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Gorakhpur

Pop: 600,000 Area Code: 0551

One may come here because it is the closest major rail junction to the Nepal border, or it may be used as a base to go to Kushinagar (53km), where Buddha left his body. Gorakhpur is named after a Shaivite yogi, Gorakhnath, and there is the Gorakhnath Temple dedicated to him about a few km northwest of the center of town. It is also known as the home of Geeta Press, which is a huge publisher of Hindu religious literature.

Gorakhpur is 230km north of Varanasi. It is a totally uninteresting city and most people will want to leave it as soon as they arrive.

Information
There are Tourist Offices (335-450) at 7 Park Rd (335-450), and at the railway station. You can change money at the State Bank of India on Bank Rd. There is a post office inside the railway station, to the left of the entrance.

Where to Stay
To catch the 5 am bus to Sunauli it is convenient to stay at a hotel across from the railway station.
The Retiring Rooms at the station have dorm beds for Rs 50, standard rooms for Rs 125/175, and A/C room for Rs 200/300.
Modern Hotel Raj and Hotel Gupta both have very basic rooms with bath for about Rs 100/150.
Hotel Raj (336-759), Station Rd, has air-cooled rooms for Rs 200.
Hotel Siddhartha (334-976) has rooms for Rs 160/200 and Rs 350/400 with A/C. 24-hour checkout. Ask to see a few rooms before choosing one, as they are different.
Elora (200-647), Station Rd, is one of the better hotels by the railway station. It has rooms for Rs 125/175 with bath and TV and Rs 350/450 with A/C. The rooms in the back are relatively quiet. 24-hour checkout.
Standard Hotel (336-439), Station Rd, has rooms for Rs 175/225. It is one of the best budget places
Ganges (333-530), Tarang Cinema Crossing, has modern comfortable rooms. It is one of the best hotels in town and it has good restaurants. It is a well-managed, recommended place.
Upvan (336-503), Nepal Rd, near the Bobina Hotel, is a well-managed good place with clean rooms.
Shalimar (337-502), Ghosh Company Chowkha, is a very good-value budget place in the center of town.
Hotel Yark Inn (338-233), MP Building, Golghar, is a well-managed place with rooms with bath for Rs 150/200 and with A/C for Rs 450/500.
Hotel Marina (337-630), in the center of town, is a good place with good-sized, clean rooms for Rs 200/250 and Rs 500 for a room with A/C and TV. 24-hour checkout.
Nearby is the Hotel President (337-654), Golghar area, off the main road. A room with bath and TV is Rs 350/450 and Rs 550/650 with A/C. 24-hour checkout. Of these two places the Hotel Marina is a better value, with almost similar rooms.

Where to Eat
Ganesh Restaurant is a recommended vegetarian South Indian place with good food.
Queen’s Restaurant in the Hotel President is one of the best places in town. It is open until 11 pm.
Bobi’s at the Ambar Hotel in the center of town, is a decent place, which serves meals, baked goods and ice cream.
The restaurant in the Ganges Hotel is good.

Travel
Train Gorakhpur is an important railway junction. Trains to Delhi are the Vaishali Exp #2553 (5.40 pm, 14½ hr, 780km) via Lucknow (5 hr, 278km) and the Barauni-Amritsar Exp #5207 (12.45 pm, 17 hr). There are four trains daily to Varanasi that take between 6 and 9 hours. To Mumbai is the Dadar Exp #1028 (via Allahabad and Varanasi, 4.30 am, 35 hr) and the Kushinagar Exp #1016 (7 pm, 30 hr). There is a 1.30 pm train to Agra, which arrives at Agra Fort Station the next morning. Calcutta Howrah Bagh Exp #3020 (1.15 pm, 23 hr).

It is easier and faster to take a bus to Sunauli than to take the train. An Indrail Pass can be purchased at the railway station with foreign currency.

Bus There are three bus stands in Gorakhpur. From the bus stand near the railway station (three minute walk from the station) there are regular buses to the border town of Sunauli (3 hr, Rs 35). To guarantee getting a morning bus to Kathmandu or Pokhara you have to get a bus before 6 am from Gorakh­pur. Private buses to Sunauli leave from in front of the train station.

Travel agents offer through buses to Kathmandu. You still have to change buses at the border, and it is cheaper and more reliable to do it yourself.
Be careful of the ticket touts (commission agents) at the train and bus stations. Their through tickets to Kathmandu are not always reliable and cost two to four times more than doing it yourself. Also you are stuck with what they arrange for you, rather than going at your own pace and arranging it yourself, which is easily done. There is absolutely no reason to buy a bus ticket to Kathmandu from them. They are usually total rip-offs. During the high seasons, however, they can be useful to get you a hard-to-get train ticket and to change Nepali rupees.

The buses to Kushinagar (1½ hr, every 30 min, Rs 20) depart from the bus stand by the train station.

Some buses to Varanasi (6½ hr, Rs 75) and all the buses to Lucknow (7 hr, Rs 90), Patna (Rs 90), and Faizabad (3 hr, Rs 40) leave from the Katchari bus stand, 1km south of the train station. The main bus stand for Varanasi (6½ hr) is at Pedlleyganj, 2km southeast of the train station.

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