Bhimbetka and Bhojpur Sightseeing Tour from Bhopal

Explore the ancient caves of Bhimbetka, observe the cave paintings and take a tour of the historical and religious town of Bhojpur.

Highlights

• Bhimbetka is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, famous for its stone age cave paintings.
• Take a tour of the famous town of Bhojpur and pay a visit to the Bhojeswar Temple.
• Service of an experienced driver and a comfortable vehicle. 

Detailed overview

The caves in Bhimbetka are named after “bheema” one of the five Pandava of Mahabharata. They are important prehistoric caves and architecture for India. There are about 600 caves with cave paintings as its primary attraction. This is a must visit place for tourists interested in history. These are Stone Age paintings and approximately 30,000 years old.

Bhojpur is named after the ruler Bhoja the most celebrated ruler of the Paramāra dynasty who reigned this region for 55 years from 1000 to1055 CE. There is no archaeological evidence from Bhojpur before the eleventh century, a fact confirmed by local legends which recount how Bhoja made a vow to build a series of dams "to arrest the streams of nine rivers and ninety-nine rivulets". A location was found in the kingdom that allowed the king to fulfil this vow and the dams were duly built at Bhojpur.

Itinerary

• The tour begins with the pick-up from the guest's hotel/residence in Bhopal city limits.
• Bhimbetka which is about 50 kilometres from Bhopal and may take up to 2 hours to reach Bhimbetka.
• This site is spread over 10 kilometres and has over 750 caves, explore the caves and the 30,000-year-old cave paintings.
• The paintings exhibit the earliest traces of human life on the Indian subcontinent and evidence of Stone Age starting at the site in Acheulian times.
  
• After the caves, head to the next destination, Bhojpur.
• Bhojpur is about 35 kilometres from Bhimbetka, it is famous for the Bhojeswar Temple.
• On reaching Bhojpur, the first stop will be the iconic Bhojeswar Temple, this temple houses 7.5 feet Shiva Idol.
• This temple is an incomplete piece of architecture but has its own charm. The construction of this temple began in the 11th-century and was halted for an unknown reason, one can find remains of the architectural pieces in the site of the quarries in Bhojpur.
• Bhojpur also has an unfinished Jain Temple, the temple houses of principal deity Bhagwan Shantinath in standing posture (22½ feet in height).
• On both sides of this idol, 2 standing beautiful idols of Bhagwan Parshvanath & Suparshvanath (7th Teerthankar) 8 feet in height each are installed.
• The guests can also visit the Parvati Caves which are immediately opposite the Bhojeswar temple, on the west side of the gorge facing the Betwā.
• Bhojpur also has the remains of Raja Bhoj's Palace, only the foundations remain now.
• At the completion of the day tour, the guests will be dropped back to the hotel/residence in Bhopal.