Trip to Puri

Puri is  famous for Lord Jagannath temple. The famous annual Rath Yatra or the festival of chariots is celebrated here. This festival is generally celebrated in the month of July. Millions of people from different parts of India come to Puri to watch this festival. It is also a very popular beach resort. It is famous for its long and broad sandy sea beach. One can even view the sunrise and sunset from the beach.

As we were planning a trip to Puri, I thought that this time we will stay in a holiday home instead of a hotel. So I went to the United Bank of India, College Street branch and booked a room at the holiday home 'Ananda Bhawan'. As the day of journey was nearing we were getting excited. On the day of the journey, we boarded the Howrah-Puri Express from Howrah railway station at 22:35 hrs. The train reached Puri at 07:30 hrs. Coming out of the station we saw that many cycle rickshaws and auto rickshaws were waiting to take passengers to hotels or holiday homes. We took two cycle rickshaws and reached our destination holiday home 'Ananda Bhawan'. There was a caretaker so we had no problem in taking the luggage to the room. I went to a nearby gas store and from there I hired a small sized gas cylinder. Then we went for a bath at the sea beach. The beach was excellent and the waves produced by the sea here were quite high. After spending some time there we came back to our holiday home and had bath. That day we had lunch at a sea facing restaurant. In the evening we went to the sea beach. The cool sea breeze relaxed our mind and body. We also had some shopping at the shops which were situated opposite to the sea. These shops mainly sell apparels, saris, towels and other clothing products. Then we came back to our holiday home, cooked our food and had dinner.

Sea Beach

The next day we planned to visit Lord Jagannath temple. We had already informed our caretaker about our plans. So he had sent a panda who would guide us through the temple. We reached the temple by cycle rickshaw. The temple was quite far away from our holiday home. Jagannath temple is a huge complex surrounded by a wall about 7 metres high. Before entering the temple checking was done. No one was allowed to enter the temple carrying mobile phones and cameras. Immediately after entering the main gate we saw that there was a flight of stairs leading to the temple. Entering the temple we saw that there were lots of small temples of hindu gods and goddesses. Our panda explained the importance of each of these temples. Atlast we reached the main temple. We had to go down some stairs in order to reach the sanctum sanctorum. Inside the inner sanctum were the idols of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra. After spending the entire morning at the temple we came back to Ananda Bhawan. That day too we did not miss the opportunity of taking a sea bath. In the afternoon we had lunch at the Suruchi Restaurant. This restaurant served typical bengali cuisine. The food was very good and delicious. In the evening we went to the railway station to book our return ticket. Then we went to do some shopping at the Swargoddar market. Many types of handicrafts, ornaments and jewellery, sea shells and many more things were sold here.

Jagannath Temple

The day after we went for a sea bath at the sea. While bathing we saw that some fishermen were fishing in the sea. We saw that they were approaching the land. I did not follow them after that. But when we were returning from the beach we saw that they were selling fish. We bought some fish but didn't have any poly bag and hence we had to carry the fish in our hands to our holiday home. It was a awful experience. In the evening we reached the railway station by cycle rickshaw and boarded the Puri-Howrah Sri Jagannath Express at 22:50 hrs and it reached Howrah Railway Station the next day at 08:10 hrs.

How to Reach :

From Howrah railway station, 12837 Howrah-Puri Express leaves Howrah at 22:35 hrs and reaches Puri at 07:30 hrs. 12821 Howrah-Puri Dhauli Express departs Howrah at 06:00 hrs and reaches Puri at 14:30 hrs. 12277 Howrah-Puri Duronto Express leaves Howrah at 14:25 hrs and reaches Puri at 21:40 hrs. 18409 Sri Jagannath Express leaves Howrah at 19:00 hrs and reaches Puri at 04:40 hrs.

Nearest Airport - Biju Patnaik Airport, Bhubaneswar

Where to Stay :

There are many hotels and holiday homes in Puri. Some of the hotels are listed below.
1. Puri Hotel
2. Pulin Puri Hotel
3. Hotel Konark
4. Hotel Shakti International
5. Hotel Holiday Resort
6. Toshali Sands

Places of Interest :

The main attraction of Puri is the Jagannath temple. It is also famous for its sea beach. Other attractions include the Gundicha mandir, Chakra Tirtha temple and Shri Lokenath temple. You can also visit the Konark Sun Temple, Chilika lake, Satapada dolphin sanctuary and Bhubaneswar.

For more information, please contact :

Department of Tourism
Government of Orissa, Paryatan Bhawan
Lewis Road, Bhubaneswar-751014
Orissa, India