Exploring Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal

Somnath Das | January, 2026



Narajole Raj College, Medinipur (West)

Moynagarh

      Moynagarh is a historic place and it is an island (i.e. surrounded by water from four sides) and the distance from Kolkata is around 95 km. We took our scooter and this was our first destination in this 3N/4D trip. It was the Saraswati Puja day.

Some statues at Moynagarh Rajbari

This place is really beautiful and unique. But, many modern houses are there in this island. Still there are few left overs from the history like the temples and a ghat in the river.

An old Dalan from History, Moynagarh

At the backside of this island, there are plenty of greenery too which we always enjoy. Without greenery places die.

Main Temple of Moynagarh Rajbari

We looked around the area and it is good for spending few hours there. We can really enjoy with our family and kids.

Another Temple at the back side of Moynagarh Rajbari

Then we moved towards our Motel at Debra. We thought to visit Pingla Patachitra (art on utensils) village, but the nightmare comes on our road. We wanted to go via the quickest / straight road (via Google maps) and in normal days it shouldn't be a problem. BUT, it was Saraswati Puja and Moyna is famous for the celebration. The road quickly jammed with hundreds of motor bikes and thousands of people on the road. It took around 2.3 hrs to cross 1km! 

We were so exhausted by that situation and more because of stupid Chapri bikers with annoying modified third class bike silencers. We skipped Pingla and directly went Debra. We stayed in a Government motel and there was a Mela next to it. We spent some time there in the evening.

Pathra, the village of Temples

      Next day morning we started our journey toward Pathra. After leaving the motel, we went to a Punjabi dhaba (at Debra) nearby and had some breakfast. Then we went to Pathra. It was around 40 km from Debra and few kilometers of the road was peeled of for repairing and it took some time to reach there.

Few Temples at the left side, Pathra

When we reached this place, immediately we fell in love with this place. This small place in the village is surrounded by few temples and a grassland which gives an unique landscape view.

Few more temples with a Dalan and some leftovers from old structure

This place is now protected by Archaeological Survey of India and we really felt it was much needed.

The biggest temple surrounded by few more temples, another side of the road at Pathra

We spend about an hour there and then started our scooter for the next destination which is Gangani.

The Grand Canyon of Bengal, Gangani

      We really wanted to visit this place for a long time and this time we went there. We drove for few hours to reach our home-stay at Gangani. It was around 60 km from Pathra. After having a lunch there, we took some rest for about another hour, then we left for the grand Canyon.

Gangani Canyon

This place was again an unique place as we have never seen a Canyon before and we were thrilled to climbs those peaks. We really recommend you to wear a pair of good shoes which good grip as this place can be slippery due to dust and sand on the surface. 

Chandrakona and Naraloje

      It was our 3rd day on the trip, we started our journey in the morning again. Our next destination was Chandrakona Rajbari. It is around 25 km from our homestay.

The front side of Chandrakona Rajbari

We were really sad after seeing the condition of this palace as it is almost ruined and I think Government does not care about this.

The entrance of the Rajbari, Chandrakona

This place might not exist for long in the future. Still we got a glimpse of it and looked around for half an hour there.

An old Temple inside Chandrakona Rajbari

Our next destination was Narajole. We had some breakfast at Chandrakona and started our scooter again. Narajole Rajbari is about 39 km from Chandrakona.

The Gate of Narajole Rajbari / College

This Narajole Rajbari has a huge area and this photo is the Entrace Gate. The college is no more in operation and the college building is still fine. But there were many buildings which are now really in poor conditions and most of them are damaged hugely. Again we though that Government could have done something for this unique place.

Another Rajbari at Narajole (nearby)

You can see how beautiful it was, but we can't do anything. After spending some time at Narajole we left for our homestay at Deulti.

Deulti

      On the way towards Deulti, Khirai (lot of flower gradens) can be reached easily. We did not go to Khirai, we went Janabar (nearby) and we spent some time in the flower gardens.

Then we moved towards Deulti. Total distance from Narajole was around 56 km. We reached our homestay and took a rest for the day as it was near to the evening and we were really tired.

Next day morning i.e. our last day of the trip, we went some good places around that area.

Damodar Jiu Temple (Mondal Bari), Jhikhira

This Terracotta temple is really well maintained and the designs are quite in well condition. At this area there few old temples and Zamindar palaces.

An abandoned House from Old day, Jhikhira

Again another place which got ruined without maintenance. We roamed around that area for more temples.

Damodar Jiu Temple (Roy Bati), Jhikhira

After roaming around and spending some time there, we came back to our homestay in the noon and had lunch.

After lunch we went to visit the house of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, the famous Bengali writer and novelist. You might know him from the Devdas Movie as he was the writer of that novel. As it was the Republic Day, it was really crowded. But, we felt the nostalgia after visiting the house.

Then we went back to the homestay and took our scooter to come back to Kolkata. The end part is always a little sad when we understand it the end of our trip.

Life is short, let's experience something different whenever possible. If you find this blog helpful, share with your friends / family and you should definitely plan for this as it is not far from Kolkata. Thanks for reading till the end.

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