Honeymoon hotels in Puri: what the coast can and cannot do

There is a category of hotel marketing that sells a honeymoon as a private world: a pool, a spa, a beach with nobody else on it, and a room service that never intrudes. Puri is not that, and a couple who book expecting it will be disappointed.

What Puri is: an extraordinary coastline to the west, a temple that people cross the world to see, a town that smells of sand and incense, and hotels on the beach road where you can watch the sun go down over the water from a balcony. For a couple who want a few nights that feel different from ordinary, that is genuinely enough.

Which room to book

For a honeymoon the decision is the view and the balcony, in that order. Three categories have a private balcony. Of those, the Platinum Double is front sea-facing at 217 sq. ft. — the smallest room with the best view, which for two people on a short trip is the right trade.

If you want space rather than a balcony, the Suite is 355 sq. ft. with a king bed, a lounge area and a side sea view. It is the most spacious room for two on the property.

What there is to do

The temple at dawn, which is at its calmest before six. The beach in the early morning and after four. The Sundowner Cafe on the sea-facing terrace at golden hour. And Konark, 35 km along the coast, which produces better photographs than any beach scene.

What there is not

There is no swimming pool and no spa. The sea here has powerful surf, real undertow and steep drop-offs close to shore, and it is not a safe or private alternative to a pool. If a pool is central to what you have in mind, book somewhere that has one, and this is not it.