Digha

The Southern West Bengal is gifted with one of the most famous beaches on the eastern coast of India, which is known as Digha. The splendor of this place was discovered during the time of Warren Hastings. At that time, Digha was known as Beercool. Today, Digha is a small town, which is packed with hotels usually around one main road. This beautiful beach town is just 187 kms far off from Kolkata and draws the attention of the tourists throughout the year.

One of the most popular tourist destinations in West Bengal, Digha is a beach town, which is well known for flat, hard beach where one can drive during low tide. The visitors can enjoy the view of both sunrise and sunset at Digha sea beach. At present, the beach is facing the problem of sea erosion. The beach of Digha is girdled with casuarina plantations by the side of the coast. The sea at Digha is quiet and shallow for almost a mile from the beach, which makes it safe for swimming to a certain extent. However, it is advisable that the visitors can swim only during the low tide.

There are a number of popular destinations located in and around Digha, some of them are listed below:

New Digha:
An extension of Digha, New Digha has more than a few hotels. In this place, there is a small park with a lake.

Shankarpur:
Shankarpur Fishing Harbour Project is approximately 14 kms away from Digha. This area is developed as a beach resort including hotels, tourist lodges and other facilities. Shankarpur is famous for a wide and unspoiled beach, caesarian plantations by the side of a gentle sea and a good climate round the year. This place is very quiet and calm.

Chandaneshwar:
Just 8 kms far off from Digha, Chandaneshwar is a religious place, which is famous for an old Shiva temple. Lankeswari (14 km.) and Kapal Kundala Temple (45 km.) near Contai are the interesting places to visit.

Junput
Situated 40 km. far away from Digha Junput is a place, which offers beautiful sea-view and lines of caesarian trees. The beach is undamaged. In Junput, Brackish water fish cultivation and research are done by the State Government Fisheries Department.

Mandarmani
Located 20 kms from Chaulkhola on Kolkata-Digha route, Mandarmani is a Picnic Resort, which is popular among tourists.

How to get to Digha:
Digha is easily reachable by road from Kolkata, Asansol, Bardhaman, Durgapur, Suri, Bankura and Jamshedpur and partially by rail (upto Kharagpur). For the last part of the excursion – between Kharagpur and Digha (123 km.) the visitors can take a bus or taxi.

  -  By Road: Regular Bus Services are available from morning to evening.
By car, Digha is just 4 Hours far off from Kolkata.

  -  By Train: Direct trains are accessible upto Digha (from Shalimar).

  -  By Air: NSC Bose International Airport (Kolkata) is the nearest airport.