Ranchi is the capital of the Indian state of Jharkhand.
About
Ranchi is located on the Chotanagpur plateau, at a height of 2,140 feet above sea level.The entire area is generally covered with red soil. Extensive forests around Ranchi are composed mainly of sal, gambhar, asan, kend, simul and mahua. Bears, sambar, chital, nilgai and hares are found in the forests. Summer afternoons are hot but evenings and nights are cool and enjoyable(maximum 40 degrees centigrade, min 16 degrees centigrade). It is cool/cold in winter (maximum 25 degrees centigrade and minimum 0 degrees centigrade). Annual rainfall is 1530 mm.
Languages spoken are Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Maithili, Sadri, Oraon, Mundari and some dialects. English is not a common language but is well understood at most of the tourist spots. Even if it is not understood at a place, people are willing to help around with interpretation.
How to Reach
The Ranchi Airport (Code: IXR) is located in Hinoo. It is approximately 7 km from the city centre. The airport name is Bhagwan Birsa Munda Airport.
Recently Go Air) has added another daily flight between Delhi - Ranchi - Mumbai.
Ranchi is connected by rail to important places all over the country. Hatia is a station next to Ranchi and serves as terminus for many of the trains. Given below are some of the convenient trains. The first number is for the train from Ranchi and second for the train to Ranchi.
Daily trains: 8616/8615 Hatia Howrah Express, 8624/8623 Hatia Patna Express, 8622/8621 Hatia Patna Pataliputra Express, 8611/8612 Ranchi Garhwa Banaras Inter-City Express, 3352/3351 Dhanbad Bokaro Allepy Express, 8601/8602 Hatia Jammu Tawi Express, 5027/5028 Hatia Gorakhpur Mayurya Express, 8451/8452 Hatia Puri Tapaswini Express, 8608/8607 Ranchi Baidyanathdham Express.
Other trains: 2020/2019 Ranchi Howrah Shatabdi Express (no train on Sunday), 3304/3303 Hatia Dhanbad Inter-City Express (no train on Sunday), 2439/2440 Ranchi New Delhi Rajdhani Express (biweekly), 8603/8604 Hatia Delhi Jharkhand Swarna Jayanti Express (via Barkakhana) (triweekly), 8605/8606 Hatia Delhi Jharkhand Swarna Jayanti Express (via Gomoh) (triweekly), 8609/8610 Ranchi Lokmanya Tilak Express (weekly), 2812/2811 Hatia Lokmanya Tilak Express (weekly), 2835/2836 Hatia Yeshwantpur Express (bi-weekly), 3403/3404 Ranchi Bhagalpur Vananchal Express (via Andal) (triweekly) , 3405/3406 Ranchi Bhagalpur Vananchal Express (biweekly), 5661/5662 Ranchi Kamakhya (Guwahati) Express (biweekly).
Ranchi is well connected by a network of roads with all the neighbouring cities and towns. The distance to some important locations are as follows: Bokaro 110 km, Dhanbad 170 km, Jamshedpur 140 km, Chaibasa 130 km, Hazaribagh 100 km, Gaya 220 km, Patna 340 km, Barhi (on NH 2 Grand Trunk Road) 136 km, Rourkela 250 km, Kolkata 415 km. Bus connections are available for almost all cities and towns in the area.
You can travel to Simdega, Chaibasa, Jamudag, Lohardaga and other places using Lily Travels Delux bus service from Ranchi City.
Get around
Hired cars, autorickshaws and cycle rickshaws are available for local transportation. Ranchi like a number of other cities in North India, has a concept of share auto. The share autos operate along fixed routes and take in as many passengers as physically possible. Fares vary from Rs. 3 - 10 depending upon the route. City buses also ply on designated routes for most of hours.
Do not be carried away by media coverage of stray incidents. Those desirous of travelling out of town, particularly at night, should check with local people, say the hotel management, about the law and order situation in a particular area. However, it is not advisable to venture out late in the evening/ night even in unknown localities of the city unless one is fully aware of that area.
In case of a healthcare emergency, ambulance can be sought from Orchid Medical Centre ( http://www.orchidmedcentre.com ) by calling 0651-2219501/2/3/4
Reproduced from Wikipedia
