Golden Beach in Puri is one of the best beaches in the country
The Golden beach in Puri is one of the twelve Blue Flag beaches
in India and this trip was long due, to stay there over night and enjoy the beach time to the fullest. The Blue Flag certification is given by the Copenhagen-based FEE (Foundation for Environmental Education) based on thirty-three stringent guidelines on world-class Eco-friendly environment, cleanliness and tourist-friendly amenities and our government has spent quite a good amount to meet those criteria and also maintaining it nicely.
The Jagannath Temple at Puri is always crowded, as its one of the Char Dham (four holiest pilgrimage sites), but whenever we go there, visiting the temple is the first priority and then eating the Mahaprasad at Ananda Bazaar, the biggest open-air hotel in the world where every day at least 100-200 thousands of devotees eat. It took almost three hours to get inside the temple, have a glance of the Lord and by the time we came out, there was barely any place left to sit and eat, so we carried the Mahaprasad to the hotel.
If you ever visit Puri, don't miss the Mahaprasad, you won't find that authentic taste anywhere else.
The Golden Palace hotel is located right at the Golden Blue Beach, where we had booked our stay for one day.
This is the first time we stayed at Puri, because its not too far (only 60 km) from my home, and it takes only a hour and half to get there. But then kids wanted to enjoy the beach at the evening as well as early morning. And every time we visited the beach earlier, they would see this hotel and always tell, we will stay here once.
And finally we were there, a long time wish granted. After taking a little rest, we headed to the beach.
The hotel is right behind him, so you can feel how close it is.
A panoramic view of the beach - pretty clean and beautiful.
These chairs are chargeable, on an hourly basis, but the ones at the back are free. The life saving guards are available till 7 pm in the evening and keep an watch on the crowd, warning people whenever they try to go deeper. You can stay longer, and be on your own after 7.
Water, sand and the ambience, what else you need ! Kids enjoyed for more than a hour, before feeling hungry.
There is a women empowered cafe just at the entrance to the golden beach and they were selling various types of hot snacks. It was very tasty as well as affordable - fulfilled the evening snacks and tea.
We went back to the beach and sat for some more time, before heading for dinner outside at Biryani Cafe. The morning at the sea beach is pretty blissful, so we got up early and headed straight to the beach.
It was not entirely free - the morning walkers were already there. They have some monthly pricing for these regular walkers.
She planned to do a reel, so we went to one end to get some free space.
A family photo was a must, so asked someone to help capture the moment. The next hour was super fun for the kids - they never had this experience earlier.
Guess who is holding whom ? Since I was the photographer, I could not go inside, so I had to repeatedly warn them not to go deeper. They were in no mood to go back.
Every time I would call them the answer was 10 minutes please....But then I had to force them to come back as we had early check out from the hotel.
The Golden Beach has all the tourist-friendly amenities, and one can easily enjoy the place without staying here. They charge a little to maintain this place, but then there are other stretches which are free. We just wanted to experience the early morning at the Golden beach.
A small video of all the excitements :
Hope this post tempts you to visit Puri and experience it yourself. This is the perfect time as we have Winters starting now, that will continue till late February.
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