Tour to Ellora Caves, India

Ellora is an archaeological site in the state of Maharashtra, India. This is in the western parts of India, 32 km (20 miles) from the city of Aurangabad. The Rashtrakut dynasty had build Ellora, and today it has become a world heritage site. With 34 caves featuring 3 different religious temples, it offers a rare mix of multi-religion architecture.

What to see: Ellora has 34 caves. Caves 1-12 are Buddhist, 13-29 are Hindu and 30-34 are Jain. They demonstrate the religious harmony during the period of building the caves.

Cave 16 showcases the best of the architectural capabilities of the time that Ellora was built. Made out of one single huge rock-stone, this temple was cut (reportedly with hammers and chisels) top-down. In other words, the architects of this temple had started cuting deep into the mountains till they could cut deep enough, and the shape that they cut the rock formed the temple. Amazing indeed. This is approximately three storeys deep, and Lord Shiva, a Hindu God, had been cut out by the architects, which still survives as-is. As a whole, the temple looks like a multi-storeyed one. The center of the temple has a U-shaped courtyard, and within the cuortyard there are two religious structures. The walls are also carved with other shapes from the Hindu Puran (Hindu Mythology) and religious avataars.

How to reach: One can take a Maharashtra Tourism / India Tourism bus from Aurangabad, the nearest city, and expect to reach Elora in an hour. Government-run busses also ply along the route, taking similar time. One can reach Aurangabad either by train or bus from Mumbai. Both the routes Mumbai-Aurangabad and Aurangabad-Ellora are serviced by cabs. There are also flights in the Mumbai-Aurangabad route. I recommend you take a train or fly to Aurangabad, then take a cab to Ellora.

Where to stay: I strongly recommend you to stay in Hotel Kailash. Look for no other hotel - the rest are not up to the mark in my opinion. Hotel Kailash provides good Indian cuisine and some continental cuisine. Take an AC cottage (or non-AC cottage), and try to grab a hill-facing (in other words, temple-facing) cottage.

When to visit: The best season is June-September. Second best is October-February. Avoid rest of the year. If you visit any time in July/August, just make sure you grab a hill-facing room for all its worth. You can get to see a tiny but beautiful waterfall coming down from near the caveas (around cave number 29).