Ranchi : Hill Station?

Is Ranchi cool enough to qualify as a hill destination in summer? Are tiger spottings common in May in the Betla National Park?

Ranchi isnt a hill station ..at least no more..the summers are HOT though evenings are cool. As for Betla National park, dont really know about Tiger spotting but yes no accommodation available near by. Wish the Jharkhand govt. did something about developing the beautiful n rich state.

However if you are still going to ranchi I would recommend Hotel Capitol on main road..for food Ranchi has loads of options and for sightseeing Tagore Hill tops every place. It is where Rabindranath tagore wrote and spent a major time. Also do visit the Hundru Falls where Satyajit ray shot a film.

Barkha, A couple of years ago I realised that an alternative way to get to Ranchi (From North and west) is to use Barka Kana station then get a bus to Ranchi.

Now I see a member called Barkha answering a question about Ranchi.

Is your username anything to do with Barka Kana?

hahaah..No Steven . my name has nothing to do with the place Barka kana..Barka Kana in hindi woudl prolly mean elder one eyed person and BARKHA (my name) means Rainfall..

As for Ranchi..well I was born n brought up there so its close to my heart

If I ever have to ask when the rains will start, I'll be very careful if attempting to ask in Hindi.

Betla National Park is 140 kms west of Ranchi.
Betla National Park is one of the best places to see wild elephants, though tiger spottings are rare. In May there is a possibility of sighting the tiger as the forest cover is reduced and the animals venture out in search of waterholes. Admission per vehicle Rs 80, camera/video Rs 50/300; Timing: 5am-7pm.
Jeep safaris (per hr about Rs 200) can be arranged privately at the park gate. You must also hire a local guide (per hour Rs 20) to bring in your vehicle.
There are several rickety observation towers for the brave to climb and lay low, while watching wildlife in silence.

The accommodation facilities in the tourist complex, include a three star hotel, tourist lodges with canteen, log huts and tree houses inside the forest with fully furnished suites. The tree house overlooks a watering hole a few yards away where the animals gather in the summers to quench their thirst. STD/ ISD, Postal and Internet facilities are available in the reserve area. Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation's Van Vihar is available for stay. Phone: 06562-86513

Contact
Director,
Project Tiger (Jail Compound), Betla
P.O.Daltonganj
Palamau
Phone: 06562-86350.

Sorry to spoil the spirit, but Betla forest is infamous for malignant malaria caused by mosquito bites there.

On that .. Rabindranath Tagore never visited Ranchi, its a popular misconception. The closet was when his brother came to Ranchi.

Yes, Ranchi is no longer a hill station, but once this place was regarded as a natural healer, not anymore. Ranchi is famous for Waterfalls, too many off them around. And too beautiful.

While browsing old threads I stumbled upon this one about Ranchi. The original question was whether Ranchi can be called a hill-station. Well, it used to be one, in fact it used to be the summer capital of Bihar till 1959 and one didn't need ceiling fans in summer there. Bihar's real hill-station was of course Netarhat. That's where one went from Ranchi for weekend outings.

As a child I spent my summers with the family in Ranchi and we went shopping to Firayalal & Sons (It was a real department store: we had nothing of the kind at Patna.).

The name Barkakana (not baDka Kana) is either from the Kurukh (Oraon) or the Mundari language and I doubt if it has anything to do with Bhojpuri/Magahi "big one-eyed man".


A bit of railway history (from personal memory):

Before Ranchi got its broad-gauge link, the normal way to get from Patna to Ranchi was to take the "Patna-Tatanagar Fast Passenger" ("Tata Passenger" for short) to Ranchi Road (according to Samit Roychoudhury's atlas the station still exists) and then take a bus from there to Ranchi. The road had several "ghat" sections with hair-pin bends and those who got sick on buses preferred to stay on the train till Muri and then take the narrow-gauge train to Ranchi. The Chandrapura-Kotshila-Muri line hadn't been built then. There was just this narrow-gauge Purulia-Muri-Ranchi-Lohardaga line. The Ranchi-Rourkela line was also built later. The Tata Passenger was routed Patna-Gaya-Gomoh-Barkakana-Muri-Chandil-Tatanagar (what a zig-zag) and was the main link between Patna and the southern part of Bihar as Jharkhand was then. Steaming into Ranchi (not yet "Ranchi Junction") on a narrow-gauge train made arriving there a real hill-station experience.