From Digha, we booked an auto-rickshaw for half a day that will take us to Talsari and back. The auto rickshawas will charge around INR 400 - 1000 depending upon your negotiation skills, the season and also the length of the time you want to keep it reserved.
The ride is a mere 30 minutes ride, through semi concrete and muddy roads passing through paddy fields, casurina plantations and under-developed villages. The path was rustic , the air very calm but the sun god too harsh.
On the way we also saw shared autos, but they were mostly for local people's commute.
Talsari is not as popular as Digha or Puri, so at anytime there are fewer tourists than the other two, but sadly the beach is not that well maintained. Once you go near the beach there is a strong smell of fish all around, I saw a lot of people returning back to their cars because they could not stand the smell. I think the beach is slowly developing as a tourist destination.
But once you start tolerating the smell and heat, you slowly start enjoying the place. There are so less people, no hawkers, no touts...only a handful of local fisherman and some temporary shops scattered here and there. So this reminds me of another think, there are no such places for lunch. Either you pack your own food or better still is to have it on your way.
Talsari is unique because apart from the quietness,you can see the river estuary as well as the sea beach. If you go during the high tide, then you need to take a boat and that will take you till sea. The boats I think take a very nominal charge of INR 30 per person to take you till the sea.Whereas during low tide, you can walk on the river bed and walk till the sea beach. By the time we reached Talsari, it was low tide so we got down on the river bed, walked through the sand dunes and the little puddles filled with water and reached the beach.
There are motorbikes available for as little as INR50, however we preferred a light stroll. Low tide has a big advance than high tide, you can walk on the river bead , can do beach combing. Also you will see red crabs, tiny white crabs, jelly fish, star fish, live shells and very rarely sea cucumber. We were lucky to find a few fiddler crabs.
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| A perfect shell |
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| what a cute mini crab |
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| star fish |
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| red crabs |
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| river bed |
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| fishing boat |
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| A massive jelly fish on the beach |
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| Squid |
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| sea shells |
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| sea shells |
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| Shell |
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| A crab and its hole |
I got to know from the locals that the sunrise looks pristine on Talsari beach, but for that one needs to stay at Government Panthanivas which is a government guesthouse very close by. For pre-booking you may contact through OTDC website. Apart from that there are not too many options for staying.
Almost after an hour and half on the beach, we came back to our auto. The Sun was getting unbearable. We came back to our hotel in Digha. We thanked our auto- driver and he thanked us back with a note requesting us to hire him only if we again come to Digha.
Information Titbits:
Talsari is a less known beach in Orissa. It is very near to the popular beach known as Digha in WB.
Half a day trip can be arranged from Digha by renting an auto rickshaw.
There are no such places for night stay except the OTDC Panthanivas. Charges are nominal and food is simple yet tasty.
Not an ideal place for shopping.
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