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Aurangabad

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Aurangabad is an important city in the state of Maharashtra, India. It sees a lot of international tourist traffic due to world heritage sites, Ajanta & Ellora caves.

[edit] Get in

Aurangabad is well connected by Air, Rail and Road to other parts of country. There are direct flights from Mumbai operated by Indian Airlines, Jet Airways and Air Deccan. It is located on Manmad - Nanded section of South Central Railway. Important trains to the city are Tapovan express, Devgiri express from Mumbai, the Amritsar-Nanded Sachkhand Express, which connects Aurangabad to Delhi, and Manmad express from Hyderabad.

[edit] Get around

It has all forms of transport right from auto-rickshaws to chauffer-drive taxis. Auto-rickshaws generally run according to meter but its always better to ask first. They have a chart which tells the exact fare. The actual fare is 10 times what is shown in the meter.

[edit] See

  • The Ajanta and Ellora Caves - despite the name, Ajanta and Ellora are not a series of caves, but temples built out cavities carved by Buddhist monks in 200 B.C.. They had fallen into a state of disrepair, but were restored after being discovered in 1819 by the British military. Altogether, there are 30 caves. The works of art displayed in these caves are some of the best examples of Buddhist iconology in India. The caves are open from 9AM to 5:30PM Tues-Sun (closed on national holidays)
  • Lonar - This is site of a meteor which crashed on earth some 50,000 years ago and formed a large crater (few hundred meters in diameter) in the ground.
  • Paithan - Paithan is famous for its hand-woven sarees, a masonary dam over serene Godavari river and a huge garden on the lines of Brindavan garden in Mysore.
  • Daulatabad is a fort over a hill and views from the top are breathtaking. Give ample time to climb up and coming down so that you could appreciate the views o/w fort is in ruins. You could also hire a guide who would take you around the important corners of the fort.
  • Siddharth Garden is a beautiful landscaped garden, with good variety of trees and shrubs. There is a small aquarium inside the garden, however the biggest attraction is the Siddharth Garden Zoo, with a large variety of animals, viz. Lions, Tigers (White & Bengal), Leopards, Crocodiles, Snakes (Snake-house), Civet cats, Hyena, Fox, Porcupine, Emu, Deers and a beautiful lawn to sit and have a great picnic.
  • Bibi ka Maqbara was built by Aurangzeb's son and is an imitation of Taj Mahal, worth a visit.
  • Panchakki is a simple funda of pouring water over blades of a fan like arrangement which has a grinder(chakki) on top used to grind wheat in olden days. There are small tanks with water and lotsss of fish whom you could feed but not feed them to yourself :-) This too is worth a visit but won't take much time.
  • Ghrishneshwar temple is seat of one of the jyotirlings of lord Shiva, few kms away from Ellora caves. No need to stess on its importance.

[edit] Do

Enjoy rain dance and good riedes in the water park near Daulatabad.

[edit] Buy

  • Clothes made out of Himroo silk.
  • Paithani sarees.
  • You could visit local bazaars Gul Mandi,Cannought and Nirala Bazaar for some essentials.

[edit] Eat

There are a few decent restaurants in the city and your hotel mostly likely will have one.

Some Good Restaurants include Indian Fast Food Centers Such as Uttam Bhandar, Gayetri Chat Center in Gulmandi, Milan Mithai & Chappan Bhog outlets. There are lots of restaurants offering both Veg and Non Fooda Such as Indrali, Prathmesh, Mewad Restaurants, Sagar Hotel & Jazeera hotel in buddi lane, Priya Hotel in city chowk and Lots of Dhaba Restaurants Like Fauji,Ambience and Tinu's.

[edit] Drink

[edit] Sleep

There are many hotels to suit all kinds of budget right from some of the least expensive hotels on the station road to the luxurious star hotels like Taj, Rama International, President Park, Ajanta Ambassador, Vedant. MTDC also has a tourist resort on the station road.

[edit] Get out

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