Tajpur is the next village east, about 3 km along the beach (or a 10-minute drive by road). The beach here is even quieter than Shankarpur, with almost no permanent settlement behind it and the casuarina belt running right down to the high-water mark. The big draw is the lal kakra — thousands of small red crabs that emerge at low tide and scuttle across the sand, leaving little pellets behind them.
There are a handful of low-key eco-resorts and a Sunday cottage industry of weekenders from Kolkata; weekdays are usually empty. Walk the beach from Shankarpur in the morning, eat lunch at a Tajpur shack, get a shared auto back. The road link to Digha is improving but the beach walk remains the better option.