Picnic Spots

Tinchha Fall

Tinchha Fall

Tincha Falls is a beautiful Waterfall near village Tincha [on Simrol-Udainagar Road]. The gorge is a beautiful sight in rainy season. 

About 25 km from Indore,Tincha Falls, is an ideal weekend getaway. The water drips from a height of about 300 ft (?) and it facilitates for bathing in the river upstream. There is a pond nearby, which enhances the beauty of the place. 

Located at Tincha village in Indore District, the falls can be accessed by traveling on the Indore- Khandwa road.Upon reaching Simrol one has to turn left and take the Simrol-Udainagar Road.




Sitlamata Fall

Sitlamata Fall

Sitlamata Fall is one of the famous water fall near Indore, around 60 kms from the main Indore city. Beautiful water fall, greenary, peace & manpur local market with lots of fun.

Patalpani Waterfall

Patalpani

Patal Pani is a beautiful water falls, a famous picnic spot. The water falls height is approximate 300 feet. The depth of water kund (pit) formed at the bottom of the falls remains unknown. According to folklore, it goes as deep as the underground world (patal). The spot is also famous for trekking. The fall goes almost dry in the summer season, and the stream is reduced to a trickle! However, the sight is majestic soon after the rainy season (usually after July).

Situation: It is situated on Indore - Khandwa train route; The nearest train stoppage is Patalpani itself. Even one can walk down from Mhow station also with is 6 kM but the walk is also enjoyable. All goods and passenger trains stops are Tantiya Bhil chattri at patalpani station (Aug-sep good ), which is a technical stoppage before entering ghat section.

Choral

Choral River

Regional Park

Regional Park

Regional Park is just attached to the Indore city. Development of the park is on the 80 acres of land of the pond and 42 acres land near this tank. The cost of development is about Rs50 crore. 
The garden side near the pond makes is much beautiful place.Various type of Garden patterns like Mughal garden, French garden, Bio-diversity garden etc amuses the people in a very different way. Again there is a variety in Fountain pattern as Musical fountain, Jumping jet fountain, Mist fountain etc.
There is a canal, which covers the whole park, let us feel a different type of pleasure. It is starting from one point of the pond and ending at the other part. The bridges over canal with the Mist fountain let us feel a special type of peace,mentally as well as physically.

Nakhrali Dhani

Nakhrali Dhani

Nakhrali dhani, an ethnic village resort has been the mirror of Rajasthani & Malwi culture since 1995. Started as a part of ambience for a restaurant over years it has evolved as a tasteful & authentic symbol of evening life. Today the name Nakhrali dhani is synonymous with Rajasthani & Malwi culture throughout the M.P.

Nakhrali dhani is spread over 28 Acres of land, built on theme of typical Rajasthani & Malwi village. One experiences the rich warmth & rustic charm of typical Rajasthani village at Nakhrali dhani where festivities never end.

Chokhi Dhani

Chokhi Dhani

Chokhi Dhani, the only one of its kind in the country. With quaint mud & thatch dwellings set in sprawling acreage of land, it has 11 Cottages, 22 Luxury Cottages, 2 luxury suites, 2 Conference Halls, Sanjha Chulha- Punjabi Dhaba, Sangri - Ethnic Village RestaurantChaupal, Disc Club Cum Snack Bar and a World Class Water and Amusement Park.

Live dance and music performance all through the evening is one of the major attraction at Chokhi Dhani that the were getting all but forgotten in these modern times. Few visitors can resist the temptation to join the artistes and dance with the music.

The recreation center with the infusion of resort with Fun City makes it an ideal spot for Family Outings, Picnics, for Corporate Meets, Birthday Bashes, Wedding Receptions, Functions & for quiet family Get - together. The amusement centre having Water Park, Go Karting the world's best virtual reality games, Discotheque, Jungle Theme, Boating, Snowfall Dancing, Water fall & unending fun, invites you to bask at it's beaches, create giant splashes.

Historical Places

Khajrana Temple (Ganpati Bappa)

Khajrana Temple

There are various places in Indore which are worth watching and local people are contributing to make Indore city as a tourist attraction spot. Citizens of Indore city and other nearby cities have great faith in the Khajrana Temple. This temple is made by Ahilyabai Holkar. This is an important place of Hindus.

Kaanch Mandir

Kanch Mandir, Itwariya Bazaar

The Kaanch Mandir also known as Glass Temple is an exquisite example of a marvel in glass. This Jain Temple also known as Jain Mandir was built by Seth Hukum Chand Jain (Kasliwal) in the early 20th century. The specialty of this temple is that its doors, pillars, ceilings and walls are entirely inlaid with glass with minute detailing. It is one of the most famous tourist attraction of the city. The temple also has paintings which are depicting stories from the Jain scriptures. The top of the temple multiplies the three statues of Lord Mahavir which makes this beatiful temple more beautiful.

Bada Ganpati

Bada Ganpati Temple

The Bada Ganpati temple is a very ancient temple and widely known for the size of the Ganesh idol. This temple was built in the year 1875 by Shri Dadhich. The idol is said to be the size of 25 Foot from head to crown. This temple is located near the heart of the city Rajwada also known as Holkar Palace.

Central Museum

Central Museum, also known as the Indore Museum, is one of the most interesting buildings in Indore. It is a treat for the people who are genuinely fascinated by the history of India and the rich civilization that flourished here in the pre historic age. It is located near the General Post Office in Indore. The Museum exhibits the finest collection of Parmar sculptures from Hinglajgarh. The Parmar style actually originated here only. Its main features include proportioned figures, careful and intricate ornamentation and depiction in stone.

Rajwada

Rajwada Palace

Rajwada is the historical palace of the Holkars. It was built about two centuries ago and is located near the Chhatris in the main square. It is a seven storied structure, which serves as the living example of the grandeur of the Holkars. Rajwada stands in the centre of the city. The new palace is on the northern side, while the old palace stands in the old part of the town. The old palace is a multi-storied building which also serves as a gateway of the Rajwada. It stands amongst the crowded streets of the Kajuri Bazar and faces the main square of the city.

Bolia Maharaj ki Chhatri

Bolia Maharaj ki Chhatri

Krishnapura Chhatri

Krishnapura Chhatri

Vijay Balla

Vijay Balla, signed by captain Ajit Wadekar & team after team victory over England(1971) & West Indies(1972)

Entertainment

Indore is equipped with places like malls and cinema halls to provide relief from all the worries and tensions. These options are very viable and facilitate people to steal time from their work, for pleasure. Tourists coming to the Indore city of India can also avail the opportunity and entertain themselves completely.

Cinema

Kulraj Broadway Multiplex, Malhar Mega Mall, Indore

Cinema is the most popular medium of entertainment in Indore as well as in the whole country. Owing to the fact that Indians are great cinema lovers, Bollywood has emerged out to be one of the biggest film industries in the world. Indian cinema is quite rich in its content and has a great deal to offer to its viewers. People become ignorant of their daily life problems and get refreshed. There are a number of cinema halls in the city where you can enjoy the new releases, namely PVR, Mangal Adlabs, INOX Central ,INOX sapna-sangeeta, Broadway, Satyam, K sera sera, Velocity, Man Mandir, Madhumilan, Neel kamal, Alka etc.

Malls

Treasure Island Mall, Indore

Malls are the hottest trends in cities today. Apart from being exotic shopping destinations, they are emerging out to be one of the major hang out places of the city crowd. Malls provide a comprehensive package to the people, wherein they can shop, eat and enjoy at the same place. The motto is: everything under one roof. Indore is also host to many such malls, which provide variety and comfort to the visitors. Treasure Island is the largest, with 5 floors and 245 stores. It is the most popular mall around and is located in the heart of the city. There are also other malls namely Mangal City mall, Indore mall, C21 mall, Malhar mega mall, Central mall, Orbit mall, Salaasar market etc.

Culture

Food

Sarafa Bazaar, Indore

Indore has a wide variety of Namkeens, Poha & Jalebi, Chaats (snacks), Kachoris and Samosas, cuisines of various types in different restaurants, and Bengali, Muslim, Rajasthani, continental and confectionery sweets, as well as dishes such as Dal-Bafla, Nihari Gosht and Bafla-Gosht. Most important place in Indore for Foodies is Sarafa Bazar, where a wide range of Indian Fast food is available. Chhappan Dukan is an another food junction in Indore, where the youth & family gathers on the road side shops for Indian Snacks.

Main festivals

Temple Decorated on the ocassion of Navratri

All national festivals like Holi, Rangpanchmi, Baisakhi, Raksha Bandhan, Navratri,Durga puja, Dussehra, Ganesh Utsav, Deepavali, Ramzan, Gudi Padwa,Bhaidooj, Eid, Christmas and other others like Nagpanchmi, Ahilya Utsav, are celebrated with equal enthusiasm. There are many shiva temples in indore, Mahashivratri is celebrated at a large extent in indore.

Education

Daly College, Indore

Home to a range of colleges and schools, Indore has a large student population. Most primary and secondary schools in Indore are affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE); however, a number of schools have affiliation with ICSE board, NIOS board and the state level M.P. Board.

Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya (DAVV) offers courses in more than 20 fields which include law, pharmacy and management at both graduate and postgraduate level.

Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College, Shri Govindram Seksaria Institute of Technology and Sciences & IET-DAVV offers courses in medical sciences& engineering with Shri Govindram Seksaria Institute of Technology and Sciences & IET being the 2nd and 3rd ranked engineering colleges of Madhya Pradesh (MANIT being 1st).

Indore is the only city in India to have an Indian Institute of Management and an Indian Institute of Technology.

Economy

Indore is often referred as the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh with a bulk of its trade coming from Small, Mid and Large scale manufacturing & service industries. These industries range from Automobile to Pharmaceutical and from Software to Retail and from Textile trading to Real estate . Major industrial areas surrounding the city include the Pithampur Special Economic Zone and the Sanwer Industrial belt. Pithampur is also known as the Detroit of India.^[22][23]

While the Textile manufacturing and Trading is the oldest business to contribute to economy, the Real Estate has emerged very fast in past few years. National Real Estate Players DLF Limited,Omaxe,Sahara, Parsvnath, Ansal API, Emaar MGF have already launched their residential projects in Indore. These projects are generally on the Indore bypass.This road also houses the projects of many local and regional Real estate players like Silver spring, Kalindi, Milan Heights etc.

Major software firms in Indore include Impetus, IBM India and Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC). Also many small and medium size software development firms are also established. In the software front a major event occurred in the first half of 2011 when India's biggest software company Tata Consultancy Services decided to open a campus in Indore. Government of MP has also done the land allotment.

Infosys, country’s second largest information technology services company, plans to set up new development centre at Indore in Madhya Pradesh at an investment of Rs 100 crore in phase one.

Pithampur near Indore houses production plants of various Pharmaceutical companies like Ipca Laboratories, Cipla, Lupin, Glenmark, Unichem.

Transport

AIR

Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Airport, Indore

Indore is served by the Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Airport. Indore airport is about 8 km from the city and currently handles only domestic traffic. It is a major airport in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The new terminals are presently under construction, as the airport is expanding. The airport has been operating services byIndian Airlines, Jet Airways Konnect, Jet Lite, Kingfisher Red, IndiGo, SpiceJet. Indore has a direct connectivity to major cities of India like Ahmedabad,Bangalore, Bhopal, Hyderabad, Jabalpur, Jodhpur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Pune, Raipur and Srinagar.

RAIL

Indore Railway Station

The City Railway Division comes under Ratlam Division of the Western Railways. Indore Junction BG is the main and terminal station on the broad gauge line connecting it to the rest of the country. In the Railway budget of 2009 Indore main railway station was listed for upgrade along with other 300 stations across India.Indore is directly connected to the metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Lucknow and Jaipur. Indore is one of the several places in India with both meter gauge and broad gauge railways operational. Regular train services connect Indore to most parts of the country. Electrification of the Indore – Dewas – Ujjain is currently underway.

Indore lies on the Ratlam and Akola metre gauge railway line, the longest remaining functional meter gauge line in India. This section is scheduled for conversion to standard broad gauge under Indian Railways' projected Unigauge system.

ROAD

National Highway 3

Indore is connected to other parts of India through national and state highways. The major national highways passing through the city are:

• National Highway No. 3 (NH3 – Agra Bombay)
• National Highway No. 59 (NH 59 – Indore Ahmedabad)
• National Highway No. 59A (Indore – Betul – Nagpur connecting NH 69 )

The Mumbai- Indore section of the National Highway No. 3 and the Ahmedabad – Indore section of the National Highway No. 59 are undergoing multi laning under the NHDP program. Other important regional highways are:

• State Highway No. 27 (Indore to Burhanpur)
• State Highway No. 34 (Indore to Jhansi)

LOCAL TRANSPORT

Indore CIty Bus

Indore's Metro Taxi

Indore has a public transport system. Atal Indore City Transport Services Ltd, a PPP scheme operates buses and radio taxis in the city. The buses – designated as City Bus today operate on 36 Routes, with around 170 bus stop stations. The buses are color coded according to their route. Some of these buses are also equipped with services like GPS and IVR (around 300) which are used to track the position of the bus with information displayed on LED displays installed on the bus stops. Local transport also includes Auto rickshaw, Van and Local City Ride Buses called Nagar Seva. Many cab services have recently started serving the city, like Metro taxi, City cabs. The major bus terminals are Sarwate bus terminal, Gangwal bus terminal, Navlakha bus stand .

Demographics

Indore's total population as per the provisional population data for census 2011 is reported to be 1,960,631.

Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%.

As per 2011 census, the city of Indore has an average literacy rate of 87.38%, higher than the national average of 74%. Male literacy was 91.84%, and Female literacy was 82.55% In Indore, 12.72% of the population is under 6 years of age (as per census 2011). The average annual growth rate of population is around 2.85% as per the statistics of census 2001. Hindi is the main language spoken here with Marathi and Malwi spoken as well.

Civic Administration

Indore is administered by the Indore Municipal Corporation.

Some of the regions surrounding the city are administered by the Indore Development Authority (IDA). The IMC was established in 1956 under the Madhya Pradesh Nagar Palika Nigam Adhiniyam. For administrative purposes, the city is divided into 69 wards. These wards have been further divided into 11 zones.

The main institution involved in planning and development in Indore is IDA. The jurisdiction of this agency is demarcated clearly not only physically but also functionally. The principal responsibility of IDA is to ensure a holistic development of the Indore agglomeration covering an area of 9.718 km² as per Master plans.

The corporators are elected from each ward, who in turn elect a mayor. The mayor is responsible for the day-to-day running of the city services, municipal school board, the city bus service, the municipal hospital and the city library. Executive powers are vested in the municipal commissioner, who is an IAS officer appointed by the Madhya Pradesh state government. The Indore City Police are headed by a Inspector General, an IPS officer.

Geography

Indore is located in the western region of Madhya Pradesh, on the southern edge of the Malwa plateau, on the Saraswati and Khan rivers, which are tributaries of the Shipra River.

Indore has an average elevation of 553 meter above mean sea level. It is located on an elevated plain, with the Vindhyas range to the south.

History

The founders of Indore were the ancestors of the present zamindars of the region which spread from the banks of Narmada to the borders of Rajputana. Their headquarters were at a village calledKampel. In Mughal times, the founders of these families received the title of Chaudhari, which established their claim to the land. In the 18th century, the control of Malwa passed to the Peshwa clan, and the Chaudharis came to be known as "Mandloi"s (derived from Mandals meaning districts). The Holkars conferred the title of Rao Raja upon the family. The family retained its possessions of royalty, which included having an elephant, Nishan, Danka and Gadi even after the advent of Holkars and also retained the right of performing the first puja of Dushera (Shami Pujan) before the Holkar rulers.

Under Mughal rule, the family enjoyed great influence and was accorded confirmatory sanads by the Emperors Aurangzeb, Alamgir, and Farukhshayar, confirming their 'Jagir' rights. Rao Nandlal Chaudhary Zamindar, upon visiting the court of Delhi, received a special place in the emperor’s court along with two jewel studded swords (now on display in the Royal British Museum under the family's name) and confirmatory sanads. Raja Savai Jai singh of Jaipur, a personal friend of his, gifted him with a special "Gold Langar" which guaranteed a special place to him in all the Durbars of India. The family’s respectability and influence over Malwa was instrumental in the ascent of the Peshwas and Holkars to rulership of this region.

Rao Nandlal Chaudhary, the founder of Indore, was the Chief Zamindar (landlord), and had an army of 2000 soldiers. In 1713, Nizam was appointed as the controller of the Deccan plateau area, which renewed the struggle between the Marathas and the Mughals.

While visiting the temple of Indreshwar near the banks of river Saraswati, Rao Nandlal found the location to be safe and strategically located, being surrounded by rivers on all sides. He started moving his people in, and constructed the fort of Shree Sansthan Bada Rawala to protect them from harassment by Mughals. The city was named Indrapur (after Lord Indreshwar), and eventually came to be known as Indore.

Baji Rao Peshwa finally took control of Malwa in 1733 A.D. Malhar Rao Holkar was one of the four signatories who guaranteed the proper fulfillment of the conditions. Upon victory the Peshwas appointed Malhar Rao Holkar as a “Subhedar”, which marked the beginning of Holkars' reign in Malwa.

Thus, Indore came to be ruled by the Maratha Maharajas of the Holkar dynasty. The dynasty's founder, Malhar Rao Holkar, (1694–1766), was granted control of Malwa Maratha armies in 1724, and in 1733, was installed as the Maratha governor of the region. By the end of his reign, the Holkar state was de facto independent. He was succeeded by his daughter-in-law Ahilyabai Holkar who ruled from 1767 to 1795. She ruled from a palace-fort at Maheshwar, south of Indore on the Narmada River. Ahilyabai Holkar was an architectural patron who donated money for the construction of Hindu temples across India. In 1818, the Holkars were defeated by the British in the Third Anglo-Maratha War, and the Holkar kingdom became a part of the British Raj. As a result of this defeat in the Battle of Mahidpur, the treaty of Mandsaur was signed, through which the Cantonment town of Mhow was handed over to the British. The treaty also decreed that the capital of the Holkar state would shift from Maheshwar to Indore.

Indore is the 'karmbhumi' of Guru Radha Kishan. There are many respected names from the state who participated in the Indian freedom struggle but his simplicity, selflessness and complete insulation from material desire sets him apart from many others who held high offices in Independent India. His colleagues includes gandhian Prof. Mahesh Dutt Mishr, former Indore MP Homi F Dazi, painterNarayan Shridhar Bendre, freedom fighters Vinayakrao Sahasrbude, Ramchandra Sarvate, Anant Laagu and Padma Vibhushan Vinayak Sarvate.

After India's independence in 1947, Indore, along with a number of neighbouring princely states, became part of the Indian state of Madhya Bharat. Indore was designated the summer capital of this newly created state. On 1 November 1956, Madhya Bharat was merged into Madhya Pradesh and Bhopal was chosen as the capital. The city palace was the seat of administration of the rulers of the Malwa region – The Holkars (26 May 1728 to 20 April 1948).