On the last weekend of September 2026, we decided to take on the road with our family car, the Nexon Diesel AMT.
I had a few destinations in mind but couldn’t decide.
This time, there was a cyclone warning across West Bengal, and the weather had been damn good for the last 6-7 days.
First, I thought of leaving for the Sunderbans and staying at Sonar Bangla Sunderbans. I had been eyeing this resort for a long time, but my wife was a bit fearful about the cyclones, so she suggested some other place.
While browsing on Friday morning, I stumbled upon a Facebook post about a Shantiniketan drive. They suggested a new route and claimed it was more scenic than the old Guskara Road drive.
I immediately checked Google Maps, and the route was just 25 km longer. I called my wife, and she also agreed to the drive.
The place was final now. Oh boy! What a relief. Now I had to see which place I would love to stay. I had earlier visited Shantiniketan, so I was not willing to check out the museums and university area, which we had already covered during our previous visit.
Shantiniketan Trip Preparation
We just wanted to stay near Sonajhuri Haat, do some shopping, and mostly stay in the hotel and enjoy a relaxing day.
I checked out the travel sites and decided to stay at Resort Titli. I had seen some reviews of Resort Titli, which I liked as well.
I just had to see if a balcony room was available or not. We checked most of the sites and finally booked on one of the prominent travel sites. They were giving a generous Rs 736 discount, besides the usual discount, for a deluxe balcony room at Resort Titli.
The room was booked, so one more leg was final. The weekend destination and the resort, Oh! Now I became relaxed. I casually researched some of the good dining places. I would give a description of those places at the end.
In the evening, my wife came from the office, and we decided to do the packing and car preparation the night before. I half-tanked my beast, and that was enough for this trip.
The next morning, Saturday, I woke up slightly late, but we were ready to move at around 9:25 AM. We usually start trips late, and it’s just us- or you? Please comment!
My wife had her breakfast at home. I decided to have my breakfast at an idli place near me. It was butter idli fry. Breakfast took around 15 minutes, and we were on the road by 9:55 AM.
I punched in Kansa as a stop and Sonajhuri Haat as the final destination in Google Maps. It was showing around 204 km.
As we were full, we decided not to have meals on the way and eat at the resort restaurant.
The Ride To Shantiniketan
The Durgapur GT Road roads are newly made, and it was a delight cruising on the roads. We have an annual toll pass, so we were not bothered about the tolls.
We didn’t take a break and reached Kansa in around 3 hours. From there, Shantiniketan was around 40 km, or approximately 1 hour.
After Kansa, when you take the right turn, the roads become narrow but surprisingly pleasant.
The surroundings are full of greenery. Some road patches are in the midst of vast jungles, and it is such a pleasant experience to drive on these roads.
We were just on the outskirts of Shantiniketan, and I decided to check out some restaurants that I had dugged up in my initial research. I checked out Barishaler Rannaghar, Thakurbarir Ranna, and Bhooter Raja Dilobar.
The Barishaler Rannaghar was a little bit on a narrow lane, just 200 metres from the main road. Thakurbarir Ranna, and Bhooter Raja Dilobar were on the main road right on the way of reaching Sonajhuri Haat from this route.
We decided to try these restaurants next time and proceed to the resort and have lunch there.
As we found that the resort Titli restaurant was also highly rated on Google. We decided to try these restaurants next time and proceed to the resort and have lunch there. The resort restaurant’s name was Rajbarir Bhuribhoj.
Our Check-In to The Resort
Finally, we were at the Resort Titli gates after around 4 hours and 20 minutes from home. It was around 1:55 PM.
When we entered the resort, the sky was overcast, and we immediately felt we were in one of the most serene environments in Shantiniketan.
From the parking itself, we got excited about the vast green landscaped garden, swimming pools, and a big ‘Pukur'(Pond is called Pukur in Bengal) in front of the swimming pool, just in case you want an infinity view.
The resort was just beside Sonajhuri Haat, the world-famous shopping mela spot in Sonajhuri forest.
We went to the reception. A hotel assistant helped to get our luggage to the reception. The check-in was incredibly smooth, and we took some pictures of the reception. It was beautifully designed.
After all the formalities, we entered the room and, oh my God! It was a beauty. The room had all the facilities, and the balcony was surprisingly big, with 2 chairs and a table.
After getting used to such a beautiful space, the hunger pangs were following us, and we immediately went to the resort restaurant for our lunch.
Lunch At Rajbarir Bhuribhoj, Resort Titli
I must say, the restaurant was beautifully crafted, with lots of attention to detail.
In the midst of the restaurant lay 2 old-style carriages (we call it ‘Buggy’) that enhanced the beauty of the restaurant.
We took a table with a view outside and ordered 2 Bengali Thalis, one veg, one chicken, and a fish tikka starter.
The serving was made after around 20 mins, and the taste was mouthwatering. I especially liked the fish tikka and sona moong dal way too much.
We finished the lunch and paid the bill. The bill was around 1800. It was slightly pricey, but considering the quality of the food, it was worth it.
After lunch, we were a bit tired, so decided to take rest in our room.
We slept for 40-45 minutes, and it was already around 4:30 pm. The sky became dark, and it seemed that it was about to rain.
Sonajhuri Haat First Visit
We wanted to go to Sonajhuri haat for some shopping, and seeing the dark skies, we got confused. After half an hour, when the rain gods didn’t appear, we decided to go finally.
It was around 5 pm. We became ready, took an umbrella which was lying in my car trunk, and finally came outside the resort gate.
Outside, toto drivers approached us to take us to Sonajhuri Haat, but already I knew from my research that the haat is around a 5-minute walk away from the resort. We didn’t pay heed to the toto drivers. They were murmuring.
We took a left turn and walked for 5 minutes. In no time, we reached the backside of Sonajhuri Haat, but oh wait! It started raining heavily then!
Next, we saw the whole market was covered with thin polythene sheets. Sellers were protecting their goods, and it was almost 5:30 then. It was getting dusk, and the haat gets closed by sunset.
As I was walking by the closing market, we saw some good-quality bedsheets, which were being wound up by the shopkeeper. My wife immediately liked one of them.
We bargained a bit and got it at a good price. After that, we saw most of their shops were almost closed, and it started raining heavily. So we decided to defer the shopping and do it the next morning.
Late Evening Plans & Dinner
We returned to the resort. Thankfully, we had a big umbrella, so we were not wet. It was around 6:30pm. Then we decided to enjoy the rain till dinner time from the balcony.
We sat on the balcony for almost 2 hours In the midst, my wife ordered some milk tea and biscuits. I was not interested, so she enjoyed the tea. I made my black tea from the room goodies provided, we sat on the balcony for a long hour, almost till 8:45.
After that, we were a bit hungry. We hadn’t decided whether we would eat in the resort itself or go out.
We usually don’t like tandoori roti (as it becomes very hard to chew in a short time) and instead prefer plain roti, called ‘Hath Ruti’ here in Bengal.
I asked my wife to call the hotel restaurant if plain atta roti was available, as it was a deciding factor in whether we wanted to eat in our own resort restaurant or go outside.
She called the restaurant, and they told us only tandoori roti was available. Now we had no choice but to visit another restaurant for dinner.
We had already eaten at Ram Shyam Resort in Shantiniketan, and it was just around a 5-6 minute walk away.
We proceeded for dinner at around 9 pm to Ram Shyam Village Resort and ordered a lemon coriander soup, Paneer Butter Masala, Dal Tadka, and 4 plain rotis. The bill was around 550INR.
It was served to us in 15 minutes. The food was delicious as expected, and the service was also fine.
We got out of Ram Shyam Restaurant and, after a short walk, went to our resort, straight to the room, and called the day off.
In the morning, as I unwound the curtains, the outside looked so serene and beautiful. Birds were chirping, and the beautiful swimming pool with palm trees overlooking the pond looked mesmerising.
Breakfast, Checkout & Again Shopping at Sonajhuri Haat
I went to the swimming pool for a bath, and we went for breakfast after that at around 9:30 AM.
Breakfast, there were not many varieties, but overall, the taste of all the items was good. I especially liked the vegetable idli. It was very soft and fresh. The pineapple juice was also fresh (not canned), which even some five-star hotels don’t provide.
After getting off from the breakfast table, we took some pictures, roamed around the swimming pool, and went to the room to prepare for checkout.
We checked out at around 11:25 AM. The resort entertained our request for a half-hour late checkout, which I appreciated.
After handing over the key card, I requested that they park my vehicle on their premises for 2 more hours so that we could do some shopping at Sonajhuri Haat, which they accepted too.
Now, we were ready to do the shopping. The day was a bit sunny. We shopped for so many items at Sonajhuri Haat: bedsheets, towels, decorative handicrafts, ornaments, some clothing… It was a 2-hour shop-till-you-drop spree.
Ride Back Home & Lunch At Bongo Rosona, Burdwan
At around 1 PM, we both got tired from the humidity and heat and walked into our car in the resort, turned the AC on at full blast, and rested for a while.
Now, it was our return journey. As we were not hungry, we decided to eat on the way. Also, we decided to take the same route from which we came, i.e., the Kanksa route, and started our journey at around 1:20 PM.
After 1 hour and 45 minutes of driving, at around 3 PM, we started to feel hungry, and I started checking out nearby dhabas.
I found a good place in Burdwan, called Bongo Rosona. It had a good Google rating of around 4.6. The only problem was that it was not on the highway. The place was a bit of a detour from the GT Road. However, I calculated that the detour was not that much, around 13-14 minutes.
After reaching the restaurant, we saw it was tucked on the main road of Burdwan. There was a service lane available, and a guard was there to help us park the car.
We ordered one chicken thali, one veg thali, and one fish fry. The order took around half an hour to be served, but it was worth the wait. The food was extremely fresh and tasty, and we were happy with our decision. The bill came was around 800INR.
After dining, we saw some glimpses of Burdwan city and reached home by around 6:45 pm.
So, that is our journey record. Appreciate you all for reading. Thanks.
Overall Expenses:
- Diesel Expense: 1700 INR( Nexon Diesel AMT gives a good mileage of around 20km/l on highways)
- Resort Room Charges: 5800 INR
- Food Bill: 3200 INR
- Shopping: 4600 INR
Route we took
Kolkata –> Kanksa–> Sonajhuri Haat