneswar you will go past Pipli with its beautiful applique handicrafts, worth a look. The Puri sea beach is a major attraction with its fantastic sea face view and golden sand, the water is a bit rough (which is good if you like to surf).

Go by

Train

Puri is well connected by Railways. Trains are from Kolkata (Howrah jn), New Delhi, Ahmedabad, etc. It is also a major railhead on the East Coast Railway, bifurcated from Khurda Road Jn. The Railway Station of Puri is in The heart of the town and near to all hotels. If you arrive by train go to the Odishan State Tourist counter at the station for advice, they are usually very helpful and speak English. The MCO Booth is also quite helpful. Locals spoken language is Oriya. Due to the presence of people from various parts of India there would not be a language problem. Hindi is also widely used. Some locals even speak Bengali.

Get around

You can use cycle or auto rickshaws but agree a price before you set off. There are places on C.T Road where you can hire an Enfield motorbike, good if you want to drive along the coast to Konark(Sun Temple). A cycle rickshaw is in the range of 5-20 rupees.

Important places to See

• Shree Jagannath Puri Temple. One of the four dhams ie four most sacred pilgrimage places of Hindus. Constructed in 11th century and is the starting point of the world famous Rath Yatra held in July. Entry is limited to Hindus. Do lean against the Shani temple and watch the summit of the temple and do savour the temple food or bhog. The temple complex is huge and has some very interesting stories associated, priests or pandas are generally the ones who conduct the non Oriya people around and generally mention all these stories although they can demand exorbitant amounts; bring it down to something reasonable. It is possible to go into the sanctum sanctorum and touch the deities in the main temple for a fee.

The most important festival of Odisha,Ratha Yatra or the Chariot Festival (earlier known as Car Festival to the Europeans), is held with religious grandeur at Puri, the seashore town in Odisha.

• Golden Beach of Puri.
• Shankaracharya's GOBARDHAN Pitha A Hindu Math
• Swargadwar The Gateway to Heaven. Site of cremation of almost all famous Oriya people.
• Shree Lokanath Temple Dedicated to Lord Shiva, is said to be the place where Lord Shiva hid himself from Shani, under a pond. The Shiva Linga here is partially submerged and the pond is teeming with fish. Priests here tend to be very strict so do maintain etiquette.
• Sunara Gaurang Temple
• Bedi Hanuman Temple
• Chakra Tirtha Temple
• Mausima Temple
• Shree Gundicha Temple Destination of Rath Yatra.

• Damodar Gaudiya MAtha, C.T.Road, Puri -2 , Odisha (Near Chakranarayan Temple), ☎ 06752229697, [1].  edit

Famous Places Near Puri[edit]

• Sun Temple of Konark.
• Chandrabhaga Sea Beach.
• Chilika Lake.
• Satapada Dolphin Sanctuary.
• Alarnath Temple
• Pipili Famous for Applique Work.
• Raghurajpur Famous for Patta Chitra.
• Puri Konark Marine Drive This road was recently renovated and hence is in superb condition. Is peppered with deserted beaches and many rivers fall into the sea in places visible, if not accessible, from the road. Some beaches are said to have quicksands. Along the way there is a temple Ramchandi which is a popular picnic spot amongst the locals as non-veg is allowed in the temple.
• Balihar Chandi Temple Is secluded with a beautiful and very calm beach nearby view from the temple of which is obscured by a forest.

• Nandankanan Zoo -

Do

The Golden Beach of Puri during sunset

Enjoy the splendour of the Golden Beach of Puri. It is ideal for surfing and cool for a dip. The beach is covered in golden sand. The waves can also be high and rough during purnima (full moon). Also, "Please Do not litter the beach" to keep its magnificent view intact. You have to be careful about swimming off the Chakra Tirtha Rd end of the beach because there is a canal that carries raw sewerage into the ocean.

Buy[edit]

Eat[edit]

• Shyama -- pure vegetarian restaurant opposite the Jagannath temple on the Grand Road above the shops on the corner. There are many restaurants in Swargadwara, New Puri and C.T. Road.
• Kakatua -- Near the Iskcon temple in Swargadwara there is a good sweet shop/restaurant with a cockatoo outside and the resto is named after it...
• Krishna Resorts -- pure vegetarian restaurant with gujarati and marwari thali on chakratirth road.
• Rama chenapoda infront of jagannath temple after 8pm. Different types of rabidi and malpua in chandanpur,a few kilometres from puri.Bhang sharbat of puri is famous
• Lee Garden's Chung Wah -- This is a restaurant in Armstrong road near Netaji Subhas Bose Junction. The food is authentically Chinese and has been the same taste over the past 30 years. Do not miss the opportunity to taste the food over here if you happen to visit Puri.

• Bhojohori manna Hotel Greenery, Gopal Ballav Road, Sea Beach, Puri, Puri 752001, phone-06752232332--

The location is the lane beside Puri Hotel, just opposite to Benfish lodge. There is ample space for car parking. Its located at the ground floor of Greenery Hotel. Worth the time taking for getting a table. Special mention can be made for sukto, basanti polao, chicken dakbangla, mutton curry and bhetki cury. Lastly the yummy Nolen Gure-r ice cream. The fish, chicken and mutton were fresh and served hot. Cons:- Firstly, there was a huge queue (manager was taking down names and phone nos) as there are only twelve 4 seater tables. We waited for 45 minutes. Secondly, A major problem for big families to get a table in rush season. Thirdly, Quantity of food served was less

• Wildgrass Restaurant- VIP Rd, Beach Area, Puri,Phone -09437023656-

Nice open air location. Two level wooden huts and outdoor seating. Spread over a huge area with lots of greenery around. Service can be a little slow. Speical Veg Thali.The sizzlers were awesome, the prawns and fish were fresh and deliciously prepared.

• Jabari Garden-Near Bedihanuman Temple, C. T Road, next to Peace Cafe, Puri, Phone-08338882514- A very nice Garden type Restaurant with nice decorated lamps. Have some tomato soup, Mexican style chilly chicken,Seafood specialty,jeera rice, butter chicken and pan fried fresh fish, interesting english speaking owner name Ayan.

• Senapati Sweets, Dolamandap Sahi.  edit
• Rasoi, Gopal ballav road (near Hotel Puri), ☎ 06752233144. Rasoi is a fully vegetarian restaurant opened from 07:00am till 11:00pm all days. it is one of the finest vegetarian restaurant in puri.  edit

• Bhuri Bhojon - A Bengali restaurant is good also.You can get veg thali @ Rs 75.00

Sleep[edit]

Puri is a very popular holiday resort for people from all over India but they tend to stay in the hotels nearer to Swargadwar (rather than C.T Road). These hotels are often inexpensive and offer quality services at very reasonable rates.If you are taking hotels at marine drive road , so pls pls don't take hotels which location is after light house in marine drive road.'Because the road communication is very poor at marine drive road after light house(Hotel sonar bangla ).Auto riksaw shall take more money at night.so be carefull during booking your hotels in marine drive road.

• Hotel Pushpa, Gopal Ballav Road, Sea Beach, Puri 752001, ☎ +919556609676, [2]. checkin: alltime. Near Puri Sea Beach. Luxury Rooms, food and other facilities at best price. You can also book online from their website. Rs.1100 for Double Non AC, Rs.1690 for Double AC Rooms. edit

• Hotel Diamond Palace, New Marine Drive Road, Gourbad Sahi, ☎ 06752 230300 (hoteldiamond@hoteldiamondpalacepuri.com), [3]. Rs.500.  edit

• Hotel Sairam, Hotel Sairam , CT Road. checkin: 8.00AM; checkout: 7.30AM. Hotel Sairam is located on marine drive road near Sansangha Thakurbadi,near puri railwaystation and just 10 meter away form golden beach of puri.Rooms are neatly furnished and are sea facing. Warm and friendly staff. The Jagannath temple is just 10 mins far from Hotel Rs 600/- 2500/-.  edit

• Asian Inn Beach Resort, New Marine Drive Road, Swargadwar, Puri, Odisha. Asian Inn Beach Resort is located on the New Marine Drive Road, in the sacred Swargadwar locality of Puri. The hotel’s advantageous location makes it a favourite with the tourists. The Railway station is just 3 km away, Bus stand at 4 kms while the nearest airport at Bhubaneshwar is just 65 kilometers. The Three storied resort provides rooms with all modern facilities with a good view of the thundering Bay of Bengal. Elevators make the journey effortless to the upper floors. There’s an air-conditioned Restaurant as well as a conference room. Other facilities include Doctor on call, Laundry, Locker and secretarial services.

• Hotel Vijoya International, [4]. A charming, beautiful hotel situated right on the sea shore in Chakra Tirtha. The private beach is clean and tent facilities are available. Pickup and drop facilities are available from the station and you will be welcomed with flowers and welcome drink. Rooms are neatly furnished and are sea facing. The restaurant provides exquisite cuisine and will customise your menu for any special requirement (for a kid, for example). Try the fish tikka.

• OTDC Panthanivas [5]

• Mayfair Puri, [6]. The most beautiful beach resort with SPA services. Room tariff 5,000-7,500 INR. This hotel has its private beach with couple of lifeguards roaming around. Elegantly furnished rooms with exotic cuisine served at the restaurants makes this resort apart.

• Hotel Holiday Resort, Chakratirtha Road, ,when it comes hospitality and service. It has a private beach, life-guards, private auto-rickshaw stand, swimming pool, spa and all modern amenties. Indian and Foreign cuisines are served at the restaurant and good room service makes this resort the best.

• Gochikar House, New Marine Drive Road, Swargodwar. checkout: 7 AM. Sea View Rooms, Travel Desk Rs 500/- to 12000.  edit

• hotelpushpasree, New Marine Drive Road, Gourbad Sahi, (hotelpushpasree@gmail.com), [7]. checkin: 10022014; checkout: 13022014. Rs.600-800.  edit

• Deep Resorts. checkin: 7.30AM; checkout: 7AM. Rs 750/- to1400/-.  edit

• Toshali Sands Resort and Hotel (Travel and Stay in Puri), Toshali Ethnic Resort in Puri, [8]. Toshali Sands is the only luxurious five star facilities resort in Odisha, close to beach. Approved by Department of Tourism with its unique ethnic charm that offers everything that you could ask of a Resort Hotel with excellent luxuries.Warm and friendly staff.Spread in acres.Resort has Russian language interpretor. Rs.3200 for a big Deluxe Cottage.  edit

• Hans Coco Palms Resort, [9]. Quiet location and a swimming pool. The hotel has a private beach, although there are only two canopies for guests. There are no lifeguards (nulia), but you can hire one if you wish. Breakfast (especially the Hans Coco Palms Special) is a good value for money and very wholesome. Try the tomato shorba and 'thaali' for lunch/dinner.  edit

• Masir Hotel Only for Fooding [Veg.or Non-Veg] (Swargadwar, Puri, 752001) [10] Budget hotel in Puri(Oldest) for 70 years of * Hotel Roopam,New Marine Drive Road, ☎ 06752 230650, 231222, [11]. Rs.600-1000.  edit

• Puri Hotel, Sea Beach, ☎ 06752 222114, 223809 (purihotel@purihotel.in, fax: 06752 222744), [12]. Excellent location. You get a full sea view straight out of balcony of most of the rooms. They have a website with a facility of online booking . Rs.750 for a big 2-bed room with balcony.  edit

• Krishna Resorts, Chakratirth road, Phone: 06752 220448, (Email: harishvchawda@yahoo.co.in). Near the sea beach having furnished A/c and non A/c rooms from 450/- for non a/c 650/- for a/c rooms, 4 bed rooms and 3 bed rooms also available, colour tv and hot water facility. Eco Frendly Pure Vegetarian Garden Restaurant attached.

Two minutes walk from Railway Station and Ten Minutes to Jagannath Temple Harishvchawda 05:58, 22 October 2010 (EDT)h

• Krushna Mandir, At. Near Arabinda School, Swargadwar) Phone.91-6752-654800 / Fax No.91-6752-231895 & Cell No.0-90401-47447 / 0-98610-10600 email: bmbhuyan@gmail.com, [13]. 25 furnished Rooms with kitchen facilities only for Holiday Home (Booked by Kolkata office)(see website for details), Authorised Indian Rail travel agent on-site.
• Balananda Tirthasram & Restaurant (Balananda Tirthasram), Sea Beach Road, Puri (After metorological ofice), ☎ 06752228727. checkin:Morning; checkout: 24 hours. Very beautiful family hotel. Very moderate rate beautiful picturesque sight of sea. Rent are from 325-425 in 2012. You can see the sea from your room balcony. Very beautiful and friendly vegetarian restaurant. Rs.24 only per meal. It is a family restaurant. Just opposite sea beach. You have to take the order and collect coupon at morning before 10 for lunch start at 12.30pm. Same for dinner and breakfast. Phone no. 06752228727 / 06752694108 24.  edit

• Hotel Sea Queen Inn, Chakratirth road, Phone: 06752 222846. This is situated just off the beach but has got a few rooms with view of the sea. Between the beach and the hotel is a small restaurant called Pink House. Lovely food and friendly people, especially the waiter Akshaya. Adjacent to the hotel is an Ayurvedic Center providing Body Massage and other ayurvedic therapies. The good thing is that hotel, restaurant and Ayurvedic Center are inexpensive. Sea Queen has non-AC rooms for INR 400/- and AC rooms for INR 800/-. Massages start from INR 350/- for an hours' session but a 14-day session costs just INR 750/-. Overall a nice place to Stay and meet a lot of other travellers.
• Kolkata Resurent, near Renuka Gali (sea beach). all types of bengali lunch & dinner . staff specially ravi is very polite & decent. food is also cheap & very good. veg thali is only rs 55/-  edit
• Hotel Sea View, Sea beach Puri. checkin: 24 HRS. hotel location is very good just in-front of sea beach even u can enjoy sea waves by watching from room galary . rooms are good in condition but hotel is old. hotel gives very family atmosphere. a old person is look after the hotel amenities is so nice. hotel staff is very nice, polite & helping.  edit
• LaxmiNarayan Residency, C.T.Road, Puri-2, Odisha (Near Dibya Dham Ashram), ☎ +919583335444, [14]. checkin: alltime; checkout: 8.00am.Non A/C Rooms are Rs:600.00 & A/C Rooms are Rs:1300.00 Rs 600.  edit

Stay safe[edit]

In cheap hotels or Guest Houses on Swargadwar or New Puri, try to take care of your own belongings. DO NOT try to go to the beach after 8 pm. If you get seriously ill in Puri, it is better to go on to Bhubaneswar to any good hospital like expensive private hospitals like the Kalinga Hospital, Apollo Hospital, KIIMS Hospital, Hi-Tech Hospital or the government run Capital Hospital as the hospitals in Puri are very, very basic and not too clean. The hotel should be able to get a local doctor for you if you need one.

There are mouthwatering foodstalls on the beach selling fish, mutton, chicken kebabs, chops and cutlets. DO NOT try these, unless you want to experience the medical system of Puri. Even weather-beaten, battle-hardened, super-immune Indian stomachs can not tolerate these tasty but unhygienic attacks on your digestive system. Eat out of hotels, perfectly fine. But do NOT try the seashore roadside food stalls.

Stay safe from pandas of any temple.They will extract money from your pocket ruthlessly in the name of God. They are very influential and nothing can be done with the help of law. Avoid entering innermost sanctum of any living temple(even if you are Hindu/Indian).They will hold a dish filled with rupees and ask you to add, mentioning that others have contributed Rs.500, Rs.1000. Naturally you will be inclined to contribute. DO NOT. The money is theirs and the show is also theirs. They will ask you to offer puja or pay respect to numerous Gods here and there of same temple very politely/affectionately but will demand money in name of each God separately.No use arguing with them.If you are a bit religious/curious then carry enough change so that you can donate Rs 1,2,5, 10 to get rid of them without any commotion.

Stay away from monkeys.Dont lure them with food and other stuff.

Stay safe from the sellers and resturant in Rajhans Island/Sea mouth in Satpada. The boat carrying tourist took to pearl seller. Actually these pearls are duplicate and brought from bhubaneswar at a cost Rs 2/-each. Once in a day these live shell open their mouth, at that time these pearl seller put the duplicate pearl inside the shells.Whenever they are selling it, they keep 100 empty shell and 200 filled in duplicate pearl shell.When they broke these shell in front of tourist, few can be found empty and few filled in. Tourist think, naturally pearls are forming inside shells and could not doubt their integrity.

Prawn sold in the sea mouth grow up by eating rotten meat and are hybrid. If somebody eats it, there is a chance of getting sick in the near future. So tourists should be aware and avoid it. carry some snacks/water bottle while moving inside lake and advise boat man to stop boat fan/blade, while watching dolphin as these are precious animal,enjoy satapada.

The Orissa Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) conducts daily guided tours to Chilika lake. They are run by the Orissa government and rarely try to fleece any unsuspecting customer. Their booking office can be found on the Marine Drive Road inside the premises of the Mahadadhi Resort.

Puri being a major tourist spot is well connected with rest of the country by train. In case of flight connectivity one has to go to Bhubaneswar to get onto one. From the main bus stand in Puri you can get buses to Bhubaneswar and Cuttack which are less than 60-70 km far. Bhubaneswar which is a major hub further increases connectivity. The temple of Konark is nearby and definitely a must visit. Satapada on Chilika Lake is nearby and is a great place for sighting dolphins. IMPORTANT: Be aware from local public. they can misguide you. must aware from roadside travel agencies who promise you for sieght seen at very low cost, donot believe them. They are claiming to visit CHILKA , but they took tourist to a place where some number of private ships arranging to chilka boating , they charge rs 1500-1800(yr-2012) per boat for max 5 person (3 hrs ride). private boat owner give commision rs 200-300(yr-2012) to vechile driver . Real example of July 2014: Satapada is just 45 Kms away form Puri. They will ask you to book taxi (Lets say Tavera for Just Rs 1200/- )and will say that Chilka lake is around 55 kms. You will think that Rs 1200 is very less for total 110 kms costing less than Rs 11 per km. and you will agree to that. But after driving 35 kms, the taxi driver will move to left to another beach (10 kms before) and there you will find that the boats cost not less than 1700. So while booking, insist on visiting Satapada only having Govt OTDC department. There you can book a boat for mere Rs 500.

so whenever you are going to book sight seeing tour to CHILKA pls ask clearly for go to CHILKA SATPADA where OTDC organised GOVT BOATING which is around rs 60-70 per head starting at 10:00am from satpada. the indica rent from sea beach to satpada is around rs 800/-(yr-2012) while upto private ship jetty it is around rs 500/-(yr-2012). i sure u will be in profit is you go to SATPADA OTDC organised tour and save money heavely.