India · State of Odisha
Where to Stay in Puri, State of Odisha
Puri is a city of Odisha in eastern India on the Bay of Bengal, one of the four holy abodes of Hindu pilgrimage, revered for the great Jagannath temple and its chariot festival.
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Where to stay in Puri
Where you base yourself shapes the visit — here's the character of each area.
Where you stay in Puri turns on the temple or the beach. The streets around the Jagannath temple keep the shrine, the pilgrim lodges, and the bazaars within a walk, and staying by the temple suits anyone here for the pilgrimage. The temple tower rises over the roofs.
Pilgrims fill the lanes. Down along the shore, the town gives way to the seafront hotels, the fishing beach, and the open bay. A room by the sea trades the temple lanes for the sand, the surf, and the long beachfront walk.
The waves roll in all day. Stay by the temple for the pilgrimage, or by the shore for the beach. The holy city fronts the Bay of Bengal.
About Puri
Puri is the pilgrim city of Lord Jagannath.
What is Puri known for?
On the Bay of Bengal in Odisha in eastern India, it grew around one of the holiest temples of the land, and it keeps the great temple of Jagannath by the sea, the vast chariot festival of the Rath Yatra that fills its streets, the long sandy beach on the bay, and the sun temple of Konark on the coast nearby. The warm sea rolls onto the sand. Pilgrims throng the temple road.
What are the main landmarks in Puri?
The Jagannath temple is the pride of Puri. The great tower of the twelfth-century temple, rising above the town and closed to all but Hindus, is the emblem of the city, downtown. Huge chariots roll each summer.
The vast wooden chariots of the Rath Yatra carry the gods through the streets each year, while the sea beach, the sun temple of Konark, and the Chilika lagoon mark the country around Puri.
What is the history of Puri?
Puri grew around a great temple. Nine centuries ago the kings of Odisha raised the vast temple of Jagannath by the sea, and the town gathered around it as one of the four holy abodes of the Hindu faith. Pilgrims came from all India.
Kings and beggars alike journeyed to see the lord of the temple, and Puri became one of the great pilgrim cities of the land, its life bound to the temple and its gods. The chariot festival made it famous. Each year the gods were drawn through the streets on chariots so huge it took thousands to pull them, and from these the English took the word juggernaut for an unstoppable force.
The sea drew visitors too. In time travelers came for the long beach and the warm bay as well as the temple, and for the sun temple of Konark on the coast, so Puri kept its temple, its festival, and its shore. The chariots still roll each summer.
Puri keeps its holy city on the Bay of Bengal.
Where is Puri?
Puri lies on the coast of Odisha in eastern India, on the shore of the Bay of Bengal. The city sits on a low sandy coast where the land runs down to the warm sea, in a flat green delta of rice and coconut, with the great bay to the south and the Chilika lagoon spreading down the coast to the west. The sea runs warm and wide.
Sand dunes back the shore.
What is the climate of Puri?
Puri sits deep in the tropics, hot and humid the whole year through. Warm damp weather holds all year on the coast, with a heavy monsoon off the bay and warm sea breezes the year round. The monsoon lashes the coast.
Cool sea breezes fan the town.
How do you get to Puri?
Puri lies on the Odisha coast of eastern India, at the end of the line from Bhubaneswar. Trains run to it down to the sea from Bhubaneswar and Kolkata, and the coast road brings pilgrims and holidaymakers. The line ends at the shore.
Bhubaneswar lies north up the line.
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Updated August 2026