Jhansi

See

thumb|right|260px|Fort of Jhansi

Do

There are a number of festivals/exhibitions worth watching, while in Jhansi. If you travel during festivities, you can witness the local culture with its customs and rituals more closely. Jhansi Mahaotsav :Organised by state government's tourism department, this is a week long event(February end-March beginning) including dance and music performances showcasing Bundelkhand's rich cultural heritage (like suata, rai dance, and alha songs), various competitions, a handicraft fair, and a food festival. The main events are held in open air auditorium, near state archeological museum, in the evening sessions. In the background of the auditorium, the fort stands with all its splendor, bathed in yellow light, producing a spectacular view in the night.

The competitions highlighting local culture (mehandi competition, rangoli competition, recipe competition etc.) are organised in state archeological museum premises, while the handicraft fair and some other competitions have found the place in Rani Lakshmibai park, across the open air auditorium. The entry is free for all the events.

State vegetables and flowers exhibition :This is a three day exhibition, organised by the state government in the state gardens of narayan bagh in the month of February. It features exhibits in various categories of vegetables, fruits, flowers and competitions in above mentioned categories as well as in home garden category. Farmers wait for this event eagerly to exhibit their produce. During the event, t…

Buy

The main shopping markets in Jhansi are:

Manik Chowk in main city area. One can look from jewellery to pots to electronics appliances here. Nagra - This is the place where you can look for branded clothes, foot-wears and furniture. Nagra is known for its economic development and one can find very cheap restaurants , hotels, bars and spa easily here. Sadar Bazaar - It is the cleanest part of the city with almost all brand's products available here. If you have your pocket tights, it's your destination. Sipri Bazaar - In this market you can buy variety of cloths. In Nehru market you can find many bookstores including Prakash Book Depo, Collage Book Depo and Gupta Book Depo. Chelaram's sweets and samosas are also very famous. You can go to RasBahar restaurant to have some mangoshake or pineapple juice.

Eat

Nearly all mid-range hotels here have restaurants that offer good Indian and continental food. Apart from these, throughout the city, you can find good eating places to suit every pocket. There are some roadside dhabas on the outskirts of the city too, with a rustic charm.

Drink

With opening up of liquor policy, more and more beer and wine shops can be seen in every corner of the city. But good, air conditioned places to consume alcohol, are limited. The city has no pub but the bars in mid-range hotels are very well stocked.

Bar at Ashok Hotel, Elite-Sipri road. An inexpensive place for your dose of booze. A place with old interiors. Bar at Dreamland Hotel, Station road. An ordinary bar. Bar at Hotel Highway, Sipri Bazaar. An inexpensive bar in Sipri Bazaar area. Bar at Hotel Rahi Veerangana, Elite-Sipri road. Serves Beer with some basic snacks. It is run by the government, so there is no accountability and responsibility. If you want to sit alone, then it is a good choice, as the bar has a scarcity of customers. Bar at Hotel Sita, Elite-Sipri road. A well stocked, air conditioned bar. Bar at Jhansi Hotel, Sadar Bazaar. Reminding old days of British rule, this bar has a garden section too. Bar at Prakash Regency Hotel, Near Nandini Theatre. Air conditioned bar. Bundela Bar, Manik Chowk, City. A popular bar in the shopping district of old city. All the lanes are very narrow and crowded, leading to this place.

Connect

Telephone: The area code for telephonic communication is 510. If you have a mobile phone, then, to dial any local landline number from your mobile, you have to dial 0510, then the desired number. If you want to dial a local (U.P. East/West) mobile number from your cell phone, then dial the ten-digit mobile number.

There are plenty of public phone booths everywhere. Some local phones at public places are coin operated. You can extend the talk by putting one-rupee coins (₹1) in the slot. You can make long distance national and international calls from any public booth showing "STD/ISD" on it.

Mobile services: There are six mobile operators in the city. Of these, Reliance and Tata provide services on CDMA platform while Vodafone, Airtel, Idea and state-run BSNL work on GSM platform. So if you carry a GSM handset, you can buy a prepaid connection here from any of these companies for your communication needs, while you travel in and around the city. While most companies provide with excellent network coverage, especially BSNL, Reliance, and Airtel; the congestion in BSNL network has almost become a norm.

Internet: The railway station of Jhansi has a cyber cafe on platform no.1, near the main gate, with broadband speed and you can use full internet services here. Apart from this, the city is dotted with various cyber cafes in the marketplaces, near hotels, and charge ₹15-₹20 per hour. All the cyber cafes use Windows xp/Windows 98 operating system and Internet Explorer 5.0 or abo…

Stay safe

Jhansi is known for its peaceful atmosphere. So there are no major concerns about safety of tourists. But if one takes precautions while traveling alone, the better it is. Exploring the places of interest, in groups and during day, is totally safe. It is known for the friendly and helping people it has. "Atithi Devo bhava" is well implemented by the citizens of this city. For any medical emergency, there are plenty of hospitals dotting the city. Civil hospital, near Jhansi fort Rani Lakshmi Bai medical college, Near Bundelkhand university St. Jude's hospital, near Sipri hillock Happy Family Nursing Home, behind hotel Sita

Go next

From Jhansi, you can go conveniently in any direction, depending upon your further plans. If you are going towards Gwalior/Agra/Delhi, you can get 20-25 trains daily heading towards New Delhi. There are some fast trains for Kanpur/Lucknow also. If you want to continue to explore religious places of Uttar Pradesh, then you can take a train for Chitrakoot, Prayagraj and/or Varanasi (Kashi), farther east. To enter Madhya Pradesh capital, Bhopal or towards South India, again there are 20-25 trains daily connecting to major cities in south (all via Bhopal). There is one more train route which can take you to Jabalpur, if you have an interest in marble rocks of Bhedaghat.

There are regular and reliable bus services for Gwalior, Agra, Jaipur, Kanpur, Lucknow, Indore, Kota etc. Most deluxe buses with sleeper and semi-sleeper layout, leave Jhansi in the evening for overnight outbound journeys.

Deogarh : 123 km from Jhansi on the banks of Betwa river and surrounded by thick forest Gwalior :(100 km, 1-1.5 hr by train, 1.5-2 hr by car, 3 hr by bus)A major city between Jhansi and Agra. Among its tourist attractions are- Rani Lakshmi Bai's memorial, Jayavilas palace and museum (has a rich collection of artefacts from Scindhia clan), fort, Tansen's tomb, Phoolbagh, etc. Khajuraho - 175 km southeast from Jhansi, this temple town -famous for its erotic sculptures- is 5-6 hours away from Jhansi by road. The first bus leaves for Khajuraho at 05:30 in the morning. There is a bus connection for…