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-   -   Kolkata Digha route and road condition (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-travel-queries/103472-kolkata-digha-route-road-condition.html)

i plan to go to Digha from Kolkata this Tuesday for 1 night with family. i would take the Chowringee > Vidyasagar setu > Kolaghat > Nimtouri > Bajkul> Kanthi > digha.

We plan to stay in Sea Hawk OR Palm resorts. Any suggestions or alternatives?

I know that the roads till Kolghat are excellent, but how is he condition from Kolaghat till Digha is the question. Also if fellow bhp-ians can inform me about eating places and rest stops on the way, it would help me.

thanks in advance to all

Route - Roads overall are very good. From Kolaghat to Nandkumar More the road is getting built in places, so your progress will slow down. Post Nandkumar More you will encounter small towns or villages, on a single lane carriage way that snakes its way through them.

I'd suggest either start very early, or around 12, from Kolkata. That way you'll miss the maddening tourist buses that slow you down on the single lane road and refuse to give way. Believe me, it makes more than an hour's difference!:)

Eating places - Its a short journey, so don't bother too much about resting stops. What we do (when we travel that route) is start really early, hit Sher e Punjab Kolkaghat by 7.30 for a quick breakfast, and continue onward till we reach.

Hotels - Stay at Palm Beach Resort. Its the best hotel in Digha by a country mile. Another suggestion (unless you've already made bookings) is to try Hotel Nest at Shankarpur. Decent cheap hotel, all civic amenities, and very very good seafood!:thumbs up

Just read a couple of days back in the newspaper that Nandakumar to Digha route has been deteriorated due to some heavy rains recently.

Other than that predatorwheelz is right on.

Also, would like to mention that Shankarpur to Digha is around half an hour drive.

Enjoy & drive safe.

Hey! Hope I'm not too late! I just drove to Haldia lat week (22nd June) Road till the Haldia Junction is fantastic! However, the stretch from there to Nandakumar is incomplete, so the you have two way traffic on any one side of the road! I can only vouch for this bit, don't know about the remaining stretch! Have a good trip!

Roads till kolaghat were obviously good. From nandakumar more to bajkul was horrific. Rest single lane but good. Couldn't find a decent hotel with sea view rooms on digha. Stayed at Candlewood Park resort at Mandarmani, just on the beach.

Thanks all for the suggestions and help

The road from Nandakumar to Bajkul is still the same, or should I say worsened, you have to search the road with a microscope in between the potholes. Innumerable no. of repairing shops has come up on the stretch. My strong advice to all the members will be not to venture the same road with your own vehicle.

dear sir, I just wanted to inquire about the room tariffs at palm beach resort. I am looking at a double room with A/C (And without a/c). Would you have any idea about the prices?

Does anybody have any recent experience of the route to Digha from Kolkata? I have considered the following options. I am actually going to Tajpur which is around 20 kms from Digha.

1. NH6-NH60-SH57 via Jaleshwar to Digha.
2. NH6-SH41-Local Road-SH4 via Contai to Digha.

There are horror stories about option 2, one of them being my own though it was a few years back. The road is potholed and permanently in a terrible shape when my Zen broke down before Contai after having gone through in and out of the numerous potholes on this route. Though there are some recent claims that some patchwork has been done in light of the Digha beach festival. Not sure how far it is true.

Hence I am veering towards option 1 strongly. Has anybody done Option 1 specially SH57 since I know that NH60 is 4 laned and in good shape so should not be an issue.

Hi,
Did it in Feb 2011. So not recent. Though option 2 is not ideal (for me the biggest problem is buses which push you off the road, and the everpresent markets on the road) I would still use it in preference to Jaleswar.

Regards
Sutripta

Thanks Sutripta da. Why would one avoid the Jaleswar route? Is it because SH57 and its current state? I heard that NH60 is in pretty good shape so wouldnt it save me more time rather than trying to negotiate the markets and local bus traffic on the single lane route in Option 2?

IMHO the only problem in going to Digha via Jaleswar is that you have to clock at least an additional seventy KM. And you will possibly need some more time to deal with the long line of trucks at the Bengal-Orissa border.

As per information I could gather from a friend of mine, who drove to Digha a month earlier, the direct road to Digha (via Nandakumar) has now been somewhat repaired. But repair work was still continuing on Narghat bridge, which he had no idea whether has been completed or not.

Aah truck traffic on the WB-OR border. How did I forget that. Yup that sounds like a bummer to me. Will make some more inquiries around from locals who travel that stretch somewhat regularly and then a call. Thanks much Rahul.

Hi,
As Rahul has said, extra distance. Jaleswar jams. And the SH in Orissa. Ranged from OK to bad to nonexistent. But to be fair, saw signs of repairs, so maybe done by now. Nonexistent signage.

Add uncertainty of the OR road tax extortion guys. They have been quiet for some time now, but who knows.

Regards
Sutripta

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 :Frustrati

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.

I crossed the WB-OR border with my car on 22nd of last month. Luckily for me the line of the trucks were not very long and we did not waste more than twenty minutes at the border. And I did not pay the dreaded entry tax on my last two or three visits. All I had to pay Rs 40/- as road toll, for which I was even issued a receipt.

But in case you really wish to avoid the long line of trucks and the tolls at the border, may try this route. I was once suggested by H. V. Kumar to take this road and found it helpful.
West Bengal - Orissa Border - India Travel Forum | IndiaMike.com
Regards,
Rahul