Time of visit

Visitors from cooler places are advised to visit Orissa during October to March. Weather during this period is very pleasant and will be a pleasure for them to travel. This period also witnesses millions of migratory birds fly from north to Orissa. Orissa is also a pleasure during other part of the year. Though very high temperature is noticed during May-July, but still the evenings of Summerâ??s will make you forget the high temperature of the day. Summer evenings in the Capital City are a pleasure though Summer evenings in places like Sambalpur, Titilagarh are worse than the Summer days of other parts of Orissa. Sambalpur & Titilagarh witness the highest ever temperature recorded in other parts of India. In the day time the temperature rises to 50+ degrees while in late night the temperature never comes down below 35 degree. A couple of weeks of heavy rains during the monsoons also adds to the beauty of the State. However, at an average the climate of the State is very much to the advantage of visitors. In fact, these so called off seasons are the best times to get fabulous deals on accommodation, local transport etc.

Enter Orissa

Enter the city through the Capital as it is the most convenient and well connected to all other parts by train/air/road. In case, you plan to visit only the southern part of Orissa, you can enter through Berhampur which is connected to Vizag through Kolkota-Chennai Railway line and NH-5 which connects Kolkota and Chennai. There is an entry point through Balasore through Kolkota for peoples wanting to visit Similipal. For visiting western parts of Orissa, Rourkela and Sambalpur makes ideal entry points through Kolkota.

Airlines

Bhubaneswar is well connected by air to all major cities of India. For visitors coming from abroad, whether you enter India from Mumbai, Kolkata, New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore or Hyderabad, you will find convenient flights to Bhubaneswar. To get the current schedules of flights to Bhubaneswar, please visit www.indian-airlines.com for Indian Airlines and Alliance Air flights and www.airsahara.net for Air Sahara flights.

Rail

Bhubaneswar, Puri, Balasore, Cuttack, Khurda Road and Berhampur are major railheads on the East Coast Railway. Besides, other locations like Rourkela, Sambalpur, Talcher, Dheknanal and Koraput are also linked to the major cities by rail. To get the list of trains and their schedules, please visit www.indianrail.gov.in. Domestic tourists can also book their tickets online at www.irctc.co.in.

Road

Orissa has a fine network of roads crisscrossing through the length and breadth of the state. In fact, to visit many of the destinations in the state, the preferred mode of travel is by road even when rail links are available. This is because the journey through the hinterland is an end in itself. Roads in Orissa has developed a lot in last couple of years and journey by road will be a pleasure for all visitors.

Some Useful Information for Tourists coming to Orissa

ATM Counters

All major cities and towns of Orissa now have ATM's which accept VISA and Mastercard as well as bank ATM cards. The list of major banks who hold ATM counters are UTI Bank, ICICI bank, IDBI bank, SBI, Syndicate Bank, Centurion Bank.

Currency Changers

Most banks now have currency conversion facilities. In addition, the following organizations also provide conversion facilities:

- LKP Forex, Mastercanteen Square, Bhubaneswar

- SITA Travels, Bapuji Nagar, Bhubaneswar

Banks that facilitate currency conversions are

State Bank of India, Commercial Branch, Near IG Park

State Bank of India, IDCO Towers

apart from a few others

Weather

There are a number of sites on the Net that give details of the weather in various cities of Orissa. Some of them are:

- http://weather.123india.com/orissa/

- http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=india

- http://www.imd.ernet.in/section/nhac/dynamic/osimd.htm

Cuisine

Most of the hotels in Orissa have restaurants, which offer a good variety of Indian and Continental and Chinese food. You will also find restaurants that specialize in a certain cuisine such as South Indian, Marwari, Gujurati, Thai, etc. On the highways, you can sample the taste of Punjabi food at the dhaba's that are frequented by long distance truck drivers.

Orissa however has a distinct cuisine of its own with unique dishes that are both nourishing and mouth-watering. Most of the reputed hotels have an array of traditional Oriya dishes available. In addition there are some restaurants such as Dalma, Odissa Hotel in Bhubaneswar, which provide only traditional Oriya cuisine.

Government Tourist Offices

There are a number of Tourist Offices run by the State and Central governments for the benefit of visitors to Orissa. The list is available in this website. Check for Government Tourist Offices.

Communications

The State is well connected to all the places by the way of Town Buses, Auto Rickshaws, & Cycle Rickshaws. In addition to that there are some other modes of connection such as Telephones & Cyber cafes.

Telephones:

You can find public phones (called STD/ISD booths) at most places in Orissa where you can make long distance calls. Orissa currently has a couple of GSM based and two CDMA based mobile phone services. BSNL, Reliance Telecom & Airtel are some of the GSM based mobile service providers in the state and have pre-paid cards, which can be used by tourists.

Cyber Cafe's:

Most of the towns and cities in Orissa now have Internet access and one can find Internet cafe's at all major centers. Visitors can check mail and browse comfortably without any problem.