Orchha 2 Day Itinerary

Many people don’t have the luxury to take long leaves from their business or office. They regularly use weekend or long weekend trips to quench their travel needs. If you are one of them, then Orchha is an ideal destination for you. The medieval town of Orchha is located in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Orchha being just 450 kilometres away from Delhi is a perfect weekend getaway destination.

ALSO READ: ORCHHA TRAVEL GUIDE

You can explore Orchha on Saturday, go to Jhansi(15 kilometres away) on Sunday and explore the Jhansi for half a day and then leave for your home in the evening. That is how I did it.

Here is my Orchha 2 day itinerary. This may help you in planning your Orchha trip.

Table of Contents
1 Trains
2 Hotel
3 Day – 1
3.1 Sleepless in train
3.2 Disappointing breakfast
3.3 Group of Cenotaphs
3.4 Betwa River
3.5 Orchha Fort
3.6 Chaturbhuj Temple
3.7 Struggle for Lunch
3.8 Laxminarayan Temple
3.9 Dozed off till night
3.10 First satisfying meal in Orchha
3.11 Ram Raja Temple
4 Day – 2
4.1 Jhansi Fort
4.2 Breakfast Snacks – The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
4.3 Govt museum
4.4 St. Jude’s Shrine

Trains

Delhi to Jhansi – SGNR NED Express (12486, 2AC). It departs from Delhi at 11:45 PM and reaches Jhansi at 5:45 AM.

Jhansi to Delhi – Gatimaan Express (12049, Chair Class). It departs from Jhansi at 3:05 PM and reaches Delhi at 7:30 PM.

Hotel

I stayed at Hotel Sunset which is a non-frill budget hotel for the price of Rs 300 for a night. My rooms was a basic one with no AC and TV. The owner and staff were very helpful and always talked with a smile. I had a wonderful stay at Hotel Sunset.

ALSO READ: MY EXPERIENCE AT HOTEL SUNSET

Day – 1

Sleepless in train

I had boarded the train on time and had planned to sleep all through my journey. I had chosen the 2AC ticket for better comfort and experience. But it was not meant to be. Both my co-passenger were snoring loud. And the people were constantly disturbing the curtain all night. I could not get a single minute of sleep.

The train reached Jhansi almost an hour late. I took a shared cab and reached Orchha at around 8:30 AM.

Disappointing breakfast

As I was awake without eating anything for close to 12 hours, I was starving. I took a seat at Ram Raja Restaurant which was near the Ram Raja Temple. I took a look at the menu and I was shocked to see the prices. For a place as small and shabby as any other small dhabas in the country, the prices were equivalent to those of mid-sized restaurant of Delhi. The menu was tailor-made for foreigners and had dishes like scrambled eggs and porridge. I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich and it was pathetic.

I had read many reviews online which had stated that food was terrible in Orchha and they were not wrong.

Orchha has the distinction of one of those places in India which receive more foreign than domestic tourists. Many small restaurants or rather I should say, Dhabas with English breakfast and high prices have opened all over Orchha to milk the cash cow. They prepare dishes for the foreigners which fail miserably in taste for Indians.

If you are Indian and reaching Orchha early morning, I would suggest you have breakfast at Jhansi railway station. There is Comesum restaurant which serves good quality Indian food.

Somehow I ate the sandwich and then moved to a small Indian dhaba nearby and had Aloo paranthas and curd. Though the taste was average, it was at least digestible.

Group of Cenotaphs

After breakfast, I started walking towards the Group of Cenotaphs or Chhatris. I was not getting any internet signal and I had to ask locals for the direction. It was strange that in a small town like Orchha, many people did not know about the Chhatris. Finally, a policeman gave me the direction and I reached at Cenotaphs. The Bundela kings and their families are buried in the 15 cenotaphs. The architecture was beautiful. Cenotaphs with close proximity to the Betwa river provides a picturesque setting.

Betwa River

Afterwards, I sat on a boulder near the overwater bridge and did nothing but listened to the placid sound of the river’s current for almost half an hour. I saw many locals taking a bath in this serene river. Kayaking and River Rafting are also operated there. I skipped those since I was not sure about the safety measures by the operators.

Orchha Fort

I checked into my hotel, Hotel Sunset, and rested for close to an hour and then proceeded to visit Orchha Fort. The Orchha Fort was my primary reason for visiting Orchha. Orchha Fort has multiple palaces like Jahangir Mahal, Raja Mahal, and Rai Parveen Mahal but the Jahangir Mahal is the most well-maintained and enthralling. Jahangir Mahal was built in the Mughal style architecture in the honour of the Mughal emperor Jahangir. I loved everything about the palace, be its symmetrical style structure or beautiful arches or rustic old building. It’s a no-brainer that Jahangir Palace is the most beautiful and worth visiting attraction of Orchha.

I also visited other palaces and monuments of the fort complex but except the murals on the interior walls of the Raja Mahal, there is nothing much to praise about. The murals of Hindu Gods were captivating and were a saving grace to an otherwise abandoned building.

ALSO READ: ORCHHA FORT – A HIDDEN GEM

Chaturbhuj Temple

Chaturbhuj Temple is located close to Ram Raja Temple. It is dedicated to Radha Krishna. The temple is unique due to its pine cone shaped tall spires. As entered the temple through its huge door, I saw the idol of Radha Krishna in front of me. A couple of people approached me and asked me if I wanted to go up. I nodded and they opened the door which opened to stairs. A person went along with me to show me around. The stairs were steep and narrow and I climbed up and stepped down very carefully. If you are not careful, you can get a serious injury. The views from the top of the temple were amazing. After spending some time at the top, I descended down and paid the guide Rs 50 for his effort.

Struggle for Lunch

It was around 3 PM and I had started to get hungry and my hunt for a good meal began. I looked around near Ram Raja Temple hoping to find a decent restaurant but could not find any. Then, I thought of filling my stomach with some snacks. I ate a Chole Samosa and Maggi noodles. Chole Samosa was pretty good and delicious but the noodles were bad. The noodles were too salty and I couldn’t believe that someone could even mess up the Maggi noodles.

Laxminarayan Temple

Laxminarayan Temple is around a kilometre away from Ram Raja Temple. As the name suggests, it is dedicated to Laxmi Narayan. The guard outside the temple asked me for the Orchha Fort ticket. The Orchha Fort ticket includes the entry to Laxminaryan temple. The temple was embellished with the magnificent paintings on the walls and ceilings of the halls. The episodes of Ramayana, and of Lord Krishna were depicted in paintings. I took stairs to go up to the top of the temple. The views from there were amazing. I was the only one at the temple amidst the tranquil atmosphere.

Dozed off till night

It was around 5 PM and I had visited all the attractions of Orchha barring Ram Raja Temple. The Ram Raja temple was closed at that time and was to be opened at 8 in the night. I was tired after going up and down multiple times and the sleepless previous night had started to show its effect. I went to my hotel, set the alarm of 8 PM and slept in no time.

First satisfying meal in Orchha

I woke up at 8 and this time I wanted to have a full meal. I asked the hotel owner to suggest me the restaurant which serves authentic Indian food. He suggested me to go to Rimjhim dhaba. When I asked him for the directions, he offered me to drop there to which I obliged. The Rimjhim dhaba was dhaba in every way with cheap dirt price, plastic chairs, and dull ambience. At least it didn’t pretend to be a mid-budget restaurant by making cosmetic changes to the establishment and shooting up the prices, like many of the dhabas in Orchha have done. I would give them full marks for it. I ordered Mutter Panner and Tawa Rotis and had my first fulfilling meal.

Ram Raja Temple

The Ram Raja Temple is dedicated to Lord Rama and is the only temple in the country where Rama is worshipped as the king and not god. Apart from this fact, it is not much different from the millions of other temples of the country. I was asked to leave my belt outside the temple since leather things are not allowed. Photography is also not allowed inside the temple but you can take the mobile with you. I spent 10-15 minutes inside the temple and then went back to the hotel.

Day – 2

I checked out of the hotel at 9 AM and left for Jhansi.

Jhansi Fort

From the Jhansi railway station bus stop, I took another auto to Jhansi Fort. I had to deposit my bag outside since it had eatery items. I was allowed to take a water bottle. The fort is not as beautiful as Gwalior Fort or Amer Fort. The important points and structures are marked but no detailed descriptions are provided. It took me a little over two hours to explore the fort. I specifically liked the Jhansi fort for the magnificent views of the Jhansi city.

ALSO READ: JHANSI FORT – TESTIMONY TO THE VALOUR OF RANI LAXMIBAI

Breakfast Snacks – The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

I had left the Orchha without taking breakfast due to the poor quality of food, hoping to eat near the Jhansi Fort. But there were no restaurants near the fort, just some stalls selling snacks and fruits. I first ate patty and Soda Shikanji which were decent in taste. Then, I tried Gol Guppas which were pretty bad. As I walked towards the Govt. Museum, I saw a stall selling omelette. I tried one and it was awful, worse than the grilled sandwich I ate in Orchha. That summed up my food experience in Orchha.

Govt museum

The Govt. museum is hardly a kilometre away from the Jhansi. A dinosaur statue welcomed me to the museum. The museum has various sections exhibiting the collection of archaeological artefacts of Gupta periods, Jain statues, weapons, oil paintings, and portraits. A section is dedicated to Rani Laxmibai and her heroics. I liked the museum but I had already seen archaeological artefacts, Jain statues, and weapons before in many different museums. So naturally, I was not very enthusiastic about it. The Rani Lakshmibai section was interesting as well as informative.

St. Jude’s Shrine

As I still had some time left before my train to Delhi, I spent some time at St. Jude’s Shrine. Since it was afternoon, the church was empty. Apart from me, there was only a single person who was praying to Jesus. As is generally the case with the religious places, the atmosphere was placid. I spent 15 minutes there and then took an auto to the railway station.

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I would not say I had an amazing trip. I couldn’t sleep whole night on the train, struggled with a good meal, and was disappointed that some of the attractions were not maintained properly. But I had some amazing moments as well. I loved each and every moment I spent at Jahangir Mahal admiring its beautiful architecture. I also enjoyed the tranquillity of the Betwa river and the wonderful murals and views at Laxminarayan temple. On the whole, I would say I had a satisfactory trip.