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Visakhapatnam & Waltair

Pop: 1.2 million Area Code: 0891

Visakhapatnam is called Viraz for short. There are a couple of nice beaches in this city, with crystal-clear warm ocean water. Two beaches are Mission Beach, about 3km from downtown, and Lawson Beach, 6km away. Ramakrishna Beach, along Lawson Bay, is a good beach. One of the best beaches is about 10km north, at Rishikonda. Because of the strong current, swimming can be dangerous here. Swimming at the harbor end of the beach is not recommended.

The main spiritual reason to come here is to go the Varaha Narasimha temple at Simhachalam, 16km north of Visakhapatnam.

Information
The railway station is a couple of km from the center of the city. It is about 1½ km from the bus stand.

The APSRTC State Tourist office (563-016) is on the 1st Floor of the Nehru Nagar Complex (Mon to Sat 10 am to 5 pm). There is also a tourist office at the railway station. They do a tour of the city for Rs 75.

Taj Travels (555-141; 555-985), Meghalaya Hotel, is an established travel agency.
Non-guests can use the pools in the Palm Beach and Hotel Park for a fee.

Where to Stay—Lower
The Retiring Rooms at the bus stand are well-maintained and a good value. At the railway station there are large, good standard Retiring Rooms for Rs 250, as well as cheaper dorm beds.
Hotel Poorna (562-344), Main Rd, has rooms with bath for Rs 100/140.
Hotel Prasanth (565-282), Main Rd, has clean rooms with bath for Rs 125/165.
Hotel Karanths (69347), 33 Patel Marg, near the railway station, is a good, reasonably priced place that has clean rooms with bath.
Saga Lodge, near the beach, has rooms with common bath and some with bath and a balcony. It is a good place.

Where to Stay—Middle To High
Meghalaya (555-141; fax 555-824), Asilametta Junction, near the bus stand, is a good place with rooms for Rs 300/350 and Rs 400/450 with A/C. It is a recommended, well-managed place.
The three-star Hotel Daspalla (564-825; fax 562-043), Suryabagh, in the center of town, has rooms for Rs 450/500 and Rs 650/700 with A/C. It is a good place with two good vegetarian restaurants.
The four-star Dolphin Hotel (567-000), Dadagardens, in the center of town, has a pool and rooms for Rs 695/895 up to Rs 1500/1600. It has a good rooftop restaurant. It is well-managed and it is best to book it in advance. Recommended.
The three-star Hotel Apsara (564-861), Waltair Main Rd, costs Rs 700/850 for a room with A/C. It is a friendly place.
The best places to stay are the beach hotels in Waltair.
The two-star Ocean View Inn (554-828; fax 563-234), at the northern end of the beach, is a good, comfortable, quiet place. Rooms are Rs 400/500 and Rs 500/600 for an A/C room.
Palm Beach Hotel (554-026), north end of Beach Rd, has a good location, but is a little run-down. It is a good choice for a cheaper middle-class place near the beach. Rooms are Rs 500/600 and Rs 500/600 with A/C.
One of the best places in town is the friendly modern Park Hotel (554-488; fax 554-181), Beach Rd, right next to the beach, which has comfortable A/C rooms for Rs 1150/1950 and suites for Rs 3000. It has a bookshop and a clean pool.
Taj Residency Visakhapatnam (567-756; fax 564-370), Beach Rd, has recently been refurbished and has rooms facing the sea starting at $55/65. It has a pool.

Where to Eat
Swagath Restaurant, Main Rd near Poorna Market, has good cheap food.
There are two good restaurants at the Hotel Daspalla, one South Indian and the Vaisakhi Restaurant, which serves North Indian cuisine.

Travel
Air Indian Airlines (546-501; Airport 558-221) has flights to Bhubaneswar ($105), Calcutta ($130), Chennai ($105), Delhi ($255), Hyderabad ($100) and Mumbai ($175). The airport is 15km from the city center. An auto-rickshaw is around Rs 75 and taxi Rs 150.

Train Visakhapatnam is on the main route between Calcutta and Chennai. Bhubaneswar Coromandel Exp #2842 (10.35 pm, 7 hr), Calcutta Coromandel Exp #2842 (10.35 pm, 13 hr), Howrah-Chennai Mail #6004 (2 pm, 17 hr), Chennai Coromandel Exp #2842 (4.50 am, 13 hr), Howrah-Chennai Mail #6004 (2.30 pm, 17 hr), Hyderabad (700km) Godavari Express #7007 (5 pm, 11 hr), Konark Exp #1020 (10 pm, 13 hr). There are also trains to Tirupati, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), Bangalore, and Puri via Bhubaneswar. You can connect for a train to Mumbai by first going to Hyderabad or Nagpur.
Trains are often delayed, especially during the rainy season. It is a good idea to phone the railway station in advance to get information about the departure of your train. The phone number is 69421, Reservations (546-234), Enquiries (569-421).

Bus You can get buses to all over the state and Puri in Orissa from the bus station (546-400). It is convenient to take a bus to Srikakulam (3 hr) from here, as the train station in Srikakulam is 15km out of the way.

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