Refreshingly Picturesque Diu

De-stress at the Serene Beaches of Diu

Utterly clean surroundings, well-tarred roads, spick and span roadsides as though they have received a dose of fresh paint…

The car takes a turn and the driver announces that we have arrived. Ma passes a remark from the back seat. Baba and I agree in unison that we had not seen this level of neatness in any city in recent times.

We were at the coastal town of Diu. Diu is one of the two districts of the Union Territory of Daman and Diu – the two erstwhile Portuguese naval bases that remain separated from each other by a distance of about 600 Km. Diu town overlooks Arabian Sea and sits at the eastern end of Diu Island, which remains connected to the state of Gujarat through a bridge.

I was on a trip across a few places of Gujarat along with my parents. Diu featured in our itinerary too. Diu’s proximity to Somnath made it the perfect destination to unwind after visiting the temple towns of Somnath and Dwarika.

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Pic 1: The clean beaches of Diu

The refreshingly picturesque Diu is perfect recipe for a great weekend getaway – lovely palm-fringed roads, Portuguese architecture, and amazingly clean beaches.

Back in Bangalore after my Gujarat and Diu trip, I was surprised to discover that people in my circle – colleagues and friends – had never considered visiting Diu. This was strange given Diu’s easy accessibility from Bangalore via Mumbai, especially when people of this city crave for weekend destinations and easy getaways. The craze is so much that extended weekends are easily recognizable by the remarkably less traffic on the roads.

In this post, I will concentrate on my experience of the beaches of Diu. For the rest of Diu’s attractions, I will follow up in another post. Diu has several beaches – I’ll write about two of them, the ones I visited.

[Read the other attractions of Diu here.]

Jallandhar Beach – Sunset Splendour

I chose to stay at a place that was right at the center of the town instead of staying at a resort close to the sea. My preference being guided by the fact that I was traveling with my aged parents. Staying close to civilization, I thought, was a wise thing to do. The hotel overlooked Diu Port, so we had a great view of Arabian Sea right from our room and that worked just perfect.

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Pic 2: View of Arabian Sea from our hotel room.
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Pic 3: The busy Diu Port seen from our hotel room.

Like most people in this world, sunrises and sunsets pep me up like no other, whether in the mountains or in the oceans/seas. With sunset in my mind, I set out for an evening stroll to Jallandhar Beach on the day we reached Diu. My parents preferred to remain in the hotel.

The beach being located in the heart of the town and walkable from my hotel, I mentally prepared for crowd, noise, and filth. To my surprise, this city beach was completely different – very few people, no vendors, no stalls, and a sparklingly clean coastline. Greeted by a wide promenade, occasionally interrupted by well-laid benches, I ambled as trees on the fringes whispered and swayed with the intoxicating sea breeze. The golden sand looked warm and inviting.

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Pic 4: Saw these pretty flowers on one side of Jallandhar Beach

A little ahead, the sandy beach culminated into a rocky hillock, atop which I noticed a few people and the spire of a temple. That’s where I wanted to be! Moving ahead in that direction, I climbed up the hill and located a quiet and isolated place. There I spend the evening watching the sun paint the sky, lovingly kiss the glistening waters, and eventually merge into the sea altogether.

An overwhelmingly magical evening it was! Little did I expect such an experience in a tiny little city beach!

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Pic 5: My quiet place at Jallandhar Beach
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Pic 6: Sunset at Jallandhar Beach
Jallandhar Beach –Sunrise Quietude

Next day, early in the morning while it was still dark, I set out to Jallandhar Beach once again. This time, it turned out to be even better – there wasn’t a single soul on the beach. I walked on the sand for a while and then settled down on a flat stone listening to the musical silence of the soft melody created by the gentle waves. Before I knew, dawn broke in sending shimmering golden rays over the placid Arabian Sea. The quietude was intoxicating making me wish that it would last forever.

I was in Diu for one full day and two half days. This enabled me to repeat the sunrise and sunset experiences one more time. I wasn’t disappointed and each time it was equally charming.

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Pic 7: As dawn breaks in, the sky is sprinkled in myriad hues
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Pic 8: The bluish tinge is soon replaced by reddish orange.
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Pic 9: And before I know the sun makes a grandiose appearance
Nagoa Beach – Leisureliness Walk

Usually people stay at Nagoa Beach and I would have done that too had it not been for my parents. However, after my sunrise and sunset experience at Jallandhar Beach, I have no regrets.

It was late afternoon when we reached Nagoa Beach after a drive of about 25-30 minutes from Diu town. The drive was appealing, taking us through the pretty countryside lined by palm groves. The perfectly tarred roads shone in the afternoon sun sometimes up and down, sometimes winding through narrow lanes. We passed through attractive colourful neighbourhoods and one or two churches.

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Pic 10: Nagoa Beach as I first saw it, my mobile camera isn’t capable of capturing the true colors of the water – an iridescent brilliant blue. 

Upon reaching Nagoa, we alighted from the car to a row of resorts on one side and the beach just across the street. Tall palm trees demarcate the beach from the road. The sprawling white sands of the horse-shoe shaped Nagoa Beach extended to a much larger distance making it way more luxuriant but it was way more crowded too. The crowd robbed off its charm to a certain extent. However, the first thing I noticed here was the colour of the waters of Arabian Sea – it was an iridescent brilliant blue.

We spent about an hour in Nagoa beach. I walked up and down the length of the beach sometimes through the white sand and sometimes splashing through the waves. This time my parents joined in too instead of just relaxing on the sand.

Other Beaches in Diu

Ghoghla Beach, Chakratirth Beach, and Gomtimata Beach are the other beaches of Diu. Ghogla beach provides opportunities for parasailing, surfing, and boating. We did pass by Ghoghla Beach but didn’t stop as these activities weren’t things we wanted to do. Chakratirath and Gomtimata are both walkable from Nagoa. Gomtimata is made of coral rocks and has puddles of water in between the rocks where one can find aquatic life such as crabs.

We decided to give both these a miss as I wanted to go back to Jallandhar Beach and experience my magical sunset all over again.

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Pic 11: Ghogla beach seen from a distance

Author: neelstoria

Traveling, Gardening, Trekking, Hiking, Storytelling, Writing, Nature, Outdoors, Yoga, DIY

42 thoughts on “Refreshingly Picturesque Diu”

    1. I am so surprised to hear this, I’d like to believe that you’ve touched most of the places in our country 😀
      But then you have easy access to beaches and the sea is like your backyard so maybe not so surprising!
      Thank you for visiting 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  7. Looks like these sunrise and sunset experiences turned your trip into a super-experience. So now when you can’t take a long Himalayan break, this will be your savior.On the other hand, I don’t know if a travel lover in you would want to repeat a destination.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Yes Arvind, Himalayas need to be planned well (though I haven’t done that always)…..I don’t mind repeating destinations but not sure I would repeat Diu. Not because I don’t want to but because there is so much more to see and so little time, so rather invest that time exploring a new place 😀
      Thank you for reading.

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      Reply

  11. You made a wise decision to come back to Jalandher beach and spend some ME time without straining in covering too many places in a short period of time. Sunset/sunrise pictures are stunning. You words helped me imagine myself walking on the perfect tarred roads with bright colored building on the roadside. Makes me now really think why didn’t I ever consider visiting this place? 🙄

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    1. The city beach was so different from other city beaches I have seen. You stay so close, easily you can plan a weekend 🙂 In fact you can hire two-wheelers like in Goa and go around on your own 🙂

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  12. Pingback: Picturesque Diu – Other Attractions – Reflections!

  13. Wow – this looks wonderful. I can’t tell you how many people have told me I need to go visit Gujarat. Ideally my next trip will be measured in months not weeks (it all depends on the ability to get a nice quantity of remote work, of course), so that I can not only visit lots of new places, I can also go back and visit all of my friends as well.

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    1. You just might find some work that needs you to stay in India for a few months….You never know 😀
      I loved Gujarat mostly for the people, I found everyone very honest. I wrote a post about a boy I met in Ahmadabad. There were so many others.
      Diu is however not in Gujarat but its a Union Territory.

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  15. Beautiful descriptions, especially this: There I spent the evening watching the sun paint the sky, lovingly kiss the glistening waters, and eventually merge into the sea altogether. Lovely pictures too, especially the sunrise from Jallandhar beach, and the last picture, of Ghogla beach. The blue is brilliant…..You also wrote about a bridge connecting Gujarat to the island of Diu. Is the bridge seen in the third picture that same bridge?

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