[Neversaygbye]

A weekend in Jhargram

Since there have been multiple posts on this location in TBHP already, rather than create a separate thread, I am primarily covering the things that stood out for us on this trip, both good and bad. But before that, some background:

My better half and I are both avid travellers and we never let go of an opportunity to pack our bags and go somewhere in our trusty Vista. Since our last road trip was the one to Vizag in December, we felt it would be amiss if we let January go without any kind of a trip. We find winters to be the best time to travel and knew that we were running out of time.

However, there was the small matter of not having any leaves in hand, especially after being off work for more than a week to recuperate from Covid, which struck both of us down in the first week of Jan. So it had to be a short break that could be done over a single weekend. This meant that it would have to be places between 100-300 kms away with a maximum journey time of 5 hours. Our first preference was for Purbasthali, but it was completely full. We did not want to go to one of the beaches since we have been to the ones near Digha umpteen times. We did check out Bakkhali though since we had never been there and there were not that many options available to us, but it was also sold out for the weekend. Just when we were thinking about dropping the idea, I remembered that one of my friends had recommended Jhargram some time back. He had stayed at the royal palace there and been quite impressed. A quick check on Google Maps showed that it was less than 200 kms from my residence in Calcutta. 3 hrs 40 minutes of journey time as per Google looked really good, so we did not waste any more time and immediately booked the WBTDC Jhargram Rajbari property, as a few rooms were still available there. We got a room in the Annexe, which is just across the road from the main set of buildings. And that is how our weekend trip came about. Now over to the pics.

Since it was only a 3 and a half hour drive, there was no need to leave at an unearthly hour and we started after breakfast, with the objective of reaching the hotel by 12 noon, which was the check in time.



Driving for hours at a stretch does get a bit monotonous at times, and so we decided to stop for a quick cup of tea and a bio break at this dhaba just before Lodhashuli. Lodhashuli is where one needs to take a right from NH6 to reach Jhargram which is just about 20 kms from Lodhashuli.



We reached the WBTDC property at 12 noon as planned. An interesting thing to remember though is that while the property is called Jhargram Rajbari (Palace) Tourist Lodge, the actual Rajbari (which has also been converted to a hotel), is about a 100 metres from the WBTDC lodge. Visitors to the Rajbari need to take tickets costing 15 bucks per person from the WBTDC office.




One good thing about the WBTDC property is that it has a large dedicated car parking area



While the WBTDC property itself is quite nice (both the main complex and the annexe) the maintenance and service has a lot of room for improvement (pun intended). Our room was in need of seepage treatment and a fresh coat of paint, and on the whole the upkeep wasn't up to the mark. The sheets had not been changed and someone had climbed on the bed with their shoes on. The TV was not working (it was replaced after we complained) and almost nothing on the menu was available. At about 3k per night inclusive of taxes, most of the WBTDC properties are no longer cheap but the facilities and service quality have remained at the 1200-1400 bucks range that they used to cost earlier. I would not recommend this property and even the other ones I have stayed in are basic compared to private properties in the same price range.

Anyway, it wasn't all bad - the grounds with the expansive serene pond and the beautiful banyan tree was quite a nice place to spend the evening.







As I mentioned earlier, the Jhargram Palace is a stone's throw away from the WBTDC property. This gate leads to the Palace grounds.



The Palace itself was built only in 1931. From that perspective, it is fairly recent. Even now, it is the residence of the Malla Dev Royal family. The main building combines Italian and lndo Saracenic styles, and apart from the main building there is also an outhouse, a temple and sundry other buildings meant for guests and staff. Almost everything except the staff quarters is in excellent shape. About 10 rooms on the ground floor have been converted into a heritage hotel run by the family. They also have a website http://www.jhargrampalace.com/index.php that provides details of accommodation options available and also provides a brief history of the palace. We did not have unfettered access to the building or the grounds despite having the WBTDC tickets - this is limited to guests who are staying there.












One of the outhouses have also been converted into guest rooms. To be honest, I would prefer to stay in this building in winter rather than in the main building, as the rooms in the main building looked a little cold and draughty (I may be mistaken though)




Apart from the palace, two other places of interest in and around Jhargram are the Kanak Durga temple and Chilkigarh Palace.

A short drive past the verdant fields of Bengal brings one to the Kanak Durga temple.




The new temple is more than a 100 years old and the idol is completely made of gold and is 2 feet high.




The original old temple is estimated to be more then 500 years old. It is believed that human sacrifice formed a vital ritual in those times. Till the time the sacrificial blood reached the Dulung River, the ritual would continue.




Thankfully, Dulung river is just a short walk from the temple so hopefully not too many people were sacrificed. The riverside is a nice place to spend a lazy afternoon, as long as one is not carrying any food with them, since the entire temple complex and approachway to the river is infested with monkeys who will attack anyone who is carrying food.




Crossing Dulung river and carrying on for a short bit brings us to the huge Chilkigarh Palace complex, which despite being much larger than Jhargram Palace both in terms of area as well as number of structures, is in a sorry state with one building being used as the stumps and a wicket keeper by a bunch of young aspiring cricketers and many of the other buildings in ruins despite the fact that the Bengal Government runs an office out of the main building. Is it so difficult to restore these places of historical value?










The following day we drove down to Belpahari which is about an hour away from Jhargram. It is known for three places of interest - Khandarani lake, Ghagra Waterfalls and Tarafeni river dam. We had decided to give the lake a miss since it was renowned for its sunset and we had gone in the morning.

Ghagra waterfalls turned out to be rapids, surrounded by an emerald forest of Sal trees and a rocky mini canyon. It is a great place for a picnic and feels like it has just stepped out of the pages of an Enid Blyton book, but otherwise is nothing much to write about.




There were a couple of vendors sitting next to the river selling utensils carved from stone and these were quite interesting and worth buying.



We wanted to visit Tarafeni Dam thereafter, considering that it was just a few kms from Ghagra. However, we were thwarted in our plans by hay on fire in the middle of the road. The hay was still burning with visible flames and I chose not to risk taking my car over it. It did not seem that the villagers had set the fire on purpose as they were trying their very best to douse it. However, rather than wait for things to cool down and get delayed on our journey back to Calcutta, we decided to vamoose. The fact that Ghagra waterfalls had been underwhelming as far as waterfalls go, also played a part in that decision.




Though we missed out on two places of interest, we were not too put out. The point of a road trip is the journey and not the destination, right? Besides, there's always a next time. Any lingering regret we had quickly dissipated once we hit this beautiful stretch of road on the way back from Jhargram to Lodhashuli.




All that clambering over rocks had made us hungry. With Kolaghat still quite some distance away, and the clock almost striking 3 pm we decided that we would stop for lunch at the next halfway decent place we saw, and as luck would have it, started coming across signs along the highway for this restaurant soon after. We reasoned that they would not have invested in putting up signs upto 8 kms away had they not been somewhat respectable and decided to stop here for lunch. Besides, why let go of a chance to visit Rio even if it was not in Brazil?




In retrospect it was a great decision as we tasted some of the freshest prawns ever in a Chingri Malai Curry preparation at this joint.




Fully satiated, we headed back home and reached after a 500 kms overall journey from start to finish.

[GTO]

Thanks for sharing! Moving your post out to a new thread. A new thread means 100X the views & 100X the visibility in search engines, including Google. Will add to homepage later this week .

@ BHPians, if you should spot any good post in an existing thread that deserves its own new thread, please report the post and we'll move it out for greater visibility.

Thank you!

[arjab]

Lovely story and pictures. Loved your crisp, descriptive and fact filled narration.
The inefficiencies with respect to the WB Tourism facility in Jhargram was experienced by me as well when we had visited the place during pre-pandemic times.

I have noticed a trend. It seems that WB Tourism Department is heavily geared towards providing excellent tourist facilities in North Bengal, specifically, Siliguri and beyond, but does not replicate the same zeal and "will to implement" improvements in terms of infrastructure and service process to other tourist destinations of Bengal. The possible exceptions being Garhpanchkot & Shantiniketan.

Popular destinations such as Diamond Harbour is not well looked after. A lot can be done to refurbish Raiganj Tourist Lodge - the location is beautiful-right in the heart of a bird sanctuary, but in reality nothing is happening.

The locations of West Bengal Government Tourist facilities are very good. Its time the GoWB teams up with competent partners and improves the laggards.

[ABHI_1512]

Sumanta Da, now that the thread has been moved to an independent one, commending you again for the efforts to jot down the experience in Jhargram and the nearby areas. The Tourist lodge complex is a new development ever since I last visited the place. Many areas have been renovated it seems going by the pictures of Kanak Durga Temple. You have shared many anecdotes which I may have missed listening to, specially the sacrifice part !!

I have always stayed at the Forest accommodation at Jhargram which is located inside the forest just opposite to the Rajbaari and which is pretty good, specially the food. Although rooms are limited, the vast area of the property is quite pleasurable to spend time around. Sharing one picture which you have already seen

Originally Posted by arjab

Popular destinations such as Diamond Harbour is not well looked after. A lot can be done to refurbish Raiganj Tourist Lodge - the location is beautiful-right in the heart of a bird sanctuary, but in reality nothing is happening.

The locations of West Bengal Government Tourist facilities are very good. Its time the GoWB teams up with competent partners and improves the laggards.

All the properties of WBTDC are being refurbished and are in various stages of completion. Diamond Harbour tourist lodge is completely renovated now and features top notch facilities and so is Bakkhali. Raigunj tourist lodge is the only one probably which is not yet closed for renovation, and I wonder why. Recently saw Berhampore tourist lodge while passing by and I was zapped by its renovation and beautification. Facilities of tourist lodges have been upgraded to three star standards during the recent renovation. I am sure, you will like the facilities next time

[Neversaygbye]

Originally Posted by GTO

Thanks for sharing! Moving your post out to a new thread. A new thread means 100X the views & 100X the visibility in search engines, including Google. Will add to homepage later this week .
Thank you![/b]

Thank you GTO for moving my post to a new thread and the homepage. Since this is a very short travelogue by TBHP standards I had posted it in the Bengal thread. I am very happy that you felt that it deserved a separate thread! Thanks once again!

Originally Posted by arjab

Lovely story and pictures. Loved your crisp, descriptive and fact filled narration.
...
The locations of West Bengal Government Tourist facilities are very good. Its time the GoWB teams up with competent partners and improves the laggards.

Thank you arjab. Regarding the WBTDC properties, I have stayed in the ones in Darjeeling, Bishnupur, Raiganj and now Jhargram and the standard of rooms and service have been uniformly basic in all of them. However, the rates for both Bishnupur and Raiganj were less than 1500 bucks a night and for that we were ok with compromising on many things since the properties had major locational advantages. Darjeeling was as expensive as Jhargram but it has parking and is walking distance from the mall, which are unbeatable advantages. However, when it comes to Jhargram, the 3k per night is not justified with the current quality of maintenance and service. I hope that they fix these things soon so that the higher cost is justified - however I am not sure that quality of service will improve even if a private player comes in to manage the property as long as the staff remain unchanged, as most of them seemed to be local and did not have any motivation to do a good job. Its a bit like the problem Calcutta airport has - the contractors keep changing but the staff remain the same, so the quality of service never improves. Anyway, I hope that I am proved wrong. WBTDC properties have a lot of potential, like you mentioned, and it is a shame that poor management is ruining that.

Originally Posted by ABHI_1512

Sumanta Da, now that the thread has been moved to an independent one, commending you again for the efforts to jot down the experience in Jhargram and the nearby areas.
...
You have shared many anecdotes which I may have missed listening to, specially the sacrifice part !!
...
Facilities of tourist lodges have been upgraded to three star standards during the recent renovation. I am sure, you will like the facilities next time

Thank you Abhi. I got the anecdotes from the net when I was researching to make up my mind whether Jhargram was worth going to, so they may not be true. However, they do make for a good story!

I am happy to hear that many of the tourist lodges have been upgraded. Bakkhali is on my wishlist, so would you recommend staying at the WBTDC property there? Btw, I did not find an issue with the overall location and facilities of the Jhargram WBTDC property - the issue was with the upkeep of the room and the overall service quality. There was a certain reluctance when it came to service - whether it was about changing the dirty sheets, room service, or providing extra blankets. The impression was that they were doing us a favour and we had to plead to make things happen. So it is not an infrastructure issue but a management issue. I hope that improves too with the upgradation of the properties. Anyway, now that WBTDC has lost its cost competitiveness across most of their properties, I suppose I will also look at other options in the same range the next time I go somewhere in Bengal.

[Risky4327]

Wow, this place of beauty is just in my neighborhood and I didn't know about it
Only 112 KM from my place, should be a nice weekend getaway. I'll plan once the company stops discouraging inter-state travels.
Thanks for the post, loved every word of it.

[MobilisAdvento]

Originally Posted by Neversaygbye

A weekend in Jhargram

Really loved your travelogue on Jhargram, nicely written with excellent pictures. Jhargram is around 60 KM from my native place. I had visited Jhargram a couple of times when I was in my schools, it's more than 25-30 years now. Honestly, we never used to consider Jhargram as a tourist spot at that time. But your travelogue has given me a completely different perspective. I am now planning to visit next time with my family when I go to my home.

[Neversaygbye]

Originally Posted by Risky4327

Only 112 KM from my place, should be a nice weekend getaway. I'll plan once the company stops discouraging inter-state travels.
Thanks for the post, loved every word of it.

Thank you Risky4327. Jhargram is a nice place for a weekend getaway especially with the Sal forests and the little rivers and streams. The drive is also mostly nice. Since you live less than 3 hours away you could actually plan a day trip with a picnic in Ghagra as that is just the right place for one. If you want to stay overnight in Jhargram, the palace is a good option.

Originally Posted by MobilisAdvento

Honestly, we never used to consider Jhargram as a tourist spot at that time. But your travelogue has given me a completely different perspective. I am now planning to visit next time with my family when I go to my home.

Thank you MobilisAdvento. We never used to consider Jhargram a tourist place either, but in recent times, word of Jhargram Palace and the lakes and rivers within a hour's distance from there have got around, plus options for stay have also come up. Also accessibility is great so it has become popular for a weekend trip. I would recommend you stay in the Palace itself if staying overnight otherwise you can also do a day trip to the different places of interest considering that your native place is quite close by.

[Dibyendu Bose]

Thank you for the helpful write up.

The reviews of the actual heritage hotel in TripAdvisor also is not that great and therefore I hope that by next year things improve. Your tip of staying in the outhouse part in winter, where inner rooms of a palace can be dark and dingy is a very important one. But the palace looks great and is something worth visiting. I have heard that early spring and late autumn are also very much suitable for visiting Jhargram, in addition to Dec Jan.

[Neversaygbye]

Originally Posted by Dibyendu Bose

Thank you for the helpful write up.

The reviews of the actual heritage hotel in TripAdvisor also is not that great and therefore I hope that by next year things improve. Your tip of staying in the outhouse part in winter, where inner rooms of a palace can be dark and dingy is a very important one. But the palace looks great and is something worth visiting. I have heard that early spring and late autumn are also very much suitable for visiting Jhargram, in addition to Dec Jan.

Yes, the palace is really nice to look at and looks really well maintained. I spoke to one of their staff and he said that rack rates for the rooms start from 5500 bucks and go upto 7500 bucks.

It would have been really great if they allowed visitors inside the main building considering that they charge 15 bucks just for entry inside the grounds. The photo I have uploaded is of one of the rooms on the ground floor of the main building which I got access to when I was looking for a member of the staff to speak to. I personally found the outhouse rooms airier. (I could not take any photos of them, unfortunately).

You are right about the seasons in which to visit Jhargram. I would think any season other than summer and monsoon would be nice, although it does get very cold in that part of Bengal in winter.

[Sushil Pingua]

Originally Posted by Neversaygbye

A weekend in Jhargram

Thanks brother for unravelling and highlighting a marvellous district of West Bengal.
Taking insight from your travel I too planned and executed a weekend drive to Belpahari in Distt Jhargram and I have posted a travelogue on it. I skipped the city Jhargram after researching about Distt Jhargram and places to visit here.
Thanks again.

[Neversaygbye]

Originally Posted by Sushil Pingua

Taking insight from your travel I too planned and executed a weekend drive to Belpahari in Distt Jhargram and I have posted a travelogue on it.

Thank you and I am happy that my TL helped you in planning your travel. I just went through your TL and you covered Belpahari in much more detail than I did, since I only went to Ghagra there. Next time I will plan to stay in Belpahari and visit all the places you mentioned. Thanks a lot for sharing the details!

[gmhossain]

Originally Posted by Neversaygbye

The point of a road trip is the journey and not the destination, right? Besides, there's always a next time. Any lingering regret we had quickly dissipated once we hit this beautiful stretch of road on the way back from Jhargram to Lodhashuli.

Indeed, it's the journey that is more important than the destination. Sumanta, it was nice to read this crisp travelogue of yours. As a destination, Jhargram has its own charm. Incidentally, few days ago we completed a weekend trip to the same district but to a couple of different destinations.

Cheers,

[Neversaygbye]

Originally Posted by gmhossain

Indeed, it's the journey that is more important than the destination. Sumanta, it was nice to read this crisp travelogue of yours. As a destination, Jhargram has its own charm. Incidentally, few days ago we completed a weekend trip to the same district but to a couple of different destinations.

Cheers,

Thank you Golam. Which destinations did you go to, if you don't mind me asking? Hope you will put up a TL on them on TBHP soon!