It was the Christmas weekend of 2022 that we started our tour of Visakhapatnam (popularly known as Vizag), the largest city of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. This port city attracts lakhs of tourists every year due to its unique landscape – an array of hillocks on one side and an unending coastline along the Bay of Bengal on the other. Apart from the immensely popular and crowded Ramakrishna Beach and Rushikonda (or Rishikonda) Beach, the unspoilt beaches of Yarada, Bheemili, Thotlakonda and Tenneti Park attract every beach lover.
How to plan for a trip of Visakhapatnam?
The Christmas week being the most crowded travel-week pan India, Visakhapatnam was no exception. In fact, in some places, we had to waste a lot of time standing in long serpentine queues. So, we missed to visit a few important attractions. At the end of this Blog, I would list down all important landmarks (including the ones that we couldn’t visit) which you can explore as per your preference.
We had planned for a 2-day trip to Vizag, and it was a little hectic. If you want a relaxed vacation, or if you are visiting in such peak season, you can plan for 2.5 to 3 days.
Our itinerary for Vizag :
- Day 1 morning: Reach Visakhapatnam early in the morning. After checking into our hotel, visit Ramakrishna Beach and Matsyadarshini Aquarium.
- Day 1 afternoon: Post lunch, travel north to visit Fishing Harbour, Ross Hill Church, Dolphin’s Nose Lighthouse and Yarada Beach.
- Day 1 evening: Come back to Ramakrishna Beach and visit TU 142 Aircraft Museum and Victory at Sea War Memorial.
- Day 2: Board the early morning train to Araku.
- Day 3: Travel back to Vizag by car. On the way, visit the Simhachalam Temple. Visit Lumbini Park in the evening.
- Day 4 morning: Visit Tenneti Park & Beach, Kailasagiri Hill.
- Day 4 afternoon: Visit Rushikonda Beach, Thotlakonda Buddhist complex and View Point, Thotlakonda Beach, Natural Arch, Bheemili Beach.
Day 1 morning:
Our overnight train from Howrah reached Visakhapatnam around 9 AM. We had booked our hotel less than a KM from the railway station, as we had our train to Araku next day at 6.45 AM. After checking into Hotal Morya and taking our bath, we took an auto rickshaw to the Ramakrishna Beach.
Ramakrishna Beach (or RK Beach in short) is one of the most popular beaches and is centrally located along the city’s coastline. A lot of places of interest are in close proximity of each other here. These include the Matsyadarshini Aquarium, Submarine Museum, TU 142 Aircraft Museum, Victory at Sea War Memorial, Visakha Museum (a Naval museum), Visakhapatnam Lighthouse and VUDA Park (a beach-side park).
The beach is even popular with local residents, who throng the place after sunset to enjoy the cool evening breeze. It is then that hawkers set up beach-side fast-food stalls.
After strolling down the RK Beach and wetting our feet in the cool sea water, we headed for the Matsyadarshini Aquarium. It is a small enclosure that houses many species of fish and turtles. The kids enjoyed a lot. The exit gate of the aquarium resembles the open jaws of a shark.
There is a Kali Temple nearby, which is well known for the sandhya arati prayers.
We were hungry by now, and had our lunch at a nearby restaurant.
Day 1 afternoon:
We didn’t book a dedicated car for today, and that was the only major blunder of this trip. For the attractions to the North of the city, I had thought of hiring Ola/ Uber rentals on the fly. But after several bookings and subsequent refusals, we had to book a local auto. The auto trip was not at all comfortable, as we had to climb or cross at-least 2 hills and the road condition was also not good in certain stretches.
Anyways, our first stop was at the Fishing Harbour. The local fishermen voyage to the sea in large trawlers from his harbour. Once they are back with their prized catches, the fishes are sold both to the wholesale and retail customers.
We saw many trawlers parked ashore, and tons and tons of fish being dried on their open decks.
If you are a vegetarian or if you can’t withstand the smell of live or dried fish, this is surely not a place you would love to visit.
Next we moved towards the Ross Hill church. Sitting atop the Central Hill, the church premises offer astounding views of the surrounding Port area. After wandering around for a while and clicking some wonderful snaps, we went inside the church, sat on the wooden benches and soothed our mind and soul.
Situated on the top of another hill, the Dolphin Nose Lighthouse is also a popular place where tourists flock in hundreds. Named after a rocky cliff that resembles the nose of a dolphin, the lighthouse caters to stunning panoramic views of the Bay of Bengal.
The lighthouse is open every day from 3PM to 5 PM only. So, you need to plan your visit accordingly. Also, the place is guarded and maintained by the Army. So, you would need to carry your ID card and register your details at the army check-post.
Yarada Beach was our last destination for the afternoon. Nestled between the Bay of Bengal on one side, hills on the other and bordered by coconut trees, Yarada is one of the finest beaches of the city. Away from the hustle and bustle of city life, it offers the perfect solitude in nature’s lap. Too few tourists travel this far, which provides you the perfect opportunity to get into a state of oblivion all day long.
We walked over the sandy beach for more than a Kilometer, witnessing the waves lashing on the shores and the fishermen returning back home after their day in the sea.
Day 1 evening:
It was getting dark when we started from Yarada Beach. The auto rickshaw brought us back to Ramakrishna Beach and dropped us in front of the TU 142 Aircraft Museum. The Submarine Museum is just opposite to it, and both had a huge queue.
We decided to stand in the queue for the Aircraft Museum. After half an hour, we were able to get inside.
The TU 142 Aircraft Museum is actually a Naval museum, and houses a real anti-submarine aircraft that has served the Indian Navy. Visitors can get inside the body of the decommissioned aircraft and walk its entire length. Apart from that, the main hall of the museum exhibits individual components of an aircraft like engine, propeller, data recorder, pilot’s cabin etc. and also weapons like anti-submarine missiles. It also displays murals to depict life and work of Navy personnel, like the uniforms used by them, escape routes in case of an emergency etc.
The Submarine Museum is another very popular attraction in Vizag. Here, a decommissioned submarine named INS Kursura, which took part in the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971, has been converted to a museum. It is a must-visit place if you are in the city.
Unfortunately, the queue in front of the museum had by now soared to more than a Kilometer, and the entry gate was very much ill-managed. So, we decided not to spend time in the queue, and walk to the Victory at Sea War Memorial.
This War Memorial was constructed to pay tribute to the Indian Navy commandoes who represented the country to victory in the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971. Although the entrance to the memorial had been closed indefinitely, we could see the monument from outside.
That day, we retired early in our hotel, as we had an early morning train to catch.
Day 2:
Our train, Kirandul Passenger, to Araku was scheduled to depart at 6.45 AM. We were super excited as we got our tickets in the wide-glassed Vistadome coach. The journey through numerous tunnels and green valley was really enthralling, which I have narrated here.
In the afternoon, we visited the nearby attractions of the Araku town and also enjoyed the Bamboo chicken.
Day 3:
Next day, we had planned for a road trip back to Visakhapatnam. We started from Araku around 8.30 AM. On the way, we visited Borra Caves, Galikonda View Point, Anantagiri Coffee Plantations, Tatiguda Waterfall and Dumuku View Point.
Around 4 PM, we entered Vizag and took a detour towards the Simhachalam Temple.
Perched on top of a hill and surrounded by lush green forest, the Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Temple in Simhachalam is an immensely popular religious site for the people of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Varaha Narasimha (a form of Lord Vishnu) is worshipped here. On the way to the hill top, we stopped a few times to enjoy the view of the city below.
Apart from its religious importance, Simhachalam Temple bears significance for it architectural value. We were amazed by the exquisite carvings and spectacular sculptures on the walls of the temple. Unfortunately, photography is strictly not allowed inside, and we could only click the picture of the outside structure.
There are 3 separate queues at the entrance:
- Free entrance, which will take almost your whole day to visit the deity.
- Rs. 100 ticket, for which you need to spend a couple of hours in the queue.
- Rs. 300 ticket, which will directly take you inside the garbhagriha for the darshan. We had opted for this one.
For our night stay in Vizag, we had our booking in the Andhra Pradesh Tourism-run Yatrinivas Haritha Hotel, overlooking the Bay of Bengal.
After freshening up at the hotel and energizing ourselves with hot cups of tea and equally hot pakodas, we went to the Lumbini Park. It is a small park just opposite to our hotel, with a centrally located statue of Lord Buddha. Local residents come here on a regular basis for morning and evening walk.
On one side is a children’s park, with variety of play items. Our kids enjoyed their entire evening here.
Day 4 morning:
After the complementary breakfast of Dosa, Idly and Vada, we checked out of Haritha around 9 AM. Our car was already waiting for us. We had already spoken to the car rental agency that, we would go for sightseeing for the entire day, and in the evening the car would drop us at the Railway station.
Tenneti Park and Beach:
Our first stop for the day was at the Tenneti Park, about a KM away from the Haritha Hotel. It is one of the oldest sea-side parks of the city, and is known for breathtaking sunrise and sunset.
As we entered through the small gates, we were skeptical of what lay inside. But soon we were amazed by the vast green manicured gardens full of different variety of plants and cacti.
Further down, a pathway descends towards the beach, where stands an abandoned Bangladeshi cargo vessel named M V Maa, which got drifted to the shore and could never get back to the sea. We went down to the beach and near the ship, but its entry gate had been cordoned off from the visitors.
I have read online that the Andhra Pradesh Government has plans to convert the ship to a floating restaurant. That would surely make the place even more popular.
Kailasagiri Hill:
Just opposite to the Tenneti Park is the Kailasagiri Hill. You can opt for a cable car (ropeway) from the base of the hill to reach the top. This ride offers spectacular views of the sea, as you move upwards or downwards. But we were too early for that (the service commences at 11 AM). So, we travelled by our car.
There is a park at the hilltop, which is spread across a huge area. It is very popular among children, and has landscaped gardens, play area, eating joints and huge marble statues of Shiva and Parvati. A handicraft shop here has a great collection of hand-made articles.
The park also has several view points, which cater to enchanting views of the Bay of Bengal and a panorama of the city below. The best of those is the Titanic View Point, which is just outside the main entrance, on the right.
There is a Toy Train, which travels along the circumference of the hilltop. The first ride starts at 10.30 AM, but we did not go for it. Instead, we roamed around place and the kids enjoyed in the play area.
Rushikonda (or Rishikonda) Beach:
The most popular and the most crowded beach of Visakhapatnam is the Rushikonda Beach. It is also the only beach in the city where you can “officially” wade into in the sea and have a swim and bath. The beach also offers different kinds of water sports, which adds to its popularity.
Bordered by the green Rishikonda Hill on one side and the blue sea water on the other, the Rushikonda beach is popularly known as the “Jewel of the East Coast” for its alluring landscape.
We reached the place just before noon, and it was already teeming with tourists and there was no space in the parking lot. As we approached the beach, the crowd reminded me of the Puri Beach in Orissa.
Once at the beach, we approached the changing rooms, got into our swim suits and then headed straight into the cool water. It was the last week of December. But still it was very hot outdoors. So, the bath in the sea was very refreshing for us.
After spending some quality time in the water, we had lunch in one of the beach-side eateries. There was a large play area nearby, where the kids spent the rest of our time here.
Day 4 afternoon:
Thotlakonda Buddhist complex and Thotlakonda View Point:
Around 6 KM further north of Rushikonda lies Thotlakonda. Keeping the pristine Thotlakonda Beach on our right, we took a left turn and travelled along the slopes of a hill to reach the Thotlakonda Ancient Buddhist Monastery.
The Indian Navy discovered the remnants of this Buddhist complex in 1976 while carrying out an aerial survey. Further excavations revealed Stupas (places of worship by the Buddhists), congregation halls, residential rooms, dining hall, store rooms, kitchen, rock-cut cisterns etc., that date back to the period between 3rd century BC and 3rd century AD.
We explored the whole area by foot. The important artefacts like Mahastupa, Votive Stupa, Chaitya Griha, Vihara have the details written on stone slabs, which guided us on the history of these monuments.
While descending down the hill, we took a different route, which brought us to the scenic Beach View Park, locally known as the Thotlakonda View Point. This park offers a mesmerizing bird’s eye view of the Bay of Bengal, with the sailboats gently floating on the blue water.
Thotlakonda Beach:
Our next stop was at the serene Thotlakonda Beach. The beach here is mostly rocky.
As we enjoyed the delightful sight of endless waves breaking nonchalantly on the rocks to create a pleasant vista, the kids got busy building their sand castle.
The beach was also empty, with too few tourists lazing around. So, away from the madding city crowd, we spent close to an hour sitting on the sand and also walking through the length of the beach.
Thotlakonda Natural Arch:
Quite close to the Thotlakonda Beach is the Natural Arch, located on the Mangamaripeta Beach. Thousands of years of natural action of sea water and wind on a large rock resulted in a stunning arch-shaped structure. Here, the waves of sea water pass beneath the arch, and you can even climb on top of the formation.
In recent years, this natural arch has become extremely popular. In fact, we found 2 groups visiting the place for wedding photo shoots.
But we felt that the arch has become fragile over time, and more so because of visitors walking and performing stunts on top of it. So, unless the tourist department takes proper precaution, the arch might see its end soon.
Bheemili Beach:
At the confluence of Bay of Bengal and Gosthani River, is the Bheemili Beach, also known as Bheemil or Bheemunipatnam.
Like Yarada, Thotlakonda and Mangamaripeta beaches, this one is also ideal for calm and soothing relaxation, although Bheemili has comparatively more crowd and more shops along the beach road. There is a statue of a mermaid on the beach, which is popular among photograph hunters.
This being our last destination for the trip, we spent the rest of the afternoon here, occasionally sipping coconut water or licking the ice cream cone and gazing at the large waves dashing into the huge boulders.
As the Sun started travelling towards the western horizon, we bid the sea goodbye and moved towards the Visakhapatnam railway station for our return journey to Kolkata.
Some useful information and tips:
Other towns that you can visit along with Vizag:
The one place that every visitor travels from Vizag is Araku Valley, along with Borra Caves. Many of them go for a 1 day trip, which becomes very hectic. We stayed overnight in Araku, and visited the places of interest in a relaxed manner.
From Araku, you can travel further to visit Jagdalpur – Chitrakote, the Land of Waterfalls and Koraput, known for the mystic landscape of the Eastern Ghats. But, we had covered these 2 places in a separate trip.
How to reach Visakhapatnam:
Visakhapatnam has its own airport and railway station, and is connected to every corner of the country. The railway line lies on the main route that connects South India to Kolkata/ Howrah. So, it is very convenient to reach Vizag.
How to move around in Visakhapatnam:
For point to point movement, you can book Rapido/ Ola/ Uber auto-rickshaws (avoid the normal auto-rickshaws, as the drivers tend to fleece tourists) or Ola/ Uber cars.
But for few hours’ trip, it is better to book a car beforehand. We took the car rental from Amazing Taxi Service (Contact: +91-80089-19136, 75696-00619) for our city tour on Day 4. For all the spots we covered that day, they charged us Rs. 2600 for a Sedan car.
Another Car rental agency in Vizag is Sai Ganapathi Travels (+91- 90009-10567). We availed their service while coming back to Vizag from Araku.
As I mentioned throughout my travelogue, few of the sightseeing spots in Vizag are located on top of hills. The car agencies normally charge extra for ascending each such hill. So, please communicate your plan clearly in advance in order to avoid any confusion later.
What is the best time to visit Visakhapatnam:
The only time you should visit Visakhapatnam is during the winter months. We visited the city in the last week of December. Still, we were sweating all through the day, and also we had to use fan in our hotel rooms.
List of all important landmarks of Visakhapatnam:
For exploring Visakhapatnam in a structured manner, I had divided the city’s landmarks into 3 distinct regions along the Bay of Bengal:
Northern side of Vizag consists of the following attractions:
- Rushikonda (or Rishikonda) Beach
- Thotlakonda Beach
- Thotlakonda Natural Arch
- Thotlakonda Buddhist complex
- Thotlakonda View Point
- Bheemili Beach
- Bavikonda Ancient Buddhist Monastery
- Rama Naidu Film Studio
- Sagar Nagar Beach
- Indira Gandhi Zoological Park
The Central District, with the following places to visit:
- Ramakrishna Beach (in short, RK Beach)
- Matsyadarshini Aquarium
- Submarine Museum
- TU 142 Aircraft Museum
- Victory at Sea War Memorial
- Visakha Museum
- Visakhapatnam Lighthouse
- VUDA Park
- Kailasagiri Hill
- Tenneti Park and Beach
- Lumbini Park
- Lawson’s Bay Beach
Southern side of Vizag, consisting of the below landmarks:
- Fishing Harbour
- Ross Hill Church
- Dolphin’s Nose Lighthouse
- Yarada Beach
- Gangavaram Beach
Apart from the above, in a different route lies the Simhachalam Temple.
Review of Vizag Haritha Hotel:
Yatrinivas Haritha Hotel is an Andhra Pradesh government-run hotel, with an in-house restaurant. It is located on the main road that runs along the sea, and just opposite to the Lumbini Park.
We stayed in an AC room on the 2nd floor. The room was of moderate size, lacks maintenance and no-where comparable to the Deluxe rooms of Haritha Mayuri in Araku. The rooms here have small attached balconies facing the Bay of Bengal, but with almost no view of the sea.
Still, given the location and the room charges, you can stay here if you are visiting Vizag for a couple of days. But do not ever book the non-AC rooms, as they are too small and cramped. You can book the rooms directly from the website of Andhra Pradesh Tourism.
Review of Hotel Morya:
Hotel Morya is a basic no-frills hotel conveniently located very near to the Visakhapatnam Railway station. We booked this hotel as we had an early morning train for Araku. It doesn’t have its own restaurant, but there are a lot of food options around.
We had booked an Executive Four-bedded Non A/C Room for Rs. 2000 through one of the online portals. It was large and clean. Although the hotel is on a busy road, our room was not in the front side. So we didn’t get disturbed by the outside noise.
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