Puri is no palm-fringed paradise – the beach is wide, shelves quickly with a nasty shore break and is shadeless – but the newly crowned Model Beach, part of a sustainable, community-run beach tourism initiative, offers a 700m stretch of sand that’s easily Puri’s finest and cleanest. Palm umbrellas provide shade and cabana boys/lifeguards, known as Sea Riders, hawk fixed-price beach chairs (₹20) and massages (₹50 to ₹200) and are responsible for keeping the beach clean.
