By road
From Kolkata, after crossing the VidyaSagar Setu, take the Kona Expressway. After driving a while turn left to Mumbai Road. Drive till you reach Kolaghat, and turn left toward Digha. 2 km before reaching Contai Town you will reach Contai Bypass Road, a shortcut that will again drop you on the Kolkata-Digha road. Drive another 10 km to reach Chawalkhola. Take a left turn from Chawalkhola and follow the village road till it ends at a sea-side village called Dadanpatrabar, around 8km. From Dadanpatrabar take a right turn along a narrow road that runs for another 2-3 km. At the end of this road, you can either drive straight along the sand or take a right turn again through a narrow village road to reach Mandarmani. The road straight ahead has a steep 40 degree downhill slope which leads to the beach and the car should be maneuvered very slowly on this slope. Normally during high tide cars are advised not to take this road as the chances of the cars getting stuck in the sand are high. However, while going on this beach road, the trick is to drive quickly over the sand and not stop as it may result in the car tyres getting stuck. The sand road is typically 4-5 kms and it would hardly take 5-7 mins to traverse it. It is advised to go in groups of cars so that there is help at hand if any car gets stuck. The village road is just a soil road with dense vegetation and some population on both sides. There are no lights or any other amenities. This runs for another 3-4 km. This road is typically very narrow and for any oncoming traffic either car would have to slow down to give way. There are a few patches of broken road as well and it is advisable to take cars with high ground clearance SUV's etc rather than hatchbacks because you would end up scraping the car's underbelly couple of times at least unless it has a high GC. It can take upto 45 minutes to traverse this bad stretch of road which ends up onto the beach near Rose Valley Resort. From there to reach Sana Beach Resort or Victoria Resort, take a right on the beach and drive for another kilometer. Traveling through the beach road is always more time saving and hassle free than the village road but there's the risk of cars getting stuck in sand. It's best to cover the whole stretch from Chawalkhola to Mandarmani before dark.
The total trip from Kolkata is around 3.5 hours.
Distances are as follows: Esplanade - 63 km - Kolaghat - 3km - Mecheda - 80 km - Contai - 12.3 km - Chawalkhola - 4 km - Kalindi - 4 km - Dadanpatrabar - 6 km -Mandarmani - total 172 km.
If coming from from Kharagpur drive down the Chennai Highway. This is a good road but drivers need to be careful of the buses and trucks travelling at high speed. Drive for about 40 km till Belda where you have to leave the Chennai Highway and turn left to enter Belda village and proceed towards Egra. This road is comparatively narrow and filled with potholes. Clusters of small villages and towns will come up regularly. From Egra a sharp right hand turn will lead you to Contai from where the road extends towards Chwalkhola. You may also continue straight from Egra to reach Kanthi Contai and then take a right turn from there to reach Chawalkhola. From Chawalkhola there is a sharp left turn leading towards Mandarmoni. The road side area is densely populated on both sides and the road has speed breakers placed maybe every few hundred meters. Be extremely careful while driving on this road as the speed breakers may be a bit too high for cars with low ground clearance. There is no electricity in this area and it is strictly advisable to travel before dark. This road will lead towards Dadanpatrabar village where one can go directly towards the beach or take a right turn and travel parallel to the beach for approximately a 100 m, from there one can enter the beach. The distance from Chawalkhola to Mandarmoni is 13 km but it takes approx. 25 to 30 mins by car due to the narrow road.
