Rath Yatra (Car festival - June/July) : It commemorates Krishna's journey from Gokul to Mathura. Jagannath, brother Balbhadra and sister Subhadra are dragged along Grand Rd in three 'rathas', to Gundicha mandir. The main car of Jagannath is 14 m high, runs on 16 wheels, each of 2 m in diameter. Four thousand professional temple employees haul the cars, which take enormous effort.

The gods take a week long 'summer break' in the Gundicha mandir before being hauled back to Jagannath mandir. After the festival, the cars are broken up and used for firewood in the temple's communal kitchens or for funeral pyre fuel.

Puri has a long sandy beach with a long ribbon of old hotels. One can see sand sculptures by local artists at the beach. Beach festival (Nov) is the best time to view Orissan artforms, odissi dance and sand sculptures. Puri is 60 km from Bhuvaneshwar (2 hour by bus), while Konark is 30 km from Puri.