Short trip to Kalahandi District

MatthewMW

Hi there my wife and I will be travelling by train from Bangalore to Bhubaneswar in November with our 3 children ages 7,8,10.

We were wondering how practical it would be to stop en route and do a trip out to the SW region of Orissa (Kalahandi District) to visit a village (not sure exactly where yet!) where we sponsor a child.

Would the easiest way be to stop somewhere like Vizianagram or Naupada (on the Chennai-Bhubaneswar train line) and then hire a taxi for a couple of days to get to the Kalahandi area? There don't seem many rail lines near there.

Any advice would be much appreciated as it looks an interesting area and mught be a good thing to do if not too tricky with our kids.

steven_ber

Hello Matthew and welcome to indiamike.com

Bangalore to Kalahandi (or Bhubaneswar) is a very long train trip, how much time do you have?

Train 2836 departs Yesvantpur (Bangalore) on Fridays at 08:30 and gets to Kesinga (30 Kms north of Bhawanipatna) the following day at 09:38, this train has 2 + 3 tier air con (2A & 3A) plus Sleeper class (SL)(not air con), but only runs one day a week.



Would you like to do the journey over 2 nights and stop off for a backwater cruise on the way?

Train 7209 departs Bangalore City Jn daily at 13:15 and gets to Bhimavaram Town at 05:19 the following morning. (2A, 3A, SL.)

Train 7482 departs Bhimavaram Town (Thursdays and Sundays only) at 21:45 and gets to Ambadola at 10:00, Norla Rd at 10:29, Rupra Rd at 10:39, and Kesinga at 10:54. (3A, SL.)

Bhimavaram is 22 Kms from Palakollu, Palikollu is a short distance from Dindi, The cruise starts and ends at Dindi.

Konaseema cruise


There are overnight trains from the Kalahandi region (or close by) to Bhubaneshwar, let me know if you need details.

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Train information.

MatthewMW

Thank you for those suggestions and details. We are going to be in India for 5 weeks and the Bangalore-Bhubaneswar is by far the longest trip we are taking. The fact we can get direct to Kesinga is interesting and I'll check the days on it as we are not that flexible on when we can leave Bangalore (needs to be on a sunday or there abouts). We only have a couple of days before we need to be in Bhubaneswar to meet friends there, so I thought it might be an interesting experience to visit a village, but it may be too rushed.

If it seems to complicated to work through we might stick to our philosophy of less is more in planning. This is our first trip to India with our kids and we are going to about 5-6 places in the South, Orissa and Kolkata to limit the travel components to about 4 overnight trips on the trains. That area of AP sounds tempting as well though!

steven_ber

Train 7482 departs Tirupati (Thursdays and Sundays only) at 09:45 and gets to (next day) Ambadola at 10:00, Norla Rd at 10:29, Rupra Rd at 10:39, and Kesinga at 10:54. (3A, SL.)

This is your only option if you want to depart on a Sunday, but it would be very difficuly to get to Tirupati (250 Kms) by 09:45.

MatthewMW

Thank you Steven for all that. As I feared, sometimes things that look ok on a map in India, turn out quite a bit harder to do in reality.
We will keep our options open a while longer and research where exactly we would need to go in Kalahandi itself.
Much appreciated for the trouble you have gone to in your replies.
Matthew

rangers

Kalhandi is known as a remote state in Orissa.As a travlers I suggest you to restart the journey from Bhubaneswar by luxury coach buses than trains .And then try a taxi to your village.The headqtrs of kalahandi is Bhwanipatna and therre is a good hotel there owned by mr,Singh(9437071599).
any more info on Bhubaneswar or support feel free to conatct me.
smiles
sanjay