Things to do in Khajuraho
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Paradise Restaurant
Nothing flash about this place with plastic chairs, but the food’s good – the mulai kofta (mashed potato balls with onion, spices and curry sauce) particularly so – and it serves booze (beer Rs. 130, cocktails from Rs. 95).
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Bella Italia
A cheaper version of Mediterraneo, this rooftop restaurant overlooks Gole Market and sits beside a couple of huge trees which every day from around 6pm stage remarkable parrot-squawking contests.
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Khajuraho
The Kamasutra carvings that swathe Khajuraho's three groups of temples are among the finest temple art in the world. The temples are superb examples of Indo-Aryan architecture, but it's their liberally embellished carvings that have made Khajuraho famous. Around the temples are bands of exceedingly artistic stonework showing a storyboard of life a millennium ago - gods, goddesses, warriors, musicians, real and mythological animals.
The temples are described here in a clockwise direction. Varaha, dedicated to Vishnu's boar incarnation, and the closed-up Lakshmi are two small shrines facing the large Lakshmana Temple. Inside Varaha is a 1.5m-high sandstone boar, dating to…
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Raja’s Café
The central location is great, as is the restaurant design, with a delightful wrought-iron spiral staircase linking a shaded courtyard with a temple-view terrace. But it’s the food that steals the show. The Indian dishes are superb – the paneer kofta (unfermented cheese and vegetable balls) and chicken kababi (barbecued chicken pieces marinated in yoghurt), in particular – and not too expensive, and there’s good-quality Italian and Chinese too.
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Blue Sky Restaurant
A rickety wooden platform, three storeys up, leads out to the most unusual place to eat in the whole of Khajuraho – a one-table tree house with an unrivalled view of the western temples. The view from the ordinary, terraced balcony is good too, while the menu is the usual Indian and Chinese, plus Western breakfasts. The grumpy service is perhaps understandable. Would you like to serve food to customers in a tree?
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Archaeological Museum
The Archaeological Museum, announced by a wonderful 11th-century statue of Ganesh dancing sensuously for an elephant-headed deity, has a small but well-presented collection of sculptures from around Khajuraho. It was about to move to a larger site north of the western temples at the time of research.
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Adivart Tribal & Folk Art Museum
This Museum makes a colourful change from the temples. It gives a taste of Madhya Pradesh’s vibrant tribal culture through pointillist Bhili paintings, terracotta Jhoomar sculptures, masks, statues and bamboo flutes. Original signed paintings are for sale from around Rs. 5500.
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Yogi Sudarshan Dwiveda
Apart from the hotels offering yoga, the inspiring Yogi Sudarshan Dwiveda runs sessions at his home. Accommodation can be arranged. There is no English sign. If you have trouble contacting him, go through Rajesh Medical Store in Gole Market.
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Ayurvedic Treatments
The four-handed Ayurvedic treatments at the Keralan-run, India Tourism-approved Yadav Lodge win rave reviews and are the perfect way to rejuvenate after a day of temples and touts. The lodge is set to reopen on Basti Rd under the name Ayur Arogyam.
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Mediterraneo
Food served on a lovely terrace overlooking the street includes chicken, salads and organic whole-wheat pasta, but it’s all about the pizza here, baked in the wood-fired oven. There’s also beer (Rs. 130) and Maharastran wine (bottle Rs. 750).
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Madras Coffee House
Good, honest South Indian fare – dosa, idli (spongy round fermented rice cakes), uttapam (thick savoury rice pancakes), thali – as well as coffee and chai, served in a simple, slimline cafe-restaurant.
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Ganesh Restaurant
Run by friendly staff, this no-nonsense restaurant – minimal decor, plastic chairs – serves good-quality Indian and Chinese, with vegetarian and meat dishes, as well as the usual curd and banana–based breakfasts.
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Sound-and-Light Show
Technicolour floodlights sweep across the temples of the western group as Indian classical music soundtracks a potted history of Khajuraho narrated by the 'master sculptor'.
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Agrasen
This smart place with gingham table-cloths and a first-floor terrace serves up safe-to-eat salads, pasta and pizza as well as a variety of Indian veg and meat dishes.
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Mrignayani
MP government shop with fixed prices and dispassionate but helpful staff selling state-produced handicrafts. Also has a booth at the western group of temples.
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Bookshop
All-purpose bookshop with internet (per hr Rs. 40), handicrafts and films. CD burning costs Rs. 100 per disk.
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Shilpgram
Folk dancing can be seen at the government-operated Shilpgram, designed to promote Indian culture.
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Igbal Shop
Camera film and memory cards are available here.
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Downing Street
Downing Street is the only disco in town.
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Museums
The Archaeological Museum, announced by a wonderful 11th-century statue of Ganesh (dancing sensuously for an elephant-headed deity), has a small but well-presented collection of sculptures from around Khajuraho. This is a good opportunity to get up close to some very well-preserved carvings. At the time of research, there were plans to move this museum to a larger site north of the Western Group, but don’t hold your breath; they’ve been telling us that since 2006.
The museum-cum-art gallery, Adivart Tribal & Folk Art Museum, makes a colourful change from the temples. It gives a taste of the vibrant tribal culture of both Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh through…
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Massage
Many budget hotels offer cheap ayurvedic massage treatments of varying levels of authenticity. Top-end hotels offer more luxurious versions. For the real deal, though, head to Ayur Arogyam. The lovely Keralan couple who run this small place from their home also have two simple doubles rooms to rent (₹100).
Barbers in Gole Market offer simple but rejuvenating head massages for ₹20.
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Ayur Arogyam
Many hotels offer cheap ayurvedic massage treatments of varying levels of authenticity. For the real deal, head to Ayur Arogyam. The lovely Keralan couple who run the place also have two simple doubles rooms to rent (Rs. 100). There were plans to move to larger premises on Basti Rd at the time of research.
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Kandariya Art & Culture
Folk dancing can be seen at the comfortable indoor theatre at Kandariya Art & Culture.
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