Things to do in Khajuraho
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Khajuraho
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Post monsoon green, Panna reopened and pleasant temperatures. One of the two best windows.
Best temple weather by day with cold nights and dawns. Christmas and New Year are crowded and expensive.
Warming days and still cool nights, with the Dance Festival and Mahashivratri. The best timed month.
Hot by midday but manageable with dawn starts, crowds gone and rates softening.
Extreme heat past 40 degrees. Come only for peak tiger sighting odds at Panna waterholes.
Monsoon. Panna core closes, Raneh can flood and roads to the forts deteriorate. Mostly avoid.
What's on
- Khajuraho Dance Festival Usually the third week of February
Classical dance outdoors in the evening against the floodlit Western Group.
- Mahashivratri February or March, lunar date
Matangeshvara Temple becomes the centre of a major local festival and fair.
- Holi March, lunar date
Vigorous and public in Bundelkhand. Join dressed to be coloured or watch from your hotel.
Best things to do in Khajuraho
Western Group of Temples
The main temple enclosure with Kandariya, Lakshmana and Vishvanatha, best seen slowly at opening time.
Kandariya Mahadeva Temple
The largest and tallest Khajuraho temple, covered with sculpture inside and out and best read with a guide.
Lakshmana Temple
An early Vishnu temple whose plinth friezes of processions and daily life make the temple form easiest to grasp.
Eastern Group of Temples
A quieter Jain temple group with finer, more intimate carving and an active pilgrimage atmosphere.
Duladeo Temple
A late Chandela Shiva temple with energetic apsara carving, best paired with Chaturbhuj at golden hour.
Chaturbhuj Temple
A Vishnu temple with a plain exterior and a large serene image inside, notable for lacking erotic carving.
Adivart Tribal Museum
A tribal and folk art museum with recreated houses and crafts that give the temples their living context.
Archaeological Museum Khajuraho
Labelled Chandela sculpture at eye level that teaches the iconography before you face the temple walls.
Where to stay in Khajuraho
Sevagram / Western Group approach
first trip, all-round base
Walk to the Western Group at opening and to dinner, with the best mix at every tier.
Jain Temple Road / old-town edge
budget and the Eastern Group
Backpacker and small hotel street near the Eastern temples, livelier and more local in feel.
Airport Road resort strip
resort comfort and families
Quiet garden hotels with pools, but you depend on cars or autos for temples and dinner.
Old Khajuraho village homestays
slow, rural second stay
Family homestays with home food and village life, best for a third night rather than the first.
Think twice about
- Khajuraho railway station and Bamitha station road
Several kilometres from the temple town with no walkable cluster. Arrive and depart there, do not sleep there.
- Rooms directly over the main-square shop strip
Persistent touting and commission shop pressure with early and late noise. Stay two lanes back in Sevagram.
- Isolated Panna-road and highway properties
They price above Khajuraho hotels and strand you between the temples and the park with nothing to walk to.
Best restaurants in Khajuraho
Badri Seth Marwari Bhoj
The leading local vegetarian thali spot opposite the Western Group, with a sweets counter in the foyer.
Panna Restaurant
The town best hotel kitchen at the Lalit, for a polished North Indian and continental occasion dinner.
Guru Kripa Restaurant
A family run favourite for fresh vegetarian cooking and a special thali at very low prices.
Raja Cafe
A leafy terrace cafe facing the temples, best for breakfast, coffee, shakes and the view.
Mediterraneo
House made pasta and wood fired pizza, the stronger Italian option when thali fatigue sets in.
La Bella Italia
The cheaper Jain Temple Road Italian, with pasta and pizza close to the budget hotels.
Pinch of Salt
A multi cuisine step up away from the temple square crush, sensible for groups and families.
Levant Restaurant
Levantine leaning hotel dining at Hotel Chandela, a point of difference in a thali town.
Outdoor things to do in Khajuraho
Panna National Park
A dawn jeep safari in a restored tiger reserve of teak forest, plateaus and the Ken river gorge.
Ken River Boat Safari
A short boat ride on the Ken for basking crocodiles, river birds and gorge walls at eye level.
Panna Night Safari
A buffer zone night drive for civets, owls, hyena and jungle cat, with leopard on luck.
Raneh Falls
A granite canyon in pink, red and green bands cut by the Ken, with seasonal falls and pools.
Ken Gharial Sanctuary
A quiet sanctuary protecting gharial and mugger crocodiles on a stretch of the Ken river.
Pandav Falls
A waterfall dropping into a deep green pool below caves linked in legend to the Pandavas.
Orchha
A Bundela capital of palaces, a living Ram temple and royal cenotaphs on the Betwa at sunset.
Ajaygarh Fort
A Chandela hill fort reached by steep steps, with stone walls, rock cut tanks and Ken valley views.
Best hotels in Khajuraho
The Lalit Temple View Khajuraho
The closest true luxury hotel to the Western Group gates, with gardens, pool, spa and temple view rooms.
Radisson Jass Hotel Khajuraho
A reliable international five star on the airport side with a large pool, gardens and spa.
SYNA Heritage Hotel
A boutique heritage hotel in Chandela inspired architecture, walkable to the Western Group with a bar.
Ramada by Wyndham Khajuraho
A value resort style hotel with spacious rooms, a well reviewed breakfast and an inviting pool.
Hotel Chandela
A long running heritage mid range hotel with gardens and a pool on the airport side of town.
Hotel Isabel Palace
A small marble budget house with large bright rooms, balconies, a garden and a roof terrace.
Hotel Harmony
A clean, well furnished budget workhorse on Jain Temple Road, a short walk toward the temples.
Hotel Surya
A simple Jain Temple Road budget hotel a few minutes walk from the temples, with breakfast included.
Is Khajuraho expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | ₹4,000 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | ₹8,000 a person |
| Splurge | ₹18,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Western Group of Temples: a few days ahead
- Kandariya Mahadeva Temple: a few days ahead
- Lakshmana Temple: a few days ahead
- Khajuraho Dance Festival: months ahead
- Panna National Park: months ahead
- Ken River Boat Safari: weeks ahead
- Panna Night Safari: weeks ahead
- Orchha: a few days ahead
- Book Panna core safari permits online as soon as dates are fixed.
- Book hotels early for Dance Festival week in February.
- Book ASI temple tickets online and carry matching ID.
- Book trains on IRCTC as soon as the window opens in season.
Is Khajuraho safe?
- Heat is the main hazard from April to June, so sightsee at dawn and dusk and carry water.
- Stick to the lit Sevagram and Jain Temple Road core on foot after dark and take an auto on unlit rural roads.
- Never feed monkeys and keep food zipped away.
- Use sealed bottled or hotel filtered water and busy thali places for fresh food.
Khajuraho travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Decline free rides, free workshop looks and over friendly strangers who steer you to commission shops.
- Use licensed guides only and agree price, duration and groups covered before starting.
- Bargain for souvenirs from fixed price emporium and museum shop prices as anchors.
Getting around Khajuraho: public transport and more
- Walk the Western to Eastern axis, about a kilometre and flat.
- Rent or borrow a bicycle for Eastern and Southern loops in daylight.
- Agree auto fares in full before riding, or fix a day rate through your hotel.
- Hire a car and driver by the day for Panna, Raneh, the forts and Orchha.
Who Khajuraho suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Khajuraho your trip
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