Date of travel: 25th Dec to 30th Dec 2021 (My 1st visit to MP)
Places visited: Ujjain, Indore city, Omkareshwar, Mamleshwar, Maheshwar.
Notable Place I missed: Mandav (Mandu)
Best Season: Winter (Nov-march), Late Monsoon (August-Sept)
Nos. of days needed for circuit: 4-5 days
Include Bhopal, if 7 days available.
Best way to cover the circuit is to have base in Indore, which in well connected by all parts of country by Rail, road and air. It has good hotel options as well. We stayed in “Sure Stay” , a 3 star hotel and could get good deal because of Covid. Indore has all options, from budget to 5 star.
Day 1: Indore-Ujjain- Indore. It can be done in 1 day, if Ujjain temple (Mahakaleshwar) is not too crowded. For me it took 3 hrs to have Mahakal darshan, which can be considered as less time.
Day 2: Indore city : Rajwada Palace, Kanch Mandir, Lalbagh palace, Lunch in Chappan, Dinner in Sarafa Bazaar.
Day 3: Indore- Omkareshwar – Maheshwar. Either take night break in Maheshwar or return back to Indore.
Day 4: Mandu, Indore. Mandu needs at least 6-7 hrs as per local people.
Day 5: Indore : relax, shopping, Zoo, Gomatgiri, Museum.
There are more sight seeing places in and around Indore, with hills and jungles 150 kms away. But I skipped all those. I had 2 days plan for Bhopal, but cancelled at last moment. Sorry Bhopal-May be sometime else in life.
PLACES OF INTEREST IN UJJAIN 
Ujjain:
Ujjain is home to Mahakaleswar temple, one of the 12 Jyotirlings and hence one of the most visited place by Hindus. The temple is famous for it’s early morning “Bhasma-aarti” (Bhasma means ashes), where Lord Shiva is prayed with Bhasma, i.e. remaining for funeral pyre. It is symbol of celebration of both life and death. Other big temple is Kal Bhairav temple, although crowd management is missing there.
Ujjain is an ancient city & origin of many Hindu concepts on Science, philosophy, astronomy, astrology , art & culture. Ujjain is a perfect example showcasing, how we Indians have lost our great roots.
How to reach: Ujjain has a Railway station and is decently (not well) connected with rest of India. Best way is to reach by Indore, which is just 70-80 kms and is well connected to Ujjain by Road (Taxi, buses).
Places to stay: Although a pilgrimage place, it has more of budget hotel options. Most are near railway station & in and around temple. We stayed in Chanakya, right in-front of station, which had clean bed & toilet in a cramped room..that’s it. If one is picky about stay options, better to opt for Indore and cover Ujjain in a day, which is very much possible.
Eating Places: Being a pilgrimage place, 24hrs eateries are available, but again all give very similar type of food. Since, I can eat anything vegetarian, for me it was not a problem. For choosy people, food options are limited. But do enjoy Poha, Fafda, chaats. Being temple town, for non-veg eating people, options are very very limited.
Places of Interest: Main attraction is Mahakaleshwar temple and there are many more ancient temples in periphery of same.
Lot of construction activity was happening (Dec 2021) in and around Mahakal temple. So, in 1-2 yrs, a good infrastructure can be expected, provided open spaces are not encroached again. Even now, crowd management was decent and without much hassle, we could have darshan of Mahakal prabhu twice, both times within 2-3 hrs.
Rest places in Ujjain can be covered in an auto rickshaw, which may charge anywhere from 500-1000 Rs. Notable other places to visit are Jantar Mantar (which provides a small glimpse of ancient Science); Sandipani ashram- ancient School where lord Krishna had his education and learnt on ~60 odd subjects ranging from science, house hold work to war to philosophy to engineering to medicine to astronomy to astrology to dance to music…you name it & that subject was there. A must place to visit, to realize, how better were ancient schools than now.
INDORE:
Indore, largest city of Madhya Pradesh and Cleanest city of India based on ranking done as part of “Swach Bharat Abhiyan” (Clean India revolution). The ranking started in 2014 and Indore have won it couple of times already. Yes, by Indian standards, it does seem to cleanest city with good infrastructure, but still has long way to go to compete with Western world cities. Now, to take it from here, people have to play their role.
Indore is a typical Cosmopolitan Indian city with lot of economic activity happening in food & beverage sector, share market , textile, software and other industries. Population close to 3 million, it has decent public infrastructure (I liked the Rapid Transport bus service. Should be made mandatory in all Indian cities with more than million population), old city was clean (typical Old parts of Indian cities are neglected, because of congestion). Ola, Uber- all are available. I extensively used Ola Auto, to get around Indore city, at reasonable price.
Indore is a foody city and it will be heaven if one is vegetarian. The notable place to indulge in “Chappan” (56) and night food street in Sarafa Bazaar. Later, is strictly vegetarian and starts at 8 pm and finishes like 2-3 am in morning (normal times). Actually, Sarafa Bazaar is gold, silver market place which suddenly transforms itself into food street (Khau Gali) after 8pm everyday. Lot of experimentation on food is done and notable item to eat are Joshi Dahi Bhalla, Jaleba (Huge Jalebi), Smoking paan, Khamman, Kufis etc.
Places of Interest in Indore:
Main are food streets: Chappan (any time) , Sarafa Bazaar (after 8 pm)
Others: A) Rajwada Palace (home to throne of Holkar Dynasty). The dynasty which held Hindu religion flag tight in worst of times in 17th-18th century.
B) Kaanch Mandir: 100 yrs old jain temple, fully decorated by mirrors.
C) Chattri: Small, but quite & exquisite place, within noise of busy old city. Seems to be utilized by daily labourers to rest & take mid day nap.
D) Lalbagh Palace: It was closed due to covid, when we went.
E) Zoo: If children in the group, a place to visit. It has tigers, Lions, Elephants.
F) Museum: If time permits, can be visited to know something on ancient India.
G) Khajrana Ganesh Mandir
H) Gommatgiri: Jain temple & hill top view of Indore City
I) Lot of shopping options are there, if big purse to splurge.
OMKARESHWAR:
Another Jyotirling, some ~100 kms from Indore , right on Banks of river Narmada. A remote location, but seems to have got decent infrastructure for crowd management. It is actually on a river island and one cross the jhula to reach it. Only reachable by road, better to get your own car/taxi. Bus from Indore are there, but very limited and not very comfortable. Donot expect volvo type of buses in this route.
Main attraction is temple, Jhula/foot bridge to cross the river, boating and few other ancient temples. Mamleshwar, is also treated as Jyotirling by Local people. Very devoted Pilgrimage do a Parikrama (revolution) of the temple island. I guess it is some 7-8 kms , may take 2-3 hrs and a proper pathway has been made, ensuring a safe walk-way. I would think, it will be a picturesque walk in Monsoon.
Food options are very very limited and strictly vegetarian. Staying options are also limited and mostly very budget ones. Better to cover it, with Indore as base point. In normal times, I would assume, temple can be covered in <2 hrs.
Boating in Narmada costed us 800 Rs. for <1 hr ride.
MAHESHWAR:
A very beautiful palace, right on banks of river Narmada, is ~70 kms from Omkareshwar and ~100 kms from Indore. It is connected by Road only and best option is to take own Taxi/Car. Buses are there from Indore, but very limited and not so comfortable as well. Few stay options were visible near the palace. A must visit place to appreciate the architecture of palace & beauty of the place. Photos below speaks it all. Many Bollywood Movies like Padman have been shot here.
OVERALL: A good circuit (“-Shwar” circuit) to tour, especially if Jyotirling darshan is must. The whole circuit Indore-Ujjain-Omkareshwar- Maheshwar- Mandav , can be covered in 4-5 days comfortably. Indore can be base point to cover all this, preventing hassle of carrying luggage all around. With good stay options & travel in comfort, it would cost around ~Rs 30,000 (2021 prices) for a couple.
One is never far for civilization, thus problem of basic needs like Medicine, Food, ATM, transportation won’t be there in any of these places, unless one is very picky/choosy. Foody city: Indore, is a very Cosmopolitan city, well connected by Air, train & road from all parts of India and all needs of modern lifestyle available.
Hope you find this blog useful to plan your travel. Wish you joyful travel and request not to trash these beautiful places. Any Qs, drop your comments, will be glad to help out. Otherwise too, share your comments & experience. Signing out. Thanks.
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