Your Next Weekend Destination – Digha
If by any chance Friday is a holiday or any holiday falls on Monday or any political party calls a strike
at the end or beginning of a week that mean weekend will be little stretched, in that case, the best place to spend the weekend is Digha. When Kolkatans thinks about spending weekend, Digha comes first in mind because Digha considered as a second home for Kolkatans. I think Digha is the most visited weekend place specially for Kolkatans as well as those who lives in the surrounding areas of Kolkata. In 2008, Digha got a crown of “Best Tourist Spot” of the East. Digha is well connected with Kolkata, takes around 4 hours of journey to reach there. Spending time at seaside resort city with family or loved one, Digha is the best place.
This is indeed a popular beach in West Bengal, India. A new spot “New Digha” is now become so popular among tourists and it is within the vicinity of Old Digha, just 2KM away from Old Digha. It is indeed a very old beach and discovered by Governor of Bengal “Warren Hastings” during British India time. There are references in 1780 Bengal Gazette mentioned of village name Beerkul in Medinipur District, now where Digha lies today. But it was actually started developing with the help of Ex-Chief Minister of West Bengal Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy after Indian Independence in 1947.
Over the years, Digha has improved hugely but if someone wants to see the sunrise with the soft-spoken sounds of the sea, nowadays that’s really not possible in Digha because it is overcrowded throughout the year specially on weekends. If you want to stay in silence for peace then you must book your hotel even little away from New Digha.
Places to see in Digha:-
A) Marine Aquarium and Research Center
Marine Aquarium and Research Center (MARC) is must watch place. It is a largest inbuilt marine aquarium in the country, it was inaugurated on 4th February 2003. The aquarium has 24 big sized marine tanks and 8 fresh water tanks.
B) Temple of Lord Shiva
This temple is century old temple and just 8km away from Digha. Actually, this temple is situated on the border of Bengal and Orissa. If anybody wants a spiritual break so this is the best place around Digha.
C) Udaypur Beach
If you want to spend time in peace or enjoy the sea in peace and roam around in Casuarina jungle than Udaypur beach is the best place for you. To reach Udaypur Beach Cars are available from Old Digha Stand.
Activities in Digha:-
Shopping – Digha is famous for various handicrafts and ornaments made of seashells. That comes at a cheap price but have to bargain properly. There are many markets like BatTola Market, Khanika Market, Nehru Market etc etc and for shopping Old Digha is the best place. Buying cashew nuts is not a very good choice because the price is same as which available in Kolkata. But be careful about purchasing pearls, specially from running hawkers of Digha’s beach.
Water Sports – There are many types of adventure sports can be enjoyed on Beach like water skiing, snorkeling, para-sailing and many more but comes little over priced. The beach of Digha is stretched around 23km so you can plan for other sports like volley, kabaddi, Cricket and even football and it comes free. You can try Horse riding on the beach and this is real fun.
Others – After enjoying the sea for a long time, rat will rumble in your stomach and Digha is also famous for different sea fishes. So there have many places and many choices available to satisfy your Gastro Instinct. Fishermen sell fresh fishes on the beach at cheap price on early morning or you can try buying fish from fish market of Mohona area that is also cheap. But I recommend you to buy on early morning from the beach. On early morning in beach, you can find Date juice (Khejur Rosh) and palm juice sellers, so you can also try these. The new attraction of Digha is Ropeway/Cable car so you can try this with your family and friends.
Hotels in Digha
Digha is surrounded by Hotels and hotels accommodations are easily available except any special occasions. All kinds of Hotels are available in Digha, from Cheap Hotels to Luxury hotels. If you are visiting in normal weekdays, must bargain for rates. If you need budget hotel try first at Old Digha than try in New Digha.
How to reach
By Road
Digha is very well connected to Kolkata and from Esplanade, Kolkata there are bus services in the early morning to reach there. Digha is 190km from Kolkata. It takes around 4-5 hours by bus to reach Digha from Kolkata. West Bengal State Road Transport Corporation (WBSRTC) and some private travel services connect Digha from Kolkata. Digha bus stand is in near to market of Old Digha.
By Air
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata is the nearest airport to Digha.
By Train
The train is the best option for Digha and three trains are available on a daily basis from Howrah, one additional special train on Saturday morning. One thing keeps in mind the station is situated in the middle of New Digha and Old Digha.