Chilika Lake: Here’s your Travel Guide for This Brackish Water Lagoon

The water body, the largest brackish water lake in Asia, is something to behold. The sheer area of over 1100 kilometres, takes the lake from the river Daya to the Bay of Bengal.

It is festival season in all of India and when it comes to celebrations, Bengal will not be left behind. Apart from the sheer artistry and passion surrounding the Durga Puja, the state also possibly provides the largest number of domestic tourists and the holiday season won’t be complete without a jaunt to places near and far. This season has seen the Bengali travel from the Digha beach, just down the road, to the hills up North and as far as Kashmir. Quite an adventurous lot, this. A new thing that has cropped up nowadays is road trips. Thanks to enhanced income and the availability of motor vehicles, this mode of tourism is getting bigger nation-wide and Bengal is no different.

When it comes to road trips, anything within a range of four hours and within 12 is deemed to be doable. One of the biggest targets of this lot would be Odisha, with its beaches, and of course, the great Chilika Lake.

The water body, the largest brackish water lake in Asia, is something to behold. The sheer area of over 1100 kilometres, takes the lake from the river Daya to the Bay of Bengal.

Needless to say, a lake of this size has many a base from where to visit, with hotels ranging from luxury to basic.

As always, the state tourism properties hold the best locations, but the one at Rambha, towards the southern end of the lake, was underwhelming at best, with rather shoddy rooms and indifferent cuisine.
In terms of a road trip, the initial look at the map gives you a daunting figure of nearly 12 hours from Kolkata, but the route, primarily through National Highway 16, is largely smooth (barring several detours for road repairs and construction, which eat into a little time), you can do the drive in about nine to ten hours, depending on which end of the lake you’re visiting.

Then, of course, there are short trips (an hour or a little more), which will take you to Gopalpur on Sea, where the rather unimpressive approach opens up to a sprawling beach and the Bay of Bengal in all its might.

Foodies would love this place, especially if you are into seafood. Lots of shacks provide you with an array of fried and grilled seafood at pretty reasonable prices.

Another food delight would be the Chilika Dhaba in Barkul, well worth the drive, in terms of quality and freshness of the seafood.

The region is blessed with natural beauty which is mostly unmatched in terms of size in most of India, with the lake and sea, plus a smattering of hills and vegetation, all washed green by the monsoons.

If you really want to go deeper, there are wildlife sanctuaries and many other places nearby to visit. But in sheer majesty, nothing matches the combination of the Chilika Lake and the Bay of Bengal. Well worth a visit.