Jorhat

Jorhat is a city of about 150,000 people (as of 2011) in Assam. It was the capital of the Ahom Kingdom.

Get in
The city of Jorhat is well connected by rail, road and air modes of transport.

By plane
For visitors, the most convenient way of reaching Jorhat is by air.

By train
Railway is the next most convenient way to get to Jorhat. The main railway station is the Mariani junction, 17 km from the city centre, through which every train passes by (railway code:MXN). Important trains including Rajdhani Express and Brahmaputra Mail stop there. A loop line connects Mariani to Jorhat Town Station (railway code:JTTN). Only long-distance trains run through Jorhat Town Station — namely, InterCity Express, and Janasatabdi Exp. — are connected to the state capital, Guwahati.

By road
The National Highway No. 37 (NH37), running through the heart of Jorhat, connects the city to the airports of Dibrugarh (approximately a three-hour drive) and Guwahati (approximately a six-hour drive), respectively. The same National Highway also acts as a gateway to the neighbouring states of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.

Get around
The historical city of Sivasagar (the former Ahom Dynasty's capital) is on one end of the district and the Kaziranga National Park on the other. Rented taxi services (both pre-paid and post-paid) can be arranged from most hotels and lodges in the city. Daily ferry boats to the world's largest fluvial island (Majuli) can be boarded from Jorhat and most of those travel arrangements can be made straight from the city hotels.

See




Do
Visit Kaziranga National Park located 96 km from Jorhat, a journey likely to take around two hours by road. The park is open from November to April.

The park covers some 430 sq km of varied terrain. The elephant grass, cane, forest and swamps offer a variety of habitats for the local wildlife, including the one-horned rhino, wild buffalo, sambar deer and wild pig as well as a wide range of birds. The last tiger count suggests a park population of 86, the highest density population of tigers in India. However the lush jungle means visitors are by no means guaranteed a sighting any of these.

Safaris into the park can be arranged locally. In addition to jeep safaris, elephant safaris to working animals of the Indian Forestry Department are possible. however the jeep safaris allow the visitor to cover a larger portion of the park than is possible on an elephant.

Buy

 * Ethnic handicrafts, of the north east and Assam are available in many shops in Jorhat.
 * Local Shopping, Gar-Ali is the main shopping area of the city. Apart from Gar-Ali shops, Big Bazaar, Raaga, Sohum Shoppe, Vishal Mega Mart and Max Mart are other shopping outlets of Jorhat.

Eat


Hotel restaurants:


 * Fusion Asiana restaurant with some ethnic flavours.

Go next

 * East to Sivasagar, famous for the historical monuments of the Ahom era.
 * South-west to Golaghat, one of the oldest urban centres, and administrative divisions of Assam, since 1839.