Madhya Pradesh Trip Details

Travelling in Eastern Madhya Pradesh

Gwalior traffic is like any other Indian city. You can goto all city sites via auto-rickshaw. They rarely go by the meter. Inter-city roads are all one-lane and can easily get choked with traffic. Jabalpur is far easier city to negotiate

Hotel Review

Jaypee Greens and Spa Resort, Greater Noida: Excellent high end hotel. But the food was quite average (we ate at the in-house Patra restaurant). The service was poor as well. It took me a long time to get the front desk staff to talk to me. They did not help a whole lot with car bookings. We also found the place to be quite expensive. Rooms and bathrooms were spotlessly clean, big, modern and comfortable.
Deo Bagh, Gwalior: This is a new Neemrana property and is a heritage hotel. There are enough things to see inside the hotel. The two rooms next to the restaurants are the real old ones and rest are newly built. The service was excellent. Food, even better. It was as good as home cooked food. The only downside is that the place is a bit far off from the city attractions. Also, transportation is not easy to find outside the hotel. Rooms lack TV.
Sheesh Mahal, Orchcha: You cannot find a hotel with a better location. It is right in the middle of the Royal enclave You have the best view in town of the Jehangir Mahal, Chaturbhuj Temple and the Raj Mahal. Maharaja suite is stunning. You have two verandas, a swing and what not. You can just stick your head out of the window and enjoy the evening Sound and Light show. The only downside is the food. It is just about palatable. The service is also quiet good, considering the fact that this is a govt run place.
Taj Chandela, Khajuraho: High end hotel. So things are spotlessly clean. The suite is big and bathrooms are modern and very clean. It is the closest high end hotel to the Western Group. It is easy to find autos right in front of the hotel. The service is very good and so is the food and room service. My only complaint is that the hotel restaurants have very limited seating space. When bus loads of tourists arrive, things get very tight.
Ken River Lodge, Panna National Park: Located reasonably close to the park entrance. They run a good safari service. Their food is finger-licking good. The views from the hotel restaurant are stunning. The only complaint is that the rooms are on the basic side. Things get very cold at night. I was told that they are planning to upgrade some of the huts to luxury category.
Nature Heritage Resort, Bandhavgarh: Excellent resort with very comfortable rooms. The service is excellent as well. They gave us room heaters. The whole place is very well done and there is plenty of place to sit and laze around. They also run a very good safari service. Their drivers are very experienced and expert trackers. We saw tigers on all our four safaris. The food was a bit up and down. There were days in which it was excellent and days in which it was ordinary. They don't accept cards and they don't have any on-line bookings. But they do take bookings via e-mail.
Narmada Jacksons, Jabalpur: Good high end hotel with excellent service and good food. The rooms and bathrooms are clean, big and comfortable. They helped us a lot with car bookings. If you want to visit Bedaghat, they are probably the furthest hotel from it.
Baghira Log Huts, Kanha: This is the only accommodation inside the park. You get to see wildlife right outside your room. That's about it for the good bit. The service is very poor. In every other resort, they served us food when we wanted it. Here, dinner is officially at 8:30 pm and don't get served until 9:00 pm. The biggest disaster is with the safaris. The safari starts at 6:00 am (say), which means you get picked up at 6:10 am and you are first driven outside the park for an ID check and your safari only starts at 6:20 am or 6:30 am. You are always the last jeep in and first jeep out. You miss out on all the action in the park
Tiger N' Woods, Pench: The rooms are machan style wood houses on stilts. Things can get cold at night. But other than that, they are comfortable. The bathrooms are clean as well. They run a good safari service. The food is pretty good as well.
Sun N' Sands, Nagpur: A high end hotel close to the airport. They have free pick up and drop off service. They have everything you expect a hotel of this quality: clean rooms, bathrooms, good food, good service etc. No complaints.

Driving Distances

Greater Noida to Gwalior: ~185 km on Yamuna Expressway to Agra. It takes two hrs. It is a world class expressway. There is no bypass for Agra. The 10 odd km to cross Agra takes about 1.5 hrs to 2 hrs. It is 120 km (2 hrs) from Agra to Gwalior. That highway is quite good as well.
Gwalior to Orchcha: The direct rout via Datia is so bad that everyone goes through Shivpuri. It is 125 km (one-lane) highway to Shivpuri. That takes close to 2 hrs. The road is good except that it is laden with lorry traffic and the going is slow. The 100 km from Shivpuri to Jhansi is a breeze thanks to a great four lane highway. That should take you an hour to hour and a half. It is very scenic as well as it cuts across Madhav National Park. The 20 km from Jhansi to Orchcha will take you 30 mins or so.
Orchcha to Khajuraho: 180km. The road is bad in patches. You have about 50km of bad road to negotiate. But it comes in patches of 10km. It will take about 3.5 to 4 hrs to get to Khajuraho.
Khajuraho to Panna National Park: 45 mins on a one lane highway. Note that Panna village is further 30 mins away.
Panna National Park to Bandhavgarh: It is about 260 km and will take you 6.5 hrs. The last 10 km is the killer. That will take you close to an hour! Rest of the route is quiet good, although all of it is two-lane highway.
Bandhavgarh to Jabalpur: 200 km. The first 10 km out is atrocious. The rest is a smooth one lane highway. The scenery is quite spectacular. That means the road is a bit winding. It will take you about 4.5 hrs in total.
Jabalpur to Kanha: 170 km. There are parts of bad road. But it is mostly ok and one-lane highway. It will take you 3.5 to 4 hrs.
Kanha to Pench: 200 km of mostly good road. Parts of the it is very scenic. It will take about 4.5 hrs.
Pench to Nagpur: 100 km. It will take you 3.5 hrs. The national highway till Mansher is horrendous. After that it is a great 4 lane highway.

Time Required at the Sights

Gwalior fort: It is a stiff walk up the western gate. Although cars go all the way up, there are things to see en-route (giant Jain sculptures). You need a guide for the Man Mandir Palace. Don't miss sas-bahu temple and view of Gujari mahal from the top. Gujari mahal (down at the bottom of eastern side) is an ASI museum. Please ask the caretaker to show you "Salabanjika" (their prized possession). It will take you 4 to 6 hours to cover everything.
Jai Vilas Palace, Gwalior: Guide recommended. He can show you the highlights in an hour.
Tomb of Mohammed Gaus: 30 min should be more than sufficient.
Jehangir Mahal, Orchcha: 30mins to an hour.
Raj Mahal, Orchcha: 1 hour (there are lots of murals to take in).
Chaturbhuj temple: Please ask for a trip to the top. The view is quite good. 20 mins should be sufficient.
Khajuraho: Western group can be covered in about 2 hrs. An auto-rickshaw can shoe you the eastern and southern group in another 2 hrs. Don't miss Chaturbhuj, Duladeo and Parsvaath temples.
Marble rocks, Jabalpur: It is an hour boat ride plus a 30 mins at the falls. Try to get a private boat tour. The shared one is too noisy. There is a VIP entrance (Rs. 100) for the falls. That cuts down all of the walking.

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