Mandarmoni

Pre-requirements:
Hotel : Can be booked from makemytrip. Listed hotels are 'Sonar Bangla' and 'Digante'.
Delux rooms available on rent are almost same in fare in the two hotels. 'Sonar Bangla' is sea facing and closer to shore. 'Digante' has its own 'Jhau Bon' (jungle of jhau trees and the sea lies just ahead of this small planned trees.Rent in Digante : Non AC deluxe - 1200 per night
There are also ground floor cheaper rooms (700-800 per night, these are not available online).

Transport:
Best way should be to take your own vehicle or a rented car.
Buses are very frequent and any Digha bound bus will do. We went from Esplanade and had advance tickets booked in a C.S.T.C Digha bound bus.




Experience:
started from Esplanade at 7:45 am. The bus fare was 87 per head. Buses start on time, do not be late.The travel was nice and we could see the beauty of Autumn in Bengal. We had to get down at 'Chaulkhola'. The journey was for around 4 and half hours. From here the straight road will take you to Digha while another road goes towards Mandarmoni. Local public travels in trekker and 'Bhatbhoti' (a goods/passenger carrying vehicle with motor and engine of a 2-wheeler). The other option is to hire an ambassador which we did. you can also ask the hotel to send car(fare is same). The charges are high (i.e. 250 bucks for a paltry 15km). The final 6km there is still no road. The vehicles go over the beach in the final stretch. We reached with the high tide around. But could manage to reach the resort without much stoppage. From 9:30 am to 12:30 pm normally the high tide cuts out all road communication from Mandarmoni to the rest of the world and vice versa.
Food orders should be given in the hotels well in advance. There are no other food hotels around. Very small ones exist but there too you must disclose your intention early. The cook of 'Digante' is a gem in his field. If you are in for bengali cuisine, they provide the best. It is better to use bottled water as local water is a bit salty.
We took the water around 2 pm and found the sea to be tamest of all that I have seen. The beach is flat and is very very safe. But then if it was not, there are very few who might see you drown. Its a very solitary beach. But then if you gave good company you will like it.


We had a stroll in the evening. The sun was scorching. So, you can wait till it is manageable. If you are going towards 'Mohana'(where a river meets the sea), start early as you should come back before it is too dark. The place is quite isolated. We spent time on the beach collecting souveniers (there is barely any stall where you can gather any).

We could have at least a cup of tea coming back. (All shops here give you sugar free tea. Things might change when the sugar prices dip!)
Only a few tea stalls can be found on the beach. There is no electricity here. The resorts run on generators. There is also a high tide in the night. It can be very surprising to find the entire km spread walkable beach missing. Instead there can be water metres away when you come out for a post dinner walk.



Morning should be planned well. The sun rises around 5 am. Unless you are as unlucky as we were, there will be no rains and you can see a gala sunrise. We walked towards the 'Mohana'. It was around 45 minutes walk to the 'Mohana'. Keep an eye on the rare beauties you can see many small sea creatures. You might see star fishes, hermit crabs, red crabs or even small sea snakes. Since this beach is not still a hot spot, you might find rare shells, some can be really worth a place in personal aquariums or as a show piece. We had a bath in the high tide next day and this was a different playful sea.
The tides were nice and enjoyable. We were ready by mid-day but had to wait for the high tide to retreat. This time we took the local trekker. We took our place inside and then watched the locals ride(read stick to it.. for more details please watch the fevicol ad).This was surely a lifetime experience.
We also did not have our return reservation in buses. But this is no problem at all. Every 5 minutes, you can find a Kolkata bound bus coming from Digha. A few seats are always manageable here, but might not be advisable for families. Get your return tickets booked and also avoid the trekker.