By road
~60 km from Bhubaneswar
East India · Odisha
Puri, Odisha
Jagannath's town and a wide gold beach · ~60 km from Bhubaneswar
Getting there
By rail
Puri, its own station and the terminus of the South Eastern Railway line, with direct trains to Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai
By air
Biju Patnaik International Airport, Bhubaneswar, ~60 km
Best time to visit
October to February; Rath Yatra falls in June-July crowds
Don't miss
Jagannath Temple
Puri Beach
Konark Sun Temple nearby
Chilika's Satapada
Things to do
Temple mornings
Beach evenings
Chilika Lake dolphin day trip
Raghurajpur art village
Where to eat
Sources: Photo: Prachites · CC BY-SA 3.0
What to pack
Modest temple wear, beach wear separately, sand-friendly footwear
A quieter corner
Watching the temple flag changed by climbers at dusk — daily, for centuries
Before you go
One of the Char Dham; the Rath Yatra (June-July) is among the largest religious processions in the world -- book far ahead. The temple kitchen's Mahaprasad is central to the visit.
About Puri
- Coastal
Where it is
Puri is a coastal town on the Bay of Bengal in Odisha, about 60 km south of the state capital Bhubaneswar, with the Chilika lagoon to the south-west and Konark along the coast to the north-east.
History
Puri grew around the Jagannath Temple, built in the 12th century under the Eastern Ganga dynasty, and has long been one of Hinduism's four Char Dham pilgrimage sites. Adi Shankara's Govardhana Matha stands here, the saint Chaitanya lived in Puri in the 16th century, and the British took the town and the rest of Odisha from the Marathas in 1803.
People
Puri's people speak Odia, and the town's life revolves around Jagannath, from the temple's hereditary servants and cooks to the carpenters who build the chariots for each Rath Yatra. Fishing communities work the beach, and nearby Raghurajpur is known for pattachitra painting and gotipua dance.
Known for
- The Jagannath Temple
- The Rath Yatra chariot festival
- Puri beach and its sand art
- Pattachitra painting at Raghurajpur
- Mahaprasad from the temple kitchen
Did you know?
The three giant chariots that carry Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra in the Rath Yatra are built anew from wood every year.
Shrines and sites
- Shri Jagannath Temple
- Puri beach and Swargadwar
- Gundicha Temple
- Konark Sun Temple
Traditions
- Hindu
We haven't written a guide for this place yet — you can still plan a trip here.