Atleast a Jabalpur day trip was on our minds ever since I heard from my mum about the beautiful Bhedaghat, I did my best to put it on my last-second last trip on 2019 since I was going to Madhya Pradesh anyway. We finally secured out RCI vacations week at Mint Bundela in Khajuraho (stay tuned for more on that). While figuring out how to get there and back, our best shot was to do a Jabalpur one day tour on our way there.
Planning
Dad and I decided pretty last minute to fly there on day 1, Jabalpur 1 day tour, sight see on day 2 and head to Khajuraho by public transport on day 3. I had booked the cheapest yet decent accommodation of booking.com for 2 nights. It was actually a Spot On which came under OYO rooms.
Getting there
We took a very expensive Spicejet flight from Mumbai to Jabalpur since I get Spice club perks. Thank to the insurance I bought, I got a good voucher for the two hour delay. Since we were reaching after dark anyway, my dad and I didn’t mind it as we were killing time filling up sudoko puzzles. We landed in the tiny airport and took a AC city bus to the railway station. We took a cycle rickshaw all the way to our booked accommodation as it was dads idea to contribute to the locals instead of us walking and we thought about our Jabalpur day trip.
Accommodation
The day before the Jabalpur day trip, when we arrived at the location of our reserved yet thankfully unpaid accommodation, we learnt that it did not exist. Apparently it shut long ago and we were surprised to have such an experience from booking.com as well as OYO rooms. After couple of hours of phone calls and fatigue, booking.com finally said we could cancel our booking. We booked another decent hotel for a night in the same area and decided to take one day at a time. We also met our driver for the next day there.
Jabalpur in a day
We started our day trip to Jabalpur with the famous MP Poha for breakfast from a street side cart.
Balancing rock and Madan Mahal
On this one day trip to Jabalpur, we then headed to see the balancing rock (apparently has been there forever) and Madan Mahal.
The latter was a short walk from the parking area up the hill which also gave amazing views of the smart city. It aka Rani Durgavati fort was on top of a large rock and was surrounded with underground rooms. My mum who visited couple of days later also had the chance to see the tunnel that led people out of the fort secretly back in the days and also catch views from the top.
Dhuandhar falls, Bhedaghat and Chausath Yogini temple.
After a short drive further out of the city, we made it to the parking lot of Dhuandhar falls and a 10 minute walk later, to the falls itself. They are a miniature version of the Niagara falls, I heard; just stunning. The water falls with so much force, some of it turns into mist and thus giving these falls their name. On a hot sunny day, it was cool and the viewing platforms made it very easy to enjoy there. Mum said, she took a ropeway to the otherwise of the falls and then a car ride to see the view from the end. On our way out, I bought some handmade marble ear rings for very cheap. Please do remember to contribute to the local community on your Jabalpur day trip.
Then we went down to the banks of river Narmada, the part of it called Bhedaghat. We were way too early to find co passengers for the boat journey but with some patience and waiting, we found a couple who were okay to join us. We sat in the boat, wearing life jackets along with a rower and a guide. The guide was so well trained to entertain us with Bollywood bits and bobs. Bhedaghat is the area where there are natural marble rocks, so high that when the river flows at max, most of them are submerged. Apparently on a full moon night, you can boat until midnight as these marbles shine like ‘taare zameen par’ (exactly translates to stars on ground). The views were priceless as we saw sights as far as we could and on our way back, we got off on the rocks and took some photos. I also bought some hand carved marble lamps.
Our last stop was the Chausath Yogini temple, which took us back to 10th century for when it was built. Even today, it is so raw and gives you a glimpse of what Khajuraho is like. This has got to be a part of your Jabalpur one day tour.
Heading out of Jabalpur
Oh we left right after. On our way to Khajuraho after our day trip to Jabalpur we picked up the famous mawa jalebis and ate samosa chutney.
I think we only left Jabalpur physically that day as our minds were still in awe of these wonders we had just seen in this one day trip to Jabalpur. I believe, accommodation experience was just a lesson learnt and yet it gave us the flexibility to alter our plans. This ‘layover’ was totally worth it and I would recommend you to do it as well. We definitely want to come back someday to catch the ‘taare zameen par’
Do remember to save my list of things to do on a Jabalpur day trip and follow my instagram for more experiential photos!
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