Mandarmani Red Crab Race
Known for its longest drive-able beach of 13 Kms in India, Mandarmani is located in the East Midnapore district of West Bengal. Almost 180 km which is about 4 hours drive from Kolkata Airport on the Kolkata – Digha route, it is best reached by road via NH 6.
The main attraction of the village is the 13 km beach which is the longest drive-able beach in India.Although there is a high chance that your car may get stuck in wet beach sand (actually mud) during high tide and then you have to shell out few thousand rupees to get help from the local people to pull your car out of sands. Visitors can experience water sports activities like surfing, jet skiing, banana boat rides, ATV bikes and bungee trampoline.
The beach is also an ideal spot to watch sunrise and sunset.The peaceful atmosphere brings a sense of relief to one’s soul. If that is not enough to please your senses, then try to walk on the sand and listen to the waves crashing upon the shore, which will surely drive away your bustling pressure. Relax, swim and enjoy the beach. You are not likely to have many visitors around and that’s the beauty of this beach.
Also you can see the red crabs race during sunrise and sunset as thousands of red crabs will run towards the sea. And if you are lucky to find a small boy, he can teach you how to catch a baby crab with a thread. However the water is quite soggy and not crystal clear like in Andaman.There are no medical shops or convenience stores or doctors around. So better pack your essential stuff yourself.
Many stay options are present, out of which Rose Valley Resort is quite popular and expensive. On checking Rose valley we found it’s just a hype that its management has created. No sea facing rooms present, highly expensive room tariff, poor dining options, lazy service, small compact size rooms. It’s not worth at all. So best is to avoid Rose valley. One can find far better options like Sana Beach Resort and Aqua Marina Drive Inn.
We stayed in Aqua Marina Drive Inn which had all the rooms as sea facing where you can see the sun coming up from your bed. It has its own private beach sort of thing. All you have to do is just walk out of your room and yo can be on beach in less than 2 minutes. Food was simply amazing, we tried the red crabs and fish. Good clean rooms with excellent room service and big garden with rabbits to play with for kids.
Also on the beach one can hire beach cart inexpensively (motor bike transformed as cart) to travel to the Mohuna or the point of meeting the river with the sea. It’s beautiful to see the calm waters of river mixing with the sea waves.
Best time to visit is round the year, though summer is hot and humid. Not as crowded as another popular destination called Digha which is nearby. So if you wish to spend a lazy Sunday morning on the beach, the best place is to go Mandarmani.