Accomodations in Puri

kishori_ray

Could anyone please give some info on accomodations in CT Road and other areas in Puri. I would like to stay either in CT Road or somewhere at the beach, but not in a those big meat-eating hotels please. Planning to go there on 23th of November for at least 2 weeks.

__________________
'Vasudhaiva kutumbkam'- The universe is my family.
http://www.youtube.com/kishoriray
http://kishoriray.multiply.com/
[url]http://www.flickriver.com/photos/kishoriray/

jyotirmoy

Please check out Z Hotel at CT Road, Puri.
BTW do some hotels eat meat?

kishori_ray

Sounds strange but in the holy town of Lord Jagannath, its hard to find any vegetarian restaurants... and I lived in Swargadwara, Hotel Puri, even if cheap, the continuious smell of meat cooking there was really annyoing for me. Meat was everywhere in that whole Swargadwar, along the street, wherever u where and wherever u look. This is due to Bengali tourism believe me. Puri is a holy town after all.

kishori_ray

Could u kindly give me the details of this Hotel? Address and phone number?

jyotirmoy

Please check this http://www.zhotelindia.com

atala

Swargadwar (gateway to heaven) is actually the name of the cremation ground right behind the stalls selling meat, close to the beach. When the wind blows from the sea in the evening, there is often a smell of burnt flesh in the market area. The combination of smell (from the Burning Ghat) and sight (at the stalls) can be puzzling or annoying, especially for vegetarians.

kishori_ray

yes, this was making me wonder. But now I am in Puri and stay at C.T. Road at Hotel Derby, which is cheap, simple, with nice garden, view to the ocean and the everfresh brise of the 'noisy' ocean. In this area I feel much better than in Swargadwar area. I think the latter is more interesting for Bengali people. I found now lots of guesthouses here in C. T. Road. Only problem is that during this time, especially from 21.12.07 - 1.1.08 it is the high season since thousands of bengali people will come for holy days and the guesthouse prices will be twice or trice higher. I was even asked to move out of my previous appartment.

Derby also wanted to get rid of me during 'hot season', but when I really wanted to go, the had suddenly a smaller room for me where i can still stay during those 'special income' days of Puri's hotels.

All in all i most say, Puri is lovely and i enjoy the ocean and the evershining sun here.

jyotirmoy

I avoid Swargadwar, terribly crowded and noisy

atala

It depends whether one prefers the tourist town experience (C.T. road side), or the more traditional Indian plus the Indian tourists arriving and taking a bath in the ocean experience (on Gaurbat Sahi Side, with Jagannath Temple and other temples nearby).

The Swargadwar cremation ground can be an opportunity to observe or witness (with the permission of the berieved family) the cremation of a corpse. Not many cremation grounds are that accessible, and in the center of town as the one in Puri. It is a good existential, sobering experience for a Westerner not used to see what happens, because that is what awaits us all in one way or the other.

There are also interesting Aghoris practizing there (the sadhus in black), some of whom speak very good English and are quite educated. Aghoris are sadhus who meditate on a cremation ground and use the sobering energy of death and decay for personal salvation. They claim to be able to attract the apparition of Kali or Durga by rituals they perform around midnight. You can approach them during daytime from the beach side, if you do not want to go thru the cremation ground. There is a little Shiva temple that you see from the beach; that is generally where you meet them.

The beach market in that area is a nice place to visit too after sunset. They sell lots of pearls of all kinds, sea shells, coralls (beware of fakes) and other handicrafts. The beautiful Orissa handloom products are also sold mainly at the Swargadwar shops.

Nice places to stay in Gaurbat Sahi area, which is behind the Swargadwar area on the beach, are at the further end of the city, towards the Birla Guesthouse. One can rent nice rooms there in some temple guesthouse for little money.

bjp

Radhe Radhe :-)

How nice to find this thread, interesting. I was in Puri in January 2003 and now I'm going to Vrindavan at the end of this month, but I'm thinking of flying to Chennai and train to Bhubaneswar and Puri first.

@ Kishori Ray - nice name ;-) It's nice to hear that you found a nice place to stay. Like you say, probably better than the Sea Beach road tourist area, but CT Road....personally, I would avoid it, but we stayed in a wonderful old colonial hotel at the start of CT Rd - you'll have seen it, the SE Railway Hotel.

The food - or the lack of it, if you can't go into the temple compound to get Jagannath prasad... we nearly starved. The restaurant signs all saying "Continental/Chinese/Bengali" and everywhere selling eggs and chicken, and those heaps of sweet things covered in flies. ! We were there for a week and only realised too late that we should have got a paraffin stove and cooked our own food right from the start.

Swargadwar... I don't remember stalls selling meat,...but I suppose, come to think of it, that now, five years later, Puri is even more touristy. I remember, they were busy building more little hotels along the Sea Beach Rd.