Bhopal
Bhopal is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division.

Bhopal is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the City of Lakes, due to presence of various natural and artificial lakes near the city boundary. It is also one of the greenest cities in India. It is the 16th largest city in India and 131st in the world. After the formation of Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal was part of the Sehore district. It was bifurcated in 1972 and a new district, Bhopal, was formed. Flourishing around 1707, the city was the capital of the former Bhopal State, a princely state of the British ruled by the Nawabs of Bhopal until India's independence in 1947. India achieved independence on 15 August 1947. Bhopal was one of the last states to sign the ‘Instrument of Accession’. The ruler of Bhopal acceded to the Indian government, and Bhopal became an Indian state on 1 May 1949. Sindhi refugees from Pakistan were accommodated in Bairagarh, a western suburb of Bhopal.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around Bhopal
10 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.
- 01Taj-ul-Masajid
The Taj-ul-Masajid, also known as the Tāj-ul-Masjid, is a Sunni mosque, affiliated with Tablighi Jamaat, part of the Deobandi movement, located in Bhopal, in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. With capacity for c. 26,000 worshippers, it is the largest mosque in India and, as of 2014, was the ninth largest mosque in the world.
2.1 km · mosque in India · Wikipedia - 02Van Vihar National Park
Van Vihar National Park is a national park in Bhopal, the capital city of Madhya Pradesh in central India. Declared a national park in 1979, it covers an area of about 4.45 km2.
5.5 km · national park in Madhya Pradesh, India · Wikipedia - 03Bhojtal
Bhojtal, also known as Upper Lake, is a large lake which lies on the western side of the capital city of Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal, India. It is a major source of drinking water for the residents of the city, serving around 40% of the residents with nearly 30 million imperial gallons of water per day.
7.5 km · lake near Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India · Wikipedia - 04Taj Mahal Palace
Taj Mahal is a palace built by Sultan Shah Jahan, Begum of Bhopal. It is located beside the Taj-ul-Masajid in Bhopal, India.
2.2 km · Taj Mahal Palace,Bhopal · Wikipedia - 05Bharat Bhavan
Bharat Bhavan is an autonomous multi-arts complex and museum in Bhopal, India, established and funded by the Government of Madhya Pradesh. The architect of the Bharat Bhavan is Charles Correa.
2.4 km · autonomous multi-arts complex and museum in Bhopal, India · Wikipedia - 06Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal
The Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology Bhopal is a public technical university located in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. It is part of a group of publicly funded institutions in India known as National Institutes of Technology.
4.8 km · public university in Bhopal, India · Wikipedia - 07State Museum, Bhopal
The State Museum Bhopal is located on Shymala Hills, in Bhopal, the capital city of the state of Madhya Pradesh in India. It is popular for its design and the breadth of its inventory of art and cultural artefacts.
2.5 km · museum in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh · Wikipedia - 08All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal
All India Institute of Medical Sciences Bhopal is a medical research public university and Institute of National Importance, located in the Saket Nagar suburb of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. It is one of the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences established by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojna.
7.6 km · medical institute in India · Wikipedia - 09Bhoj Wetland
The Bhoj Wetland consists of two lakes located in the city of Bhopal, the capital of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The two lakes are the Bhojtal & the Lower Lake, which lie to the west of the city center.
7.5 km · two lakes (Bhojtal and the Lower Lake) in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India · Wikipedia - 10Moti Masjid, Bhopal
The Moti Masjid is a mosque located in Bhopal, in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. The mosque was commissioned by Sikandar Jahan and was completed in 1860.
1.4 km · mosque in Bhopal, India · Wikipedia
Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What Wikivoyage says to see
Bhopal is a city rich in heritage and history. It's an amalgam of the old and the new, the rich and the poor, the wide roads of New Bhopal and the narrow "gullies" of Old Bhopal and a mix of planned development on one side with urban sprawl on the other. There are various places of worship in Bhopal, both old and new, that will give you a glimpse into the Mughal architecture, some of it from before the British raj.
- 01Taj-ul-Masajid
One of the largest mosques in the country.
- 02Laxminarayan Temple
- 03Manua Bhan Tekari
A very beautiful place with an ancient Shwetambar Jain temple on the hill.
- 04Bharat Bhavan
Swaminathan Marg, Shamla Hills, Near Upper Lake,.
- 05MP Tribal Museum
The exhibits depict the ways of living of various tribes across India.
- 06Shaurya Smarak
A war memorial, museum and public park honouring Indian soldiers, in particular those from the state of Madhya Pradesh, who have fought in recent wars.
From Wikivoyage: Bhopal, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Things to do
Bhopal is a fairly quiet city for nightlife, and has few clubs and bars. Most of the restaurants close around 11PM, although many in the larger hotels have bars that are open at least midnight. The hotels of Amer Palace and The Residency in the Maharana Pratap Nagar have nightclubs.
From Wikivoyage: Bhopal, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Where to eat
Bhopal, like any other north Indian city offers a rich Indian cuisine to explore. People enjoy eating the sweet - sour and spicy "chaat" in Bhopal. Due to the Mughal influence, Bhopal also offers delicacies like Kebabs, Goat Biryani, Chicken Tikka, Jalebi, and Ras Malai. The best chicken Biryani can be tasted at Jameel Hotel in old Bhopal.
- 01Hotel Rajhans
Tasty and unlimited thalis at a very reasonable price.
- 02Indian Coffee House
Manohar Dairy and Restaurant, Hamidiya Road.
- 03Pin & Pan Cafe
Fortune Business Arcade, near Aakriti Ecocity, Bawadiya Kalan, Salaiya, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh 462026, info@pinandpancafe.com.
From Wikivoyage: Bhopal, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Getting to Bhopal
- Airports
- Raja Bhoj (BHO), 8 km · Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar (IDR), 175 km · Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar (NAG), 294 km
- Stations
- Raja Bhoj Airport, 8.3 km · Rani Kamalapati railway station, 4.9 km · Sant Hirdaram Nagar railway station, 8 km · Bhopal Nishatpura railway station, 3.5 km
- Indore → Bhopal171 km · quickest by road, 4h 24m · ₹1,240–1,540
- Nagpur → Bhopal291 km · quickest by road, 5h 21m · ₹2,280–2,850
- Jaipur → Bhopal439 km · quickest by air, 5h 59m · ₹5,740–8,830
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Bhopal
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Bhopal. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- 01807 km
- 02856 km
- 03887 km
- 04905 km
- 05932 km
If you know how people move in Bhopal – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Bhopal
- Arera Colonyhuman settlement in India5.7 km
- Barkheda, Bhopalhuman settlement in India7.2 km
- Govindpura, Bhopalhuman settlement in India6.6 km
- Lamba Khedahuman settlement in Bhopal district, Bhopal division, Madhya Pradesh, India7.5 km
- Deval Khedivillage in Madhya Pradesh, India8.1 km
- Ghat Khedi, Bhopalvillage in Madhya Pradesh, India7.6 km