Things to do in Sagar
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Sagar
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months, with pleasant days, green forest early in the season and winter birds at Nauradehi and Cheola Lake.
Good shoulder months, with post monsoon green and full waterfalls in October and fast warming days in March.
Monsoon months for waterfalls and green countryside, but Nauradehi is closed and rural roads slow down.
Worst months for heat, with May the hardest, falls dwindling and sightseeing limited to dawn and after dark.
What's on
- Dhamoni Urs Annual, dates follow the Islamic calendar, confirm locally
A three day Urs at Balijat Shah tomb in Dhamoni with qawwals and a major fair drawing very large crowds.
- Makar Sankranti Fair at Aabchand Mid January, Makar Sankranti
An annual fair at the Aabchand rock shelter site, the one day the quiet caves become a festival destination.
- Bundeli Utsav Seven days from Basant Panchami, at Basari in Chhatarpur district
Bundelkhand folk arts festival with song, dance, food and archery, drawing participants from Sagar district.
- Holi March
Celebrated across Sagar with great zeal, with the city covered in colour.
- Ganesh Chaturthi August to September
An eagerly awaited occasion in Sagar in the late monsoon festival season.
- Diwali October to November
The festival of lights sees a grand celebration, with the whole town lit up.
Best things to do in Sagar
Lakha Banjara Lake
The large lake the city is named for, best walked at dawn or dusk past its ghats and lakeside temples.
Chakraghat
A ghat and temple cluster on the lake where daily worship and morning walkers show the city at human scale.
District Archaeological Museum, Sagar
A small district museum of sculpture and antiquities that gives the thread before visiting Eran and the forts.
Harisingh Gour Archaeological Museum
A university museum with a rare sculpture collection from Eran and other excavations, but verify it is open first.
Bhagyoday Tirth Temple
A calm Digambar Jain temple campus with a trust hospital and park, and a window into modern Sagar.
Garhpehra Fort
Ruined hill fort of Old Sagar with a Sheesh Mahal, wide views and a living Siddha Hanuman temple.
Eran
A Gupta site with a colossal stone Varaha boar and the 510 CE Bhanugupta inscription, worth a full day.
Dhamoni Fort
A secluded fort with a carved elephant gate, palace rooms and a living dargah tradition in north Sagar.
Where to stay in Sagar
Civil Lines
first trip, all round base
Calmest and most walkable base, with the densest choice of mid range hotels and family restaurants.
Makronia
drivers, weddings and pool hotels
Highway and cantonment side with the biggest newest hotels, pools, banquet lawns and ample parking.
Rajghat Road, Tili
quiet top end stay
A spacious, quiet road by the lake far side with the city most praised single hotel and little street life.
Kanera Dev Road
green, quiet family stay with a car
City edge convention grounds with green space and parking, pleasant if an event has not taken the property.
Think twice about
- Central bus stand, Katra Bazaar and Gallamandi station forecourt
Congested, noisy bazaar and transport lanes with very basic lodges and difficult parking. Eat and shop here in daylight, sleep in Civil Lines or Makronia.
- Highway resorts beyond Makronia without a car
Isolated wedding lawn properties with no walkable dinner or transport. Only base there with your own vehicle.
Best restaurants in Sagar
Restaurant, Royal Palace (Sagar)
The top hotel vegetarian restaurant in Sagar, the safest best dinner in town for service and comfort.
The Crown Palace Hotel
A large modern hotel vegetarian restaurant in Makronia with space, parking and food praised by guests.
Kaid Khana
A jail theme restaurant that gives a family or group dinner a novelty setting plus North Indian mains.
Deepali Restaurants
A long running pure veg family restaurant on Damoh Road, the Makronia local choice for thalis and mains.
Kuber Restaurant
Civil Lines best supported pure veg restaurant, a calm walkable dinner for anyone based in that area.
Alaska Pure Veg Restaurant
A vast, cheap, busy pure veg room by the university side where Sagar eats daily at the lowest prices.
Quality Restaurant
A deep volume family restaurant on Jhansi Road for a good cheap dinner in Makronia without a hotel.
Mukul Restaurant
A busy, well rated family restaurant in Katra Bazaar, the dinner pick for an old city evening walk.
Outdoor things to do in Sagar
Rahatgarh Waterfall
A roughly 50 foot fall on the Bina River, Sagar favourite monsoon picnic, best on a weekday morning.
Rahatgarh Fort
A sprawling ruined stronghold of ramparts and towers above the Bina River, combined with the falls in one day.
Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary
A vast wolf and grassland sanctuary with chinkara, nilgai and rich birdlife, best from November to February.
Aapchand Rock Shelter Caves
Prehistoric rock paintings of hunts and animals in forest shelters above the Gadheri River, with a forest walk in.
Sagar Boat Club - Lakha Banjara Lake
Boating on the city lake in the last hour before sunset, seeing the ghats and old city from the water.
Army Hawk Golf Course
A par 72 cantonment course from 1984, playable only through military membership or an introduced guest.
Best hotels in Sagar
Hotel Royal Palace
Top of the Sagar market on quiet Rajghat Road, with a praised vegetarian restaurant and spacious rooms.
The Crown Palace Hotel
A very large modern Makronia hotel with a pool and banquet lawns, built for weddings and highway stays.
Hotel Paradise
An established Makronia hotel with a pool and the deepest local rating pool, a reliable through traveller stop.
Hotel Vardaan
A well located Civil Lines hotel near Chandra Park, walkable to the best cluster of family restaurants.
The Heritage Conventions
A lush green convention stay on the city edge with a pool, pet friendly grounds and ample parking.
Sukoon Eat & Stay
A budget Makronia stay on Station Road reported clean by a large local rating pool, for one functional night.
Is Sagar expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | ₹1,800 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | ₹3,500 a person |
| Splurge | ₹7,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Harisingh Gour Archaeological Museum: a few days ahead
- Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary: weeks ahead
- Army Hawk Golf Course: weeks ahead
- Hotel Royal Palace: a few days ahead
- The Crown Palace Hotel: a few days ahead
- The Heritage Conventions: a few days ahead
- Book hotels early in wedding season and telephone to confirm the room survives a wedding block.
- Confirm Nauradehi season, gate, rest house and guide through the Forest Department before driving out.
- Verify the university museum on a working day and book long distance trains days to weeks ahead.
- Book a driver the day before for Eran, Dhamoni and Khimlasa and start early in summer.
Is Sagar safe?
- Use a rested driver, avoid night driving on rural fort and sanctuary roads, and beware fast highway traffic near Makronia.
- Treat heat as the main risk from April to June and carry water for every fort and site visit.
- Keep out of the water at Rahatgarh after heavy rain and supervise children on unrailed fort ruins.
- Obey photography and entry restrictions in the cantonment, and use 112 in an emergency.
Sagar travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Do not try the lake, Garhpehra, Rahatgarh, Eran and Nauradehi in one packaged day, the geography forbids it.
- Weight local review-site volume over a perfect score from a handful of traveller reviews in this city.
- Avoid the lake at midday in summer and Rahatgarh Falls in high summer, when the fall dwindles.
- Do not let a driver substitute a highway dhaba for the actual Rahatgarh Falls or a named pick.
Getting around Sagar: public transport and more
- Use auto rickshaws inside the city and agree the fare before you start.
- Book a local taxi through your hotel for Eran, Rahatgarh, Nauradehi and Dhamoni, and have the driver wait.
- Saugor station SGO is the usual arrival, while Bhopal and Jabalpur airports are each about 170 km away.
- Keep one direction per day, as the main sights lie 10 to 70 km apart in different directions.
Who Sagar suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Sagar your trip
Swearby drafts the days from places people swear by. Swap any stop, then invite the crew by text, even friends without the app. Vote on dates, track costs as you go, and everyone gets one number at the end.
Get Swearby on the App Store