Trip to Digha

This is not a Digha guide but I have shared how I made the tour, I went there to set myself free for some days and I toured to places of my interest and which suited my budget, so there are many spots in Digha which I skipped inspite of knowing them. You will get a fair idea about a tour to Digha, so start reading and enjoy the story. 

Right Side Of Old Digha Sea Beach

 Year 2014, month of November, we planned a short trip to Digha, ticket and hotel availability not being a problem we could easily get our bookings confirmed both in the hotel and the train. We booked our train tickets online through the IRCTC portal and one ticket cost was Rs 100 (including the reservation and the superfast charges) add to this the service and the payment gateway charges. It was a two day tour and we boarded the 12857 Howrah Digha Tamralipta Exp. The train covers 190 kms approx to reach Digha station (named as Digha Flag station). The train journey started at 06:40 am and the train reached Digha at 10:20 am (instead of its scheduled arrival time at 10:00 am), the train does not run that fast and completes the journey in 3.5 hrs.

Old Digha Sea Beach

A Friday--We got down at Digha station, we walked up to the exit/entry point of the station and we saw many van-rickshaws and rickshaws standing to ferry passengers to the hotels. As there are scores of hotels in Digha so you can also ask the van-rickshaw/rickshaw peddlers to find a hotel for you, or after reaching Old or New Digha you can also find hotels according to your own budget this goes well if you visit Digha without booking a hotel. But on Saturdays and Sundays Digha becomes a much crowded place and hotel finding on the day itself might prove a difficult stuff. Digha station is more or less equidistant from both Old/New Digha, but it is more close to New Digha. We got an Alto car which took us to the hotel and the driver charged Rs 50 for the 5-7 minutes drive. We reached our hotel in New Digha around 11 am.

Udaipur Sea Beach

 Around 1pm we went out to see the beach (New Digha) and we were happy to find that the beach was a 2 minutes walk from the hotel. The beach was full of tourists and everyone was enjoying the beautiful weather of November and the waves, on the way to the beach you will find many shops, one shop was selling mouth-watering chutney of wood apple (Kodbel:Bengali), you will find option to ride a horse on the beach, and a series of shops along the concretized path that runs from New Digha beach to Old Digha beach. If you want to walk and enjoy the sea its better to walk along the concretized path that will take you to Old Digha rather than following the beach to reach Old Digha as at times there are some danger zones (water or rocky surfaces) otherwise take a rickshaw/vanrickshaw/bus/car to reach Old Digha from New Digha by the main road.

Fried Fish Shop at New Digha Sea Beach

Fried Fish at a Stall in New Digha

 While coming back to the hotel from the beach you can discover plenty of food stalls, the owner of each shop will yell at the highest level to get your patronage. But, here finding the right one is just a luck on the first visit to Digha and a matter of memory on the subsequent ones. We found one such where we got our lunch at a very reasonable rate and it was a place where the food was tasty. We had veg thalis where each thali was priced at Rs 60 and it had a dal item, aloo-fry/bhaja, rice and 2 veg dishes. The quantity was sufficient to satisfy our hunger pangs. Post lunch we came back to the hotel and took a nap.

Crabs from Sea to be Fried at a Store In Udaipur Sea Beach

 In the evening time we toured the local New Digha market which sells a variety of things, specially articles made up of shells and wood. There are many shops from where you can buy small sculptors, wooden and glass made toys, bags & hats and articles for home decoration. Ear-rings and hair clips & barrettes are widely available. Talking about food items - there are some really good dry food items that are worth buying and you can bring them back to your hometown as these items can be preserved for several days, items include varieties of 'gojas' and chikkies (gur badam in Bengali).

Chandaneshwar Temple in Orissa

 Another special attraction in Digha is fried fish and crabs. In the evening and in the night time you will get to see local sellers to set shops where fried fish and crab pieces are being served. In the beaches the crowd starts to become thicker after 5.30pm and again it gradually disappears after 7.30pm. During this period these sellers do brisk business, the beach of the Old Digha stays more crowded in the night time as there are a number of eateries which serve varieties of food items. My suggestion will be to not to try these fried fishes as most of the fishes are sea fishes and crabs and they will not suit your normal stomach operation moreover the fishes are stale and of very old stock in most of the times. So, right from the pan it may seem tasty and delicious but after that chances are very high that you will be down with your stomach problems.

Talsari Beach

 At night we had chapatis and tarka daal from the shop where we did our lunch, the tarka taste was excellent and was in much demand. Everything was priced reasonably. Post dinner we came back to our hotel before peeping the New Digha sea beach for 5 minutes just to get the glimpse of sea at night time. The beach at this time ( 9.30pm) is dead with no one on the shore so better if you see it from the concrete pavement and do not dare to go to the sea, even if you are with your friends and families.

Sea Waves at Old Digha Sea Beach

 After a superb sleep we started the next day--A Saturday-

On Saturday we went to Old Digha after having our breakfast and we went to the beach of Old Digha where we saw some chairs placed on the beach, now these chairs belonged to a shop which was selling coconut water, a seat and enjoyment is only guaranteed if you have a coconut from the shop, the coconuts are overpriced, the premium is obvious given that under the sun and on the beach you are getting the taste of coconut. One thing we noticed that the crowd in this beach was more enthusiastic in nature and many people were taking the sea bath, one precaution is that don’t mess with the waves in this beach as they are wilder than the waves that we saw in New Digha sea beach. Old Digha does also have a newly built concretized beach which is an added attraction.

Udaipur Sea Beach

 Old Digha is also having some bars, a number of restaurants and several food stalls. A full-fledged bazaar or market we could discover from where you can buy phone recharges and other important stuffs. There are three ATMs (SBI, Axis & HDFC) which come very handy as there are many shops which will not take cards in Digha. There is a bus terminus in Old Digha which is very near to the sea beach; you will find several shops selling the afternoon food, so food is not at all a problem here.

Toys at a Stall in New Digha Market

Hats at a Stall in New Digha Market

 In the afternoon we came back to New Digha following the main road and taking a van rickshaw which took Rs 10 per head. The road that directly connects the main road with the New Digha beach touching the bazaar has got many food outlets that sell meals and each and every shop started shouting at the highest pitch to get the customer. One suggestion here will be to not to take the fish/mutton/chicken/crab thalis as the quantity and quality is highly compromised. We took a veg thali which was overpriced and tasted too ordinary. You can have good food from some selected restaurants of some hotels or some selected road side shops.

After lunch we came to our hotel and took a quick nap to set out for Digha sightseeing and we hired the same Alto car that dropped us to the hotel from the railway station on the first day, the driver was an Oriya and very well mannered. At first we crossed the Bengal border, before crossing the Bengal border there is an area where you can see plenty of cashew trees, here you can get down from the car and have a visit. Just after crossing the Orissa border we stopped by a temple of Shiva where photography is strictly prohibited and I still do not know as to why it does not have a mention anywhere on net but it is an ancient structure which is worth a visit. Then we went to Chandaneswar temple, here one needs to keep one’s shoes outside the temple and enter the temple campus which is having a large area. Beware of touts as they will try to convince you hard to pay a cash offering citing foolish reasons. You can offer puja here but to me the temple is very simple in its structural foundation but heard that it is very popular and famous to devotees. For car parking the authority will charge you Rs 10.

Sun Rays on Sea at Old Digha Sea Beach

 After visiting the temple we went to see the Talsari beach which is located in the Orissa state, from the beach you can have a view of the numerous palm trees lined along the beach which is a beautiful sight, remember that here you will be charged for parking your car which is again a nominal Rs 10. The car is parked in front of a concrete structure where you can stand and take the view of the entire stretch of the beach, no need to get on the beach as it is a bit difficult work, there will be bikers who against some charges will take you to places where one can find red crabs and a meeting point of two rivers, also they will take you to a place where fishermen practise fishing. But we did not try any of these owing to many reasons like safety, biking on the extreme points of the beach and the day was waning.

After Talsari we came to Udaipur beach, to me it is the most beautiful beach of all the beaches that I had paid a visit. Udaipur beach is also famous as many film shootings have also been done here, the place is serene and you will have a good sight of the sea, with an area where you will see palm trees to line up beautifully along the beach, one more attraction is the empty boats which are parked on the shore which aids in taking some really beautiful snaps and profile pictures for social sites. One can find some shops on the way to beach and shops selling fried crabs and fishes.

We completed our part of sightseeing around 6pm and then we relaxed in the New Digha beach, post relaxation we bought some articles for giving to our near and dear ones and did dinner from the shop where we frequented each time we thought of lunch and dinner.

After dinner we came back to the hotel and took a good night’s sleep, the next morning was all about packing up bags to get ready for coming back to Kolkata, at 9:30 am we left the hotel, here’s a small tip- never ask the hotel authority to call a car as in our time it charged Rs 250 for that 5 minutes’ drive to the railway station, take a van rickshaw which is easily available on road and it will charge you not more than Rs 50.

Next day was a Sunday and our train was at 10:35 am –this is the same Tamralipta Exp that comes from Kolkata, takes rest for 30 mins and again starts the return journey.

And, thus we ended a beautiful trip to Digha, I really enjoyed the trip

We booked Hotel Rajeet in New Digha which is located very near to the sea beach

Hotel Rajeet near New Digha Sea Beach

 About Hotel Rajeet

We booked the hotel on 28th November 14 and exited on 30th November 14. The moment we reached the hotel all the hotel staffs near the reception area greeted us and the formalities were quickly completed. The security staffs were very cooperative and they took all the luggage from the car and took it to the allotted room.

Room Condition
We booked a Non A/C Standard room. I must mention that the room was well lit and spacious and it was very clean.

Amenities in the room
The room had good storage shelves, a large mirror, a hard plastic made tea table, 2 hard plastic made chairs and there was 1 pair of drinking water glasses, one ashtray and one electronic liquid mosquito repellant. In this room you will have 2 charging points, one worked but the other did not and we had to disconnect the repellant to charge the phone. Yes, there were no mosquitoes. The bed was large and two can very comfortably and three can comfortably fit in. We were 3 and one extra pillow and one extra mattress got provided. The hotel charged extra Rs 200 for accommodating 3 members in a room for 2. You will also get a copy of a daily newspaper delivered right at your doorstep free of cost.  (mostly available newspapers are TOI, Telegraph or ABP)

Bathroom
The bathroom was also good and with a washbasin, commode, a shower and a tap. Water and electric were available 24/7 and the hotel had a generator back-up for all the connections and the management was quick in starting its operation as we experienced 2 power cuts. The water flow in the washbasin tap and the normal bathroom tap was fine but the flow in shower was a bit improper. The bathroom had one shampoo sachet and one small soap.

Cleaning
The room was cleaned the next day as a part of daily cleaning formalities and it was broomed and water mopped, also the bed sheet was changed and the bathroom was also cleaned properly the next day.

Food
We ordered Chicken Hot and Sour soup and the preparation was so so. Restaurant charges a bit to the north. A good part is that all the rooms come with a complimentary breakfast and tea/coffee, we had 3 options and tasted both the 3. We had aloo paratha, bread-sugar-butter, puri, potato-curry, and you will be given a choice of egg, we had omelettes. The breakfast was good in taste and filling and the egg preparation was also very good. To get the complimentary breakfast you need to call the restaurant boys over phone and ask to get the breakfast delivered, the call should be done before 10am and after 7 am.

Complimentary Breakfast at Hotel Rajeet, New Digha

 From none of its balcony you can view beach but beach is very near to this hotel and it is a 2 minute walk.

I would strongly recommend this hotel for couples and families. I have given a detailed description as I was highly satisfied and found it value for money. In short it is clean and a statement in itself.

Room Tip: Even the non AC Standard rooms are very good but no rooms in the hotel will offer you a beach view. 

Other attractions that I did not cover as I did not pay a visit to these places like, Junput-Mandarmoni-Tajpur-Shankarpur-Marine aquarium-Park-Science Centre-you can visit these places too.

If you visit all, you have to hurry through the 2-3 day tour, I do not term this as a holiday but an exercise and 3 days are more than sufficient in Digha and you will feel bore after viewing so many number of beaches, one just slightly different from the other.