Nagpur is a city in Maharashtra State, India famous for its Nagpur oranges. It is the headquarters of the Vidarbha division. It is also the "second capital" of Maharashtra state, which means that some administrative functions are carried out here, and one of three sessions of the Legislative Assembly in a year occur here.
How to Reach
Nagpur is the center of India. zero milestone of India is located in the city. It is almost equidistant from all the major metros. Nagpur is connected with all major cities with trains several times a day. Trains run through the day to all parts of the country. All metros are more or less an overnight journey.
To meet the increase in demand of air traffic in India and provide the required world-class infrastructure for the aviation sector, Mihan Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport is set at Nagpur.
Indian Airlines operates twice daily to Mumbai, Delhi and thrice-weekly to Kolkata and Hyderabad. Jet Airways has two daily flights to Mumbai and one every evening to Delhi. Air Deccan operates daily a direct flight from Mumbai with the Airbus A320 flight. Also there are flights from Mumbai to Kolkata which has a stop at Nagpur.
Many new airlines such as Indigo Airlines have started operations.
Air Arabia has started flying to Nagpur. They operate five times a week, slated to become daily soon. Indian Airlines also has started a direct Nagpur-Bangkok flight twice a week. Direct flights to Singapore are slated to start in June 2006 on Silk Air.
Nagpur is also a Haj terminal and in season Air India operates 747s direct to Jeddah.
Recently Qatar Airways have announced launching of Nagpur - Doha bi-weekly flights.
Get around
The best way to get around are the yellow and black 3 wheeled taxicabs known as the Autorickshaws or simply Rickshaws. Hollering 'Auto' or 'Rickshaw' at a passing Rickshaw should be enough to catch the drivers attention. In most cases the drivers would be able to understand Hindi and maybe even a few words of English. They are normally quite helpful but are known to cheat tourists so bargain hard and it might be a good idea to ask a pedestrian to get an idea about how much it costs normally to reach your destination by auto. There are taxis (cabs) available at the Airport and Railway Station. You can also rent a "Qualis", a slang generic term for a SUV-taxi named after the common Toyota Qualis(but now are available as many other brands, such as the Chevy and India's own luxury brand, Mahindra). Normally they are offered with a driver, and they will stay with you all day, week, or even month if you'd like. This chauffeur can normally understand English, and knows the city very well.
For using the local buses, you will need to know the routes and numbers. You can take help from people standing on bus stops (usually people are helpful and may be able to communicate in English). Besides, buses are the most common transport facility for the common people in the city and hence they are overcrowded at times. Now Star Bus service started here also. Bus mainly go to Buldi station from there you can conveniently to other places.Frequency of City buses are quite good enough to reach local destinations and suburbs area.
Talk
The local language is Marathi. Hindi is understood by almost everyone and English is prevelant to educated people. Nagpur city had a literacy rate of 89.3% in 2001, which is quite high by Indian standards, as Nagpur is a major education centre in Central India that attracts students from all over the country. English is at least partially understood by most people in the tourist industry.
Do
Come for morning walk at seminary hills garden walking track, and spend your evenings along Futala lake.
it is in the heart of city and pride of nagpur
Buy
During summers don't forget to buy Oranges. Nagpur is easily called "Orange City" of India. If you are missing summer, then try Orange Burfi, a milk based sweet with orange flavor.
Itwari, Sitabuldi, Sadar and Dharampeth areas are especially known as shopping areas due to the large number of shops and pavement hawkers in these areas. Bargain is MUST incase you are not familiar with the area. Sunday Foot path market is a very good market at Sitabuldi for shopping household things.
Nagpur is also famous for Cotton articles. Various handicrafts mostly cotton based can be purchased from Sitabuldi, Itwari.
Eat
Nagpur has a lot of good places to eat.
During summers the best place is Khindsi lake with huts around the lake and serving veg and non veg food.
For Non-Veg, many restaurants in Momin pura (this neighbourhood is a must visit during month of Ramzan) serve specialities like Biryani and other eats in places like M.L Canteen, Tanveer Hotel, Babbu's Hotel at old VCA Ground Sadar, Hotel Al-Zam-Zam on CA Road, Babbu's Hotel in Dharampeth. Many of these restaurants have branches in other places within Nagpur.
The best continental can be savoured at 10 Downing Street in Ramdas Peth while Fountain Sizzlers & Bistro serves amazing sizzlers.
Mount Road near Sadar is the best hang-out for foodies. Ashoka for continental or Indian, Nanking for Chinese, Barbecue for Punjabi (Indian Tandoori), Veeraswamy's and Kamat for South-Indian Food.
Zinq for Italian food, Masala for Indian, China for Chinese. V5, a group of 5 different restaurants including a bar, a family restaurant and a disco is a neat establishment. Village Tadka on outer ring road serves excellent Saoji cuisine and Saoji Chicken is a must try. And if you like Saoji taste, you can take home Saoji Curry of Actchawa, which can be used in easy one-step preparation of Saoji food. Pintu Saoji near Vidhan bhavan is also good.
Haldiram's is also a good place to eat it also provides packed food for Air/Railway Passengers.
Some of the restaurants of the hotels also offer a great dinner opportunity like Tuli's 'Frontier Post' for Afghani food (peshawari naan and frontier dal recommended) and LB's 'Drums of Heaven'. The Pride Hotel, a favourite amongst air-travelers due to its proximity to the airport, holds numerous food festivals throughout the year for food conneussiers.
For food on the run The Kathi Crossing near VCA Ground, Poonam Chambers Byramji Town, Pratap Nagar and LAD Collge offer amazing rolls which are a meal in themselves.
For street food, roadside carts are lined up with pani puri, Chat, Pav Bhaji and the Indianised version of Chinese noodles and Manchurian at Bajaj nagar and Yeshwant Stadium.You can also find them near Traffic Park and Futala Lake.
It has one of the biggest Grocery market in Central India near Shaheed Chowk. Shaheed chowk(square) is also very famous in the night for variety of street foods.
There is also a place for people who are on tight on budget namely " Calcutta Rolls " it is located in Sadar and one near Shankar Nagar Square.
Drink
One can find numerous places in Nagpur for variety of drinks. Almost, all the hotels in City are fully licensed. There is lot of diversity amongst the drinks, one will find here.
Sleep
Since its a booming economy for Nagpur, many of the good hotels have set up their businesses here. There are many hotels ranging from Budget to Star. MTDC counters at Railway Station and Airport will be able to help you find a good place to sleep. Below are few good hotels where a good bargain can be obtained.
Nagpur 440015, Maharashtra India,(Ph.No)+91 712 6665888.
Reproduced from Wikipedia
