Kolkata to Puri via car- Day 1
On 6th December 2023, I started my most awaited journey to Puri from Kolkata with my family, via my private car. It was my first journey to Puri via car with full of loving memories and here I am going to provide my entire activities and useful information about Puri for all 4 days that I stayed in Puri from 6th Dec 2023 to 9th Dec 2023. I am sure that whatever information I will be briefing in this blog, will be very useful for all the visitors of my website.
On 6th Dec 2023, I started my journey with my family to Puri from Kolkata via my private car at around 7:30 am. It took nearly 11 hours to reach Puri that included breakfast and lunch in between. We took breakfast in one the hotels, Hotel Royal Bangla, in Kolaghat alongside the national highway. The hotel, Hotel Royal Bangla, was very nice with neat and clean surroundings and good quality of food. I took Paratha along with Chana masala that tasted realy good. After driving for approximately 3-4 hours, we took lunch in a hotel named, Hotel Lucky, that was located in Nuapada, Odisha. I along with my family took fish meal in Hotel Lucky, that costed Rs. 150/- for each fish feal, where the price was reasonable. The average speed of my car was 100 km/hour but a part of the road (National Highway) in Balasore was under construction. Also, when you enter Odissa, be careful about the car speed, as, in most of the roads, the speed limit of private cars is limited to 80 km/hour. There are about 8 toll plazas between Kolkata to Puri, that I had encountered, which costed to almost Rs. 900/- for one trip. It was about 6:30 pm when I reached the hotel, Hotel Shree Gopal, at Puri. The hotel is located just beside the Puri Lighthouse complex and is approximately 200 meters away from the sea beach. There is no fixed parking slot in the hotel, but, the hotel staffs suggested me to park the car just in front of the hotel gate on the open road. Infact, there is a big parking complex just infront of the hotel (Hotel Shree Gopal) that is managed by Government, which is payable, and you can avail that also.
As soon as we entered the hotel, we were welcomed by the hotel staffs and they helped us carrying our luggages to our respective rooms. I was staying in 3rd floor with my wife and my child, while, my parents were staying in the ground floor. As soon as I entered the room in 3rd floor, I was overwhelmed with the magnificient view of the sea from the balcony. Even the historic Jagannath temple can be viewed from the balcony of the hotel from 3rd floor where I was staying. The room was very neat and clean and even the toilet. Cool breeze was prevailing over the atmosphere and it was a wonderful gesture to have experienced. Though it was the month of December and cool breeze was blowing, it was not so cold that you have to put on sweaters and jackets inside the hotel room. There were Geysers available in each and every room of the hotel. Since I had driven for 11 hours from Kolkata to Puri, I was a bit exhausted and hence quickly ordered dinner.
One thing I want to mention about this hotel is that, they have their own cooking room in the ground floor with a moderate sized room having 16-20 sitting chairs for the visitors to have breakfast/lunch/dinner. The price for the food items was more or less similar to any resturants outside the hotel. So, I thought it's better to have dinner from the hotel itself. The price for vegetable meal that included Daal, rice, papad, and shabji(vegetable dish), was Rs. 100/-, price for fish meal was Rs. 170/-, and price for egg meal was Rs. 120/-. However, you have to pay the charge for foods (dinner/lunch/breakfast) which is excluding the hotel charge. So, I quickly had my dinner and went for a deep sleep and on the next morning, when I woke up and stood in the balcony of my room, I was spellbound by the gorgeous sight of the historic Jagannath temple on one side and the mesmerizing sea beach on the other side. I took breakfast in the hotel that included an egg toast and a cup of tea, which charged me Rs. 50/- for the egg toast and Rs. 10/- for one cup of tea. The quality of every food items cooked in this hotel (Hotel Shree Gopal) was very nice that was made with less oil. You can get various kind of food items from the hotel apart from Veg meal/Fish meal, like Tadka, Mixed Vegetable, Chowmin, Hand Roti, and many more. For one day during my stay in the hotel (Hotel Shree Gopal), I ordered 2 plates of Chowmin for me and my wife in the dinner, and when I received the order (Chowmin), I was surprised to see the amount of chowmin they had given for each plates. Believe me, one plate of chowmin was enough for 2 persons. I also asked the hotel staffs for one glass of hot milk for my son that priced to Rs. 40/-.
There was a roof in the 3rd floor of the hotel with a big space, where you can keep your clothes for drying after washing. But, there is one thing that I disliked about the location of this hotel (Hotel Shree Gopal) was that, there was only one medical shop available and that too little far away from the hotel. However, there are many shops just outside the hotel where you can get your daily needs like biscuits, meals, light food items, and many more.
One thing I forgot to mention is that, Hotel Shree Gopal and BJ Hotel are side by side. These 2 hotels (Hotel Shree Gopal and BJ Hotel) are run by the same manager. The manager of the Hotel (Hotel Shree Gopal and BJ Hotel) is very calm and polite and is very friendly in nature.
The average time takes 9 hours to reach Puri from Kolkata by private car that includes the breakfast and lunch in between.
