For a true blue Kolkattan and especially the Bengali milieu of the City of Joy, there is no occasion more joyous than Durga Puja which is when the universal Mother comes home. It is also the time of the year when one reunites with family & friends and the aim is to make merry – in plenty! However, with the passage of time and increasing number of vehicles, the terrible traffic snarls, huge queues outside our favourite dining joints & puja pandals and the chaos & congestion of an ocean of people and vehicles, things do tend to get the better of even the best of us. Therefore, after enjoying the festive fervour, Team WHEELS decided to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. There is nothing quite like the beauty of nature to soothe our soul. And therefore we decided to surrender ourselves to nature’s soothing touch. This time, we thought of looking beyond the usual lists of offbeat destinations and opt for the tried-and-tested abode of tranquility and peace – Shankarpur.

Route Description
Set your trip meter to zero and begin your drive from the Vidya Sagar Setu Toll Tax Plaza and proceed through the Kona Expressway to meet National Highway-16 (NH-16) through the left diversion at its end. The real pleasure of owning a car and going on a long drive cumulates with the National Highways. Once you are onto the NH-16 (leading to Mumbai), the highway being a 3+3 lane drive, offers an extremely pleasurable driving experience.

Be careful while overtaking the heavy vehicles ahead of you. Drive at a speed in which you feel confident without compromising on the controllability factor of the car. As a general highway driving rule, try to drive in the middle lane and take the extreme right lane only for overtaking the vehicles ahead of you.

Slow down at the congested crossings. Be careful of vehicles and pedestrians sometime coming from the opposite direction in the same lane as of yours, trying for dangerous short cuts, totally ignorant of the speeding vehicles.

Keep following NH-16 via Andul, Dhulagori Toll Tax Plaza, Uluberia, Bagnan until you reach Kolaghat Bridge. Drive slowly after crossing the bridge and take the left turn (just before the flyover across NH-16) and head towards Nandakumar by the NH-41.

Drive very carefully on the NH-41 to reach the Nandakumar roundabout. Take the third lane to your right going towards Contai/ Digha by the Digha Road (Now NH-116B, earlier State Highway-4).
Drive through the Digha Road and cross Chandipur, Nachinda until you reach Contai. Take the right turn from the T-junction to bypass Contai town on your left. These roads are all single-lane drives with good road conditions. Be extremely careful of the high-speed buses recklessly coming from the opposite direction and always give way to them. 

Shankarpur is a beach resort located 12 km further down on the way to Digha from Chaulkhola Morh (the point from where you enter Mandarmani) on the Digha Road.

Shankarpur
Shankarpur is a virgin beach resort located 14 km east of Digha. It is also a regular fishing harbour. The mornings are cool, when fishermen can be seen hauling their huge nets out of the sea. The morning sun reflecting on the sea waves in the east, and the local fishing boats on the coast, offer just the perfect blend to rejuvenate the jaded soul.

Shankarpur Beach
Shankarpur beach is another coastal strip in the adjacent region to Mandarmoni. The beach is also referred as a twin beach of Digha. One of the most popular tourist attractions of Shankarpur, the beach is breathtaking in every sense of the term. Clean water, white sand and mildly blowing winds make the Shankarpur Beach, not just a great tourist attraction, but also one of the most sought after beaches on the entire Eastern region.

Hotel Nest
Our stay at Shankarpur was booked at Hotel Nest. This is one of the oldest and perhaps the best property in Shankarpur. This sprawling 75-room property boasts of a beautiful, well-manicured lawn, separate play area for kids, a well-maintained swimming pool and an in-house multi-cuisine restaurant that serve delicious fare.

The rooms were large, neat and well appointed with all the modern amenities to make the urban travelers feel at home. The washroom was clean and the air conditioning was efficient in seamlessly cooling the room. Every room comes with a balcony with a pleasing view.

The in-house multi-cuisine restaurant has an impressive menu on offer and the food was good. We had opted for their Chinese cuisine during the lunch, delicious finger food in the evening accompanied by some cocktails and authentic Bengali cuisine at dinner time. Each of the selection turned out to be praiseworthy.

The staff at Hotel Nest starting from the receptionist to room service and the housekeeping staff to swimming pool attendant were delightful and eager to help with a smile on their face. They went over and beyond to help make our stay enjoyable. Please ensure to carry your swimming costumes to enjoy a dip in the pool. 
Overall we had a wonderful stay at Hotel Nest and hope to be back soon.

For Booking Contact
Hotel Nest Shankarpur
District Purba Medinipur, West Bengal - 721423
Mobile: 9734837119
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.hotelnest.org
Corporate Booking: 9647035977, 9874534777, 9933307879