Let’s help you
plan your journey
Explore responsibly, discover offbeat places, guided by locals, rooted in culture.
Let’s help you
plan your journey
Explore responsibly, discover offbeat places, guided by locals, rooted in culture.
Soumen Bhowmick
Soumen Bhowmick founded Pollen Dots in 2024 to plan journeys across India and Bhutan. He works in the Commercial Department of Indian Railways, where he has been since 2000. From 2016 to 2020 he was Head of Business Development and Partnerships at ScoutMyTrip, a community-driven road trip planning platform. There he built a nationwide network of local Scouts who helped travellers on the road, and grew the Road Trippers Club to 16 Indian cities. As a core member of Devil On Wheels, he helped travellers plan Himalayan trips and started Spreading Smiles. He has driven solo from Arunachal to Goa and from Himachal to Karnataka, and has run his own caravan for more than ten years. His photographs have won national and international salon awards, and his writing has appeared in Outlook Traveller.
A packing list for Odisha is usually written for the coast, where it is mild from October, and then the southern hills turn cold after dark. Both of the state's big parks check photo identity at the gate, and Similipal lets in only vehicles with a ground clearance of 180 mm or more. One warm layer, shoes that take water and a small cloth bag cover most of what the state asks for.
Odisha runs from a flat wet coast to hills that cross 1,600 metres at Deomali in Koraput. A trip that takes in Puri, Chilika and Koraput passes through both in a week. The list below is built around the days that have rules of their own, which are temple days, boat days and park days.
The same short list works from October to February anywhere in the state. Cotton for the day, one warm layer for the hills at night, and shoes you can walk in on wet sand and forest track.
| Item | Why |
|---|---|
| One fleece or warm jacket | Koraput, Daringbadi and Deomali are cold after dark in December and January |
| Cotton shirts and trousers | The coast stays mild and humid through the main season |
| Closed shoes with grip | Forest tracks at Similipal, wet jetties at Chilika and Bhitarkanika |
| Cloth bag, no leather | Leather is not allowed inside the temples |
| Photo identity proof | Required at the gate of both Similipal and Bhitarkanika |
| Sun hat and sunscreen | Boat decks have no shade |
| Torch | Village roads in the hills have no street lights |
| Rain shell | June to September anywhere, and the coast in October |
Cover the shoulders and the knees, and wear something you can take off at the door. Shoes come off outside every temple in the state.
At the Jagannath temple in Puri, phones, cameras, leather items, bags and umbrellas are left outside the gate. There are lockers and stalls near the entry for this. Entry itself is free. The temple admits Hindus only, and non-Hindu visitors watch from the roof of the Raghunandan Library across the road.
A thin cotton stole is the single most useful thing on a temple day. It covers shoulders, it wipes hot feet, and it folds into nothing.
Cold enough for a fleece at night from December to January. Daringbadi in Kandhamal is called the Kashmir of Odisha for that reason, and Koraput sits in the same belt of hills.
Deomali, the highest point in the state at 1,672 metres, stands in Koraput district. The days are warm and dry up there in winter and the drop comes after sunset. A fleece, a cap and socks are enough. Heavy mountain gear is not needed anywhere in Odisha.
The coast does not do this. Puri, Konark and Chilika stay mild on the same nights, so one warm layer travels with you and stays in the bag for the coastal half of the trip. Our packing list for West Bengal works on the same split between a mild coast and a cold interior.
Sun cover, a dry bag and binoculars. Both parks are seen from an open boat, and there is no shade on the water for hours at a stretch.
Bhitarkanika is entered at Khola, Gupti or Dangmal and the whole visit is by boat through mangrove creeks. Chilika boats run from Satapada for dolphins and from Barkul for the bird islands. Spray comes over the side on both. A plastic sleeve for a phone and a cloth to wipe a lens are worth more than any camera accessory out there.
Binoculars matter more at Chilika than a long lens. Visitors are not allowed to land on Nalabana island, so the birds are watched from the boat.
A rain shell, quick drying clothes and a charged power bank. The monsoon runs from June to September, and the weeks on either side of it are when cyclones form in the Bay of Bengal.
Power cuts follow heavy weather on this coast, so a power bank and a torch earn their space from April to November. Keep paper copies of identity documents in a sealed pouch. Roads in the hills take longer than the map says once the rain sets in, so a day of slack in the plan does more good than any piece of kit. The way to get ready for all of this is the same everywhere in the country, and our guide to getting ready for a trip in India sets it out.
Our ten day journey through the sacred coast and tribal heartland of Odisha crosses both halves of the state. The same bag has to work on the coast and in the hills.
Cotton clothes for the day and one warm layer for the night. The coast stays mild from October to February. Koraput, Daringbadi and Deomali are cold after dark in December and January, so a fleece, a cap and socks are useful in the hills.
Phones, cameras, leather items, bags and umbrellas are left outside the gate. Lockers and stalls near the entrance hold them. Entry to the temple is free, and the temple admits Hindus only.
Yes. Photo identity proof is checked at the gate of both parks. Similipal also requires an online booking made in advance and a vehicle with a ground clearance of 180 mm or more.
Sun cover, binoculars and something waterproof for a phone or camera. The boats are open and spray comes over the side. Visitors cannot land on Nalabana island, so the birds are watched from the boat.