[subratasenn]

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

Thanks Sutripta da. Checked with the local guys and heard that the Nandakumar-Bajkul stretch has been reasonably repaired since the CM happened to visit Digha recently. Broken roads for us lesser mortals

However am thinking of checking out the route through Jaleshwar on the return leg to find if those nuisances specially the OR road tax extortion racket you have listed still exists or not. From experiences I have heard its stopped from some time ago. One of my colleagues went to Puri last year by NH60 and he said he had reached Balasore from Kolkata within 4 hours even driving sedately hence was thinking of this option.

Yes, not because of the Chief Minister, but the road got better as the Norghat bridge repair was over. This Norghat bridge area was the only bad patch in the normal Digha route.
Do post on your experience if you happen to return by the Jaleshwar route. That would be great for all of us.

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by subratasenn

Yes, not because of the Chief Minister, but the road got better as the Norghat bridge repair was over. This Norghat bridge area was the only bad patch in the normal Digha route.
Do post on your experience if you happen to return by the Jaleshwar route. That would be great for all of us.

Wow this was quite a while back. From what I remember about the route around 2/3 kms was non existent roads from Jaleswar towards Digha as it was under construction. The rest was pretty good with little traffic but local villages. Around 5 kms was average but driveable. From my experience Odisha state and local highways are pretty good generally and well maintained however rains could have caused some damages now. But the biggest deterrent on this route is the insane truck jam at Jaleswar which can upset many a plan or a vehicle. I would suggest to stick to the standard route of going through Mecheda using NH41. A little more traffic but I believe most of it is very smooth though 2 laned.

[pkumar]

I am thinking of reaching digha by taking a train to Jaleshwar (coming from bokaro) and then taking a taxi from Jaleshwar station. Please help me with following queries.
(1) Can i get a taxi (ac) from Jaleshwar station?
(2) Is the road condition OK from jaleshwar to digha? Any border crossing issues?
(3) Is taking a taxi from balasore a better option compared to jaleshwar?

Thanks,
Prasoon

[black_panther]

You can take a train to Howrah from Bokaro and then Duronto express or similar train to Digha.
Journey would be comfortable that way.
Regular and AC/Volvo buses are also available from Kolkata/Howrah. It takes around 4.5 hours.
By car, it takes around 3-4 hrs to reach digha from kolkata, depending on traffic and the speed/car you are driving.

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by pkumar

I am thinking of reaching digha by taking a train to Jaleshwar (coming from bokaro) and then taking a taxi from Jaleshwar station. Please help me with following queries.
(1) Can i get a taxi (ac) from Jaleshwar station?
(2) Is the road condition OK from jaleshwar to digha? Any border crossing issues?
(3) Is taking a taxi from balasore a better option compared to jaleshwar?

Thanks,
Prasoon

Don't know about taxi availability in Jaleswar for Digha, but a border crossing in a taxi is normally a costly affair. Starting from Calcutta would be better option.

Why Digha and not Chandipur?

Regards
Sutripta

[saket77]

Sorry Gentlemen for taking this thread little OT but can anyone let me know the road condition from Jamshedpur to Digha?

Actually I am in Ranchi & would like to visit Digha. What I know about the route is : Ranchi> Jamshedpur> Jaleshwar> Digha?? Is this route the best route that I can undertake? And how is the road condition- both in terms of safety & surface?

I have travelled to Jamshedpur many times, so I know the roads well till there, but please enlighten with the roads ahead.

Any help will be highly appreciated!

Regards,
Saket

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by saket77

Sorry Gentlemen for taking this thread little OT but can anyone let me know the road condition from Jamshedpur to Digha?

Actually I am in Ranchi & would like to visit Digha. What I know about the route is : Ranchi> Jamshedpur> Jaleshwar> Digha?? Is this route the best route that I can undertake? And how is the road condition- both in terms of safety & surface?

I have travelled to Jamshedpur many times, so I know the roads well till there, but please enlighten with the roads ahead.

Any help will be highly appreciated!

Regards,
Saket

NH33 from Jamshedpur till Kharagpur is even a trucker's nightmare. There are enormous craters and potholes to give your car a prolonged stay at the service center. People with SUVs even think a 100 times before driving on this road. I believe even the section between Chandil till Jamshedpur is pretty broken. The route after that till Digha is very good.

Instead of driving why dont you take the train? Come until Howrah in the Shatabdi and then the Duronto till Digha. This should be much more comfortable compared to driving on the horrific NH33.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

NH33 from Jamshedpur till Kharagpur is even a trucker's nightmare. There are enormous craters and potholes to give your car a prolonged stay at the service center. People with SUVs even think a 100 times before driving on this road.

Thanks a lot Samarjit for the information. That's enough to put-off my plans of driving to Digha. I would rather visit my previous option, which is Shantiniketan in Bolpur. I wish to cover Deul too and I believe the roads are fine in this stretch.

Thanks again. It helped to clear my confusion a lot!

Regards.

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by saket77

Thanks a lot Samarjit for the information. That's enough to put-off my plans of driving to Digha. I would rather visit my previous option, which is Shantiniketan in Bolpur. I wish to cover Deul too and I believe the roads are fine in this stretch.

Thanks again. It helped to clear my confusion a lot!

Regards.

Yeah visiting Santiniketan is a better idea. I am assuming that you will drive upto Barhi or Dhanbad and then take NH2. Be warned that about 30-40 kms from Panagarh (Darjeeling More) till Ilaambazar on the way to Santiniketan is badly broken at this point as other folks have reported. We generally take the road via Guskara right after the Burdwan bypass while going to Santiniketan from Kolkata. This road is very good and has less traffic. You will have to come all the way to Burdwan by NH2 after crossing Panagarh and then instead of taking the Burdwan bypass enter the road to Burdwan. The road towards Santiniketan via Guskara comes up on the left almost immediately so you don't need to enter Burdwan town at all. Hope this helps.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

Yeah visiting Santiniketan is a better idea. I am assuming that you will drive upto Barhi or Dhanbad and then take NH2. Be warned that about 30-40 kms from Panagarh (Darjeeling More) till Ilaambazar on the way to Santiniketan is badly broken at this point as other folks have reported. We generally take the road via Guskara right after the Burdwan bypass while going to Santiniketan from Kolkata. This road is very good and has less traffic. You will have to come all the way to Burdwan by NH2 after crossing Panagarh and then instead of taking the Burdwan bypass enter the road to Burdwan. The road towards Santiniketan via Guskara comes up on the left almost immediately so you don't need to enter Burdwan town at all. Hope this helps.

Thanks a lot Samarjit for the route idea. The road you are talking must be in good shape but I couldn't check the forum in the night so took the Panagarh (darjeeling more)> Ilambazar> Shantiniketan route. But I am glad to tell you & other tbhpians who might want to visit this place that the road is in very acceptable state. You will frequently be travelling over patch works on the road but still one can easily cruise between 60-70 kmph on this stretch. Distance from Darjeeling more to Shantiniketan is ~ 50 kms. So that's the update as of the present state of roads.

Also went to Deul Park resort and stayed there overnight which is a fantastic place.

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by saket77

Thanks a lot Samarjit for the route idea. The road you are talking must be in good shape but I couldn't check the forum in the night so took the Panagarh (darjeeling more)> Ilambazar> Shantiniketan route. But I am glad to tell you & other tbhpians who might want to visit this place that the road is in very acceptable state. You will frequently be travelling over patch works on the road but still one can easily cruise between 60-70 kmph on this stretch. Distance from Darjeeling more to Shantiniketan is ~ 50 kms. So that's the update as of the present state of roads.

Also went to Deul Park resort and stayed there overnight which is a fantastic place.

Thanks for the update. So they repaired the section from Panagarh to Ilaam Bazar now, good to know that. At least folks coming from the west going towards Santiniketan can now use this road while folks like us from Kolkata can continue using the Guskara route. That way all of us avoid the dreaded Panagarh truck jams .

[Mik]

This is slightly OT.
I will be coming over to Bengal in mid August and apart from lazing around in Santiniketan at Dad's home I am planning a 2 day trip on his SX4 to any place in Bengal with wifey.
I know only of Darjeeling and Digha.
Darjeeling is around 500km away and have heard that the road is bad. Can it be done in 10 hours (I can drive long stretches with only bio and fuel breaks)? If, yes then i am ready for a touch and go of Darjeeling (want that chaai baagan feel in between fog and rain)

Digha - looks like its only 6 hours away. However, I am unable to gauge how good a place it is from the pictures. Beach = Havelock Island in Andaman for me is the reference point.

Any other options ?

I like to avoid crowds, tourists in hordes and temple towns.

[predatorwheelz]

Originally Posted by Mik

Digha - looks like its only 6 hours away. However, I am unable to gauge how good a place it is from the pictures. Beach = Havelock Island in Andaman for me is the reference point.

I like to avoid crowds, tourists in hordes and temple towns.

If that is your reference point, and you avoid crowds, avoid Digha like the plague! Its the most crowded, dirtiest beach destination you'll ever come across!

I would suggest Shankarpur or Mandarmoni. Though not much of beaches, they're (relatively) less crowded destinations with some good hotels - Hotel Nest in Shankarpur and Rose Valley Resort in Mandarmoni.

[adhiraj]

Can anyone give a recent update upon the road condition from Kolkata to Digha?

Thanks

[Samba]

Originally Posted by adhiraj

Can anyone give a recent update upon the road condition from Kolkata to Digha?

Thanks

Returned from Mandermani last Sunday.

Nh6 Bombay road till Kolaghat is mostly 6 lane and excellent road.

Kolaghat to Nandakumar is 4 lane highway. Again roads are excellent.

Nandakumar to Digha roads are single lane but road condition is good. Do watch out for unruly rash drivers in this stretch. There are few minor potholes on the Kathi bypass.

Overall road condition is really good.