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The Travel Edit · Central India
Central India, lately.
Ancient cities, forest trails, remarkable architecture and journeys that invite you to slow down. Discover the heart of India.
In these guides, Central India means Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh: Chandela temples and Bundela palaces, Buddhist stupas and painted rock shelters, sal forests and tiger reserves, and the wide waterfalls of Bastar.
Old stone, sal forest
and slow trains.
An introduction
The heart of India
Go slowly. It rewards you.
Central India is where many of the country’s oldest stories are set in stone. The stupa at Sanchi was begun under the emperor Ashoka; the shelters at Bhimbetka carry paintings left over a very long span of human history; the temples of Khajuraho were raised by the Chandelas a thousand years ago. Later came the hill fort of Gwalior, the river palaces of Orchha and the ruined sultanate capital of Mandu.
It is also one of India’s greenest regions. The sal and bamboo forests of Kanha and Bandhavgarh are among the best-known places in the country to look for tigers, the Satpura hills hold Madhya Pradesh’s only hill station, and in Chhattisgarh the Indravati river spills over the broad horseshoe of Chitrakote Falls.
None of it is quick. Distances are long and the best places reward time: a dawn safari repeated over several days, an evening by the chhatris on the Betwa, a weekly market in Bastar. These guides are written for that kind of journey.
Explore Central India
Two states, two characters
Start with a state, then follow its guide into the places worth your time, or begin with the planning guide.
Temples to tiger country.
Collection · 7 guides
Madhya Pradesh
Three UNESCO World Heritage Sites, fort towns and palaces, the pilgrim cities of Malwa, the Satpura hills and India’s best-known tiger reserves.
Collection · 3 guides
Chhattisgarh
One of India’s most forested states: Bastar’s waterfalls and weekly markets, Kanger Valley’s caves, the ancient temples of Sirpur and the Mainpat plateau.
Both states · planning guide
Plan the journey
How the two states fit together: seasons, safari timing, gateways, trains and roads, and five sample routes.
Featured destinations
Where to begin
Six places that show the range of the region, from carved temples to forest and falls.
Madhya Pradesh · Bundelkhand
Khajuraho
Chandela temples, carved stone and the February dance festival.
Madhya Pradesh · Maikal hills
Kanha & Bandhavgarh
Sal forest, meadows and the best-known tiger reserves.
Find your kind of trip
Travel by mood
Six ways into Central India, each linking to the guide that fits.
Editor’s picks
Chosen from the collection
Editor’s pick · Wildlife
Kanha and Bandhavgarh: a practical guide to tiger safaris in Madhya Pradesh
When the core zones open, how to book on the official forest portal, choosing a gate and zone, and how to travel responsibly. No promised sightings, just how it works.
More editor’s picks
Plan a little better
Plan your Central India journey
Practical starting points: seasons, wildlife timing, how to get around and how long to stay.
Book your safari first.
When to go
October to March suits almost everywhere; April to June is very hot; the monsoon fills the waterfalls.
Wildlife seasons and permits
Tiger reserve core zones close for the monsoon (traditionally 1 July to 30 September). Book safaris only on the official MP Forest portal.
Getting there and around
Gateways at Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Gwalior, Khajuraho, Raipur and Jagdalpur; trains for long hops, a car and driver for the rest.
Suggested itineraries
Five routes of five to eight days: northern heritage, heritage and tigers, Malwa, the Satpuras and Chhattisgarh.
The Lifelately Travel Guides
Plan less. Experience more.
Thoughtfully made digital guides to India, region by region. Our first two, Kashmir and Jammu, are out now, with itineraries from one to ten days.
Lifelately Travel Guide
Kashmir
Lakes, mountains, meadows
Available now
Lifelately Travel Guide
Jammu, lately.
Temples, rivers, hill towns
Available now
Lifelately Travel Guide
More of India
Region by region
In the works
Latest stories
Latest from Central India
Original Lifelately guides, researched and written for planning a real trip.
Plan
How to plan a Central India trip: seasons, routes and safari timing
When to go, how many days you need, gateways and five sample routes.
Chhattisgarh
Raipur, Sirpur and Mainpat: Chhattisgarh beyond Bastar
A 7th-century brick temple on the Mahanadi and a Tibetan settlement on a cool plateau.
Madhya Pradesh
Pachmarhi and the Satpura hills: Madhya Pradesh’s forest escape
Waterfalls, caves, Dhupgarh at sunset and the quieter Satpura Tiger Reserve.
Continue exploring
More of India
Other regional collections in the Lifelately Explore India directory.
North India
Kashmir and Ladakh to Rajasthan.
West India
Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat.
South India
Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and more.
East India
West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand.
Northeast India
The eight states of the Northeast.
Islands
Andaman and Nicobar, and Lakshadweep.
Sources · UNESCO: Khajuraho; Sanchi; Bhimbetka; MP tiger reserve monsoon closure (Outlook Traveller); MP Forest safari booking; GOV.UK travel advice. Each guide lists its own sources. Last checked 31 October 2026.
Image credits · Photography (stock images, not the author’s own), via Unsplash under the Unsplash License: Deepak Gupta (Western Group of temples, Khajuraho), Lakshmi Narasimha (Tiger on a forest track, Kanha; Tiger in dry grass, Bandhavgarh), Ameena Tasneem (The Great Stupa, Sanchi), Rohan Sah (Forest canopy, Mainpat), Amit Mukherjee (Hillside at Mainpat), Chirag Vashist (Man Singh Palace, Gwalior Fort), Gyanaprakash Maharana (Chitrakote Falls, Bastar), Siddhesh Mangela (Sculpted wall, Khajuraho), Shruti Singh (Raja Mahal, Orchha), Amit Jain (Safari vehicles, Bandhavgarh), Aru Jain (Rock shelter, Bhimbetka), Jatin Jangid (Rani Rupmati’s Pavilion, Mandu), Manish Patel (Rock ledges and falls, Bastar), Varun Pyasi (Kandariya Mahadeva Temple, Khajuraho), Aakansha Agrawal (Jahaz Mahal, Mandu), Ishan Jain (Gwalior Fort), Vidhyasagar Dixit (The Satpura hills, Pachmarhi).
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