Puri travel guide
Jagannath's town, chariot festival and a long Bay of Bengal beach
A pilgrimage town on the Bay of Bengal built around the 12th-century Jagannath Temple, with a long beach and Konark and Chilika close by. November to February is the pleasant season; plan two to four days. An Indian visa is needed, available as an e-Visa to many passports, and the Ratha Yatra in June or July draws huge crowds.
Puri lies on the Bay of Bengal in Odisha about 60 km south of Bhubaneswar. The town exists around one building: the Jagannath Temple. Begun in the early 12th century under Anantavarman Chodaganga of the Eastern Ganga dynasty, the temple is one of the four original Char Dham pilgrimage sites, and its 65 m tower rises over a town of lodges, sweet shops and sea-facing hotels.
Pilgrims and beach-goers share the same shore. Indian families, many of them from Bengal, fill the long sand in front of the town. Camel and horse rides work the waterline. The surf is strong; most people paddle and watch.
Non-Hindus cannot enter the Jagannath Temple. That shapes a visit for foreign travellers: you see the temple from the street and from rooftops nearby, and spend more time on the coast, the craft village of Raghurajpur and the Sun Temple at Konark.
Once a year in June or July the town turns inside out for the Ratha Yatra, when the deities ride huge wooden chariots about 3 km to the Gundicha Temple. More than a million people come. The rest of the year Puri is slower: a morning on the sand, an afternoon on a craft trip, a sunset walk at Swargadwar.
Two or three days covers Puri itself, with a day each for Konark and Chilika Lake if you have them.
Explore Puri by theme
Find your kind of trip: 24 travel themes, each with the packages in Puri.
Puri at a glance
The essentials first-time visitors ask about, in one place.
Explore more of India
Pick a place by travel style: beaches, nature, cities, heritage.
Nothing in that category yet.
Top things to do in Puri
Temple life, a long beach and three classic Odisha trips: Konark, Raghurajpur and Chilika Lake.
Puri
Konark Sun Temple
The Konark Sun Temple stands near the coast of the Bay of Bengal at Konark, about 35 kilometres northeast of Puri in Odisha, eastern India. UNESCO inscribed it...
Best time to visit Puri
Month by month, so you can pick the weather and the crowds you want.
The driest months, with January lows around 17C; February sees only about 12 mm of rain.
May highs reach about 33C with humid nights near 28C, and the Ratha Yatra falls in June or July.
July and August each bring around 340-360 mm of rain and the sea is at its roughest.
During the Ratha Yatra in June or July over a million people fill Grand Road; book rooms months ahead or base yourself in Bhubaneswar.
Packages in Demand
A Journey to Remember
Tours, activities and day trips in and around this destination, with the details you need before booking.
No packages in Puri are listed yet. Browse all packages
Create Your Custom-Made Trip to Puri
Traveling to Puri? Chat with a Local Travel Specialist in Puri Who Can Help Organize Your Trip.
START HEREOur Travel Experts are Recommended by
Plan your trip
Practical answers before you go. Pick a topic.
Getting there
Via Bhubaneswar by rail or road
Fly into Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar, about 60 km north, then take a taxi, bus or train; Puri has no airport. Puri station, the end of the line in the town centre, has direct trains from Howrah, New Delhi and Ahmedabad. Buses from Bhubaneswar take about 1.5 hours to the main bus stand.
- Bhubaneswar airport
- About 60 km; taxi or bus to Puri
- Puri station
- Terminus in the town centre, near the hotels
- Bus from Bhubaneswar
- About 1.5 hours to the main bus stand
- Overnight trains from Howrah are the classic way in from Kolkata and book out ahead of Bengali holidays.
- Odisha Tourism keeps a help counter at the railway station.
Staying safe
Surf and temple touts
Puri is generally easy-going, but the sea is the main hazard: the surf is strong and swimming is often rough. Stay where other people are bathing and follow lifeguards and flags. Near the temple, pandas (priests) may press offers of guided darshan and ask for large sums.
- Beach after dark
- Best avoided late at night
- Hospitals
- Basic in Puri; serious cases go to Bhubaneswar
- Leave phones, cameras and leather items at your hotel or the deposit stand before the temple area.
Where to stay
Swargadwar, C.T. Road or Marine Drive
Choose by crowd and budget along the seafront, and ask for a sea-facing room. Swargadwar is the busy pilgrim end with cheap lodges, Chakra Tirtha Road is the backpacker strip with cafés, and New Marine Drive Road has larger, quieter sea-facing hotels a ride from the temple.
- Swargadwar
- Busy pilgrim end with cheap lodges and food, crowded and noisy
- Chakra Tirtha Road
- Backpacker strip with guesthouses and cafes; the beach here is less clean
- New Marine Drive Road
- Larger sea-facing hotels, quieter, a ride from the temple
- Keep valuables locked up in cheap guesthouses around Swargadwar and avoid the beach late at night.
Getting around
Rickshaws, e-rickshaws and a hired Enfield
Walk the flat, compact town: the beach road links Swargadwar with C.T. Road, and the temple is about 1 km inland up Grand Road (Bada Danda). Cycle, auto- and e-rickshaws cover short hops, but agree the fare first. For Konark, take a bus from the main stand, hire a car or rent a motorbike on C.T. Road.
- Rickshaws
- Agree the fare first, then confirm it again on arrival
- Bus to Konark
- From the main bus stand along Marine Drive
- Motorbike hire
- C.T. Road, for the Puri to Konark coast
Know before you go
What makes Puri worth the trip, and what catches visitors out.
Why travelers love it
- Grand Road at dusk, the wide avenue from the temple gate packed with pilgrims, flower sellers and sweet stalls.
- Sunrise on the beach, with fishing boats being hauled through the surf in front of the town.
- Raghurajpur village, where nearly every house paints pattachitra scrolls.
- Konark's Sun Temple, the great stone chariot an hour up the coast.
- Irrawaddy dolphins off Satapada on Chilika Lake.
Good to know
- Only Hindus may enter the Jagannath Temple; others view it from outside or from nearby rooftops.
- Swimming is risky in the heavy surf; paddle near lifeguards and stay close to shore.
- Shoe, phone and leather rules apply at the temple even for those allowed in.
Trip fit
BookingMentor editorial ratings out of 5, based on a first-time visitor's experience.
Weather in Puri, month by month
Month-by-month climate figures for Puri are being researched.
Grand Road, Swargadwar and the Konark coast
Two days in Puri divide between temple town and coast: walk the beach at sunrise, follow Grand Road to the Jagannath Temple's Lion Gate and on to the Gundicha Temple, and see the sea-worship ritual at Swargadwar in the evening. On day two, drive the Marine Drive to Konark. Only Hindus may enter the Jagannath Temple; others watch from the street.
Day two. Leave early for Konark along the Marine Drive, stopping at quiet beaches on the way. Spend the late morning at the Sun Temple before the heat builds, then come back via Chandrabhaga beach. Rest in the afternoon and watch sand sculptures on the beach, a Puri speciality.
Day three. Drive to Raghurajpur, a heritage craft village of painted houses, to watch pattachitra painting and palm-leaf engraving. Spend the afternoon on the beach or, with a full extra day, go south to Satapada on Chilika Lake for a dolphin boat trip.
Mahaprasad at Ananda Bazar and seafront sweets
Eat mahaprasad, the Jagannath Temple's offering of rice, dal, curries and sweets cooked without onion or garlic, sold at Ananda Bazar inside the complex; non-Hindus cannot enter, but Hindu friends or hotel staff sometimes bring it out. Buy khaja, the layered fried sweet, along Grand Road, and try Odia dalma and pakhala.
Odia home cooking turns up in simple restaurants: dalma (lentils cooked with vegetables), pakhala (fermented water rice eaten in the heat) and fish curries made with the day's catch. Bengali visitors keep a whole strand of Bengali eateries busy around Swargadwar, along with Gujarati and Marwari thali places for pilgrims. Sweet shops sell chhena poda, baked cottage cheese with a caramel crust, and rasagola.
Hotel restaurants and the cafes on C.T. Road are the safer bet; the roadside stalls along the sand are best skipped. Alcohol is hard to find in the pilgrim quarter.
Ratha Yatra, Snana Purnima and the monsoon sea
The festival year starts on Akshaya Tritiya in April or May with the Chandan Yatra, which also marks the start of building the three new chariots. On the full moon of Jyestha in June comes the Snana Yatra, when the deities are bathed in public with water from the temple well, then withdrawn from view for about two weeks.
Then the Ratha Yatra, in Asadha (June or July): Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra are pulled on wooden chariots about 3 km down Grand Road to the Gundicha Temple. It is one of the largest gatherings in India, and the town is overwhelmed; rooms book out months ahead.
Weather explains why winter is the comfortable season. January averages around 27C by day and 17C at night, and February rainfall is only about 12 mm. Humidity builds through May, when highs touch 33C and nights stay near 28C. The monsoon brings around 340 mm in July and 360 mm in August, and the sea is wildest then. Puri is an easy add-on from Kolkata by overnight train.
Travelers are asking
No questions yet about Puri. Ask the community or our travel team, and the answer will show here once it is published.
Our travel desk answers questions about Puri
How we research our Puri travel guide
Temple access rules, trains from Bhubaneswar and festival dates for Puri were checked with Incredible India and the Indian e-Visa portal.
Last updated . Spotted something out of date? Tell us.
Checked against trusted sources:
Government of India e-VisaIncredible India
See all 2 sources
Before You Go...
Discover Trips & Info
A Travel Network Connection Travelers and locals
Incredible Event & Festival, Don't Miss!
Most Popular Event & Festival of Puri
Festivals and events in this destination, with dates, venues and ticket details where available.
Memorable Experiences
Where to Go (& NOT Go) In Puri!
Roaming the World one Adventure at a Time: Travel Tales, Tips, and Inspiration for wanderlusters.
Subscriber
Popular car hire destinations
Explore more options to hire a car for cheap
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Quick answers to the questions travelers ask most before visiting Puri.
General
Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar, about 60 km north. From there a taxi, bus or train continues to Puri.
No. Entry is restricted to Hindus. Visitors can see the temple tower from Grand Road and from rooftops near the complex.
The surf is strong and swimming is often rough. Bathe only near lifeguards and where locals are in the water, and avoid the sea in the monsoon.
It is the food offered to Jagannath and then sold in clay pots at Ananda Bazar within the temple, cooked without onion or garlic.
At Raghurajpur, a craft village a short drive away, where families paint scrolls and engrave palm leaves in their homes.
Yes, Irrawaddy dolphins are seen off Satapada on Chilika Lake, a day trip from Puri by road and boat.
bookingMentor lists 1 thing to do in Puri, with its category, rating and a short description. Open one for the full details, such as opening hours and how to get there.
Walk the flat, compact town: the beach road links Swargadwar with C.T. Road, and the temple is about 1 km inland up Grand Road (Bada Danda). Cycle, auto- and e-rickshaws cover short hops, but agree the fare first.
Getting there
About 1.5 hours to Puri's main bus stand. Trains between the two run several times a day too.
The Sun Temple is about 35 km away along the Marine Drive. Buses leave from the main bus stand, or hire a car or motorbike for the coast road.
New Marine Drive Road is calmer, with bigger sea-facing hotels. Swargadwar is the crowded pilgrim end with cheap lodges.
Timing & weather
In the Hindu month of Asadha, which falls in June or July. The chariots travel about 3 km down Grand Road to the Gundicha Temple.
The best time to visit Puri is Nov to Feb. Dry, with January highs near 27C and sea breezes; June and July bring the Ratha Yatra crowds.
- Winter: November - February (The driest months, with January lows around 17C; February sees only about 12 mm of rain)
- Summer and festival: April - July (May highs reach about 33C with humid nights near 28C, and the Ratha Yatra falls in June or July)
- Monsoon: July - September (July and August each bring around 340-360 mm of rain and the sea is at its roughest)
Visa & documents
Almost all foreign visitors need a visa for India. Citizens of many countries can apply online for an e-Visa (tourist, business or medical); others must apply through an Indian mission. Use only the official government website, as many lookalike sites charge extra.
Health & safety
Puri is generally easy-going, but the sea is the main hazard: the surf is strong and swimming is often rough. Stay where other people are bathing and follow lifeguards and flags. Near the temple, pandas (priests) may press offers of guided darshan and ask for large sums.
